February 9, 201511 yr Brian: What was wrong with the hdparm command he ran? ... You should run the command hdparm -N /dev/sdb According to the screenshot, he typed "hdparm -N /dev/sdb", which looks exactly like your command line. Except instead of getting a result that showed the max sectors, he got a "READ_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS_EXT failed" line. http://i.imgur.com/4zhIYMW.jpg Given that error, it seems unlikely the p parameter would have any impact [especially since both HDAT2 and the Seagate tool have also failed at executing SetMax] It's hard to say whether this is a disk or a controller issue -- but it's not encouraging that this has failed with HDAT2, hdparm, and the Seagate tool.
February 9, 201511 yr newbie_dude ==> Looking at all of your screenshots again, I noticed that the HDAT2 display shows that your disk has a frozen Device Configuration Overlay and frozen Security state. This MAY be changeable in the BIOS ... but if not, you may want to try the steps outlined in the HDAT2 Q&A for bypassing this issue (Note that when they say to boot to DOS in step 3, that simply means to boot to the bootable HDAT2 CD or flash drive you created): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q2: How to bypass a Security and/or DCO frozen state ? A2: 1) The SECURITY FREEZE command is being set in the boot process. This will prevent any further SECURITY related commands being sent until the hard drive is power cycled. It is most likely your BIOS doing this. Look in your BIOS configuration/setup, but some BIOS's do not have an option to turn this off, so you may be required to find a different PC/BIOS. 2) Try to connect the drive to another controller channel (maybe the last one) or another position on the channel. Some BIOS's do not send the Freeze Lock command to all channel master/slave positions. 3) Hot-plug method: use this method at your own risk! When the computer is off unplug the data cable from this hard drive. Power on PC, boot into DOS and then plug the data cable of the hard drive back in. I hope that the program will find this disk. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 9, 201511 yr If you look at this screenshot, it appears he was trying to set the sectors to an absurdly large value equal to the number of bytes on the drive (2,048TB = 2 petabytes). http://imgur.com/a/bwQDN I did not know what affect this might have had on subsequent calls. As I said in my post, the drive is sensitive to this setting, and a full powerdown is necessary in some cases. There was no indication that such a powerdown had occurred. I also said that it does not work with some controllers, eluding to trying another one if it continues to fail on the current controller. I do NOT have experience with the Seatools means of changing the HPA. I think it is rather silly to download and install that tool when manipulating the HPA is quite easy from the unRAID command line. I am not familiar with a BIOS lock on the this drive setting - but if there is such a thing - that would explain the behavior he is seeing. And you'd get the apple for helping this user. But I still think a powerdown may be what is really needed.
February 9, 201511 yr ... I do NOT have experience with the Seatools means of changing the HPA. I think it is rather silly to download and install that tool when manipulating the HPA is quite easy from the unRAID command line. I haven't used the Seagate tool either; but I DO think it's much simpler to just use HDAT2 than the UnRAID command line ... SetMax automatically sets the drive to its max size without any user knowledge of the actual sector count you need to force. This is the ONLY case I've seen where that wouldn't work ... which is why I think there's something strange going on with the controller (although it could simply be a defective drive).
February 9, 201511 yr ... I do NOT have experience with the Seatools means of changing the HPA. I think it is rather silly to download and install that tool when manipulating the HPA is quite easy from the unRAID command line. I haven't used the Seagate tool either; but I DO think it's much simpler to just use HDAT2 than the UnRAID command line ... SetMax automatically sets the drive to its max size without any user knowledge of the actual sector count you need to force. This is the ONLY case I've seen where that wouldn't work ... which is why I think there's something strange going on with the controller (although it could simply be a defective drive). Or the drive needs to be power cycled.
February 9, 201511 yr That's possible -- but I'd think that in the month he's been trying to resolve this it's SURELY been power cycled a few times newbie_dude ==> If by chance that's not the case, turn off the power to the system; then reboot into HDAT2 and see if SetMax works then.
February 11, 201511 yr Author Screenshots: Thanks so much for helping me sort this out!! You guys are so awesome. So first and foremost, I'm not using the gigabyte motherboard anymore. I'm using a very old computer with an old asus MB that's been sitting around for ages to do this. And everything is the same. I have tried the drive with different SATA ports both in the gigabyte MB and in the asus MB. Results are the same. So it doesn't seem like a controller issue? I also included a screenshot of what unraid detects at boot (see image 1: http://i.imgur.com/OETG7U4.jpg) So with the new Asus I tried the following: - First I tried HDPARM -N /dev/sdb with a fresh copy of unraid. And the output was the same. - Then I tried seatools and still nothing. - Finally to HDAT2 with garycase's Security Frozen solution. I followed this: 3) Hot-plug method: use this method at your own risk! When the computer is off unplug the data cable from this hard drive. Power on PC, boot into DOS and then plug the data cable of the hard drive back in. I hope that the program will find this disk. I was in HDAT2. So I chose Detect Drives and it found it. And the security frozen is gone! But set_max is still not available. See Image 2: http://i.imgur.com/qpECx1e.jpg So I was digging around and found the "overview of hidden areas" (image three: http://i.imgur.com/fLIm4oh.jpg) and it doesn't add up Is this the oddest thing tin the world? Or as bjp999 rightly suggested that me using the -N command wrong screwed something up really big? Once again, can't thank you all for helping. And please let me know if there are any other information I can provide.
