View source for User:Tingo/setblocksize

[http://micha.freeshell.org/scsi/ setblocksize] is created by Michael Bauerle. It is a tool to reformat a SCSI disk with new block size.

setblocksize requires GNU/Linux with sg driver installed - connect the disk to a machine running this OS to reformat it.

Since my experiments with sg_format (see the [[User:Tingo/sg3 utils|sg3_utils]] page) failed, I decided I had nothing to loose by testing this tool as well.
== Machine info ==
I used an old machine I had lying, installed an Adaptec AVA-2904 SCSI card into it, a hard drive and installed Fedora 24 serve on it.
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ cat /etc/fedora-release
 Fedora release 24 (Twenty Four)
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ uname -a
 Linux kg-htpc.kg4.no 4.5.5-300.fc24.i686 #1 SMP Thu May 19 13:42:13 UTC 2016 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

== Drive info ==
The drive is the same old Seagate ST31200N that I managed to "brick" with sg_format.
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ dmesg | grep sd
 [...]
 [   19.581428] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
 [   19.599840] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
 [   19.599851] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] 
 [   19.599858] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Medium format corrupted
 [   19.602945] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
 [   19.602955] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 9f 00 00 08
 [   19.606941] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
 [   19.626816] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
 [   19.626828] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] 
 [   19.626835] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Medium format corrupted
 [   19.635282] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
I edited out the info about sda (the os drive) since it is not relevant here
== Compiling setblocksize ==
I had to install both kernel-headers and gcc in F24 (Fedora 24) before I could compile the program. Commands:
 [tingo@kg-htpc setblocksize]$ sudo dnf install kernel-headers
 [tingo@kg-htpc setblocksize]$ sudo dnf install gcc
after that it was a simple make command to get a executable program
 [tingo@kg-htpc setblocksize]$ make all
I tested that the program worked
 [tingo@kg-htpc setblocksize]$ ./setblocksize
 
 setblocksize V0.2
 
 Checking parameters ...
    Parameter error!
    Usage: 'setblocksize [-b<Blocksize in Byte>] [-t<Timeout in Minutes>] <sg_device>'
it worked so far.
== Test if setblocksize works on the drive ==
The drive is already "bricked" so it can't be worse.
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ sudo work/setblocksize/setblocksize -b1024 /dev/sg1
 
 setblocksize V0.2
 
 Checking parameters ...
    Blocksize specified.
    Done.
 New blocksize: 1024 Bytes
 Format timeout: 120 minutes
 Open device file ...
    Done.
 Prepare command ...
    Done.
 Send INQUIRY command ...
    Done.
 Check status ...
    Command successful.
 Check for LUN ...
    LUN present.
 
 ===============================================================================
 SCSI ID     : 0
 LUN         : 0
 Connected to: Host2 / Channel0
 Manufacturer: SEAGATE 
 Model       : ST31200N        
 Device type : Disk
 ===============================================================================
 Do you really want to reformat this device [y/n]? y
 Prepare command ...
    Done.
 Send MODE SELECT command ...
    Done.
 Check status ...
    Command successful.
 Prepare command ...
    Done.
 Send FORMAT UNIT command ...
    *** Please wait - Do not manually interrupt or power down! ***
(the LED on the drive lights up, now I have to wait)
    Done.
 Check status ... 
    Command successful.
 Close device file ...
    Done.
 
 Exiting ...
The process took about 20 minutes on this drive.
=== check the result ===
I installed sg3_utils on the Fedora machine to figure