February 11, 201511 yr It's strange (and perplexing) that HDAT2 can't invoke SetMax. I have no idea why that would be the case, since you've managed to override the Security issue. Trying to set it to the wrong value with hdparm didn't hurt anything ... in fact, it's still set to the same (slightly too small) value that you started with. I'd simply use a different drive for parity ... either another 4TB unit, or just buy a nice new 6TB drive so you don't have any size restrictions on new drives (at least not until you decide to buy drives > 6TB
February 12, 201511 yr Are you able to run hdparm -N on other drives? (Not to change anything, but just to get it to display the current configuration).
February 12, 201511 yr Author It's strange (and perplexing) that HDAT2 can't invoke SetMax. I have no idea why that would be the case, since you've managed to override the Security issue. Trying to set it to the wrong value with hdparm didn't hurt anything ... in fact, it's still set to the same (slightly too small) value that you started with. I'd simply use a different drive for parity ... either another 4TB unit, or just buy a nice new 6TB drive so you don't have any size restrictions on new drives (at least not until you decide to buy drives > 6TB As the days go by, I'm seriously considering it But how would I make sure I don't have the same problem with the new drive? I'm thinking about getting a 6tb drive. Is there a place where I can check what the number of sectors should be to make sure there's no fuckery going on this time? Trying to decide betweeen http://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Desktop-7200RPM-3-5-Inch-Internal/dp/B00JBJ34WC http://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digital-3-5-inch-IntelliPower-WD60EZRX/dp/B00LO3KMK0 Could it be a faulty drive? Did you contact the WD support? I don't know if there is any indication of it being a faulty drive. Can I complain that I can't invoke set_max? Are you able to run hdparm -N on other drives? (Not to change anything, but just to get it to display the current configuration). No I haven't that sounds like something that I should've tried a while ago! I'll try that with a spare drive tonight and get back.
February 12, 201511 yr Are you able to run hdparm -N on other drives? (Not to change anything, but just to get it to display the current configuration). No I haven't that sounds like something that I should've tried a while ago! I'll try that with a spare drive tonight and get back. Actually, you DID try that [in this screenshot you posted: http://i.imgur.com/4zhIYMW.jpg ] and the response was "READ_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS_EXT failed: Input/output error" Won't hurt to try again and confirm that you still get the same error -- but it seems very likely that you will, since I suspect this is effectively the same reason you can't use SetMax. Does the drive pass a SMART test? As I've noted several times, this is either a drive or controller error ... and you've pretty much isolated it to an issue with the drive. One simple way to absolutely confirm that: Do an "hdparm -N /dev/sdX" (where X = the drive you want to results from) on ANOTHER drive in your array .. specifically on the other 4TB drive ... and confirm that you get the proper response. If not, then you have a controller issue. If other drives respond properly, that eliminates the controller as a possibility. The other thing you should do just to be certain (if you haven't already) is try a different SATA port AND a different SATA cable [in fact, if the command works fine with a different drive, use the same cable and port that was on that drive to try this again with the problem drive.]
February 13, 201511 yr Author I did the set_max with another drive and the option is available in HDAT2 So Yes, I'm sure now it's the drive. And here's the smart report. I hope I ran it right. I don't really know how to read it properly though. smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [i686-linux-3.9.11p-unRAID] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: WDC WD40EZRX-00SPEB0 Serial Number: WD-WCC4E4LRJ4J0 LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 260961f2d Firmware Version: 80.00A80 User Capacity: 4,000,753,476,096 bytes [4.00 TB] Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: ACS-2 (minor revision not indicated) SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s) Local Time is: Thu Feb 12 10:25:08 2015 PST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity was completed without error. Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: (51060) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 511) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x7035) SCT Status supported. SCT Feature Control supported. SCT Data Table supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 177 176 021 Pre-fail Always - 8125 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 42 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 574 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 41 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 34 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 108 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 126 112 000 Old_age Always - 26 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0 SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 573 - # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 521 - # 3 Short offline Aborted by host 90% 521 - # 4 Short offline Completed without error 00% 427 - SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
February 13, 201511 yr If your drive is still in warranty, I'd get an RMA and replace it. If not, you might try updating the drive's firmware ... there may be an issue with the firmware that's causing the SetMax issue. But as I noted before, the simplest thing is to just buy another 4TB (or larger) drive. It's VERY unlikely you'll see this issue again.
February 14, 201511 yr HAHAHA! now if only hd prices would go down as much as everything else It's all relative. For old-timers, hard drives are already VERY cheap !! ... My first hard drive held 26MB (yes, MB), and cost $4500. The 6TB drive you just bought holds 230,769 times as much and probably cost you about 1/20th as much => so the net cost/GB is about 1/4,615,380th of what I paid for that trusty old Seagate in 1981
February 14, 201511 yr ... and the relative cost is actually much cheaper today than what I just noted, since $4500 1981 dollars is the equivalent of $11,719.60 today !! [According to http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ ] That means your inflation-adjusted cost/MB was 1/12,020,090th of what I paid when I bought that drive :) ... or, to put it another way, a 6TB drive that cost the same per MB as the drive I bought in 1981 would cost you over $2.7 BILLION today
February 17, 201511 yr Author That's ..... I don't even!! I have another problem But that deserves it's own thread.
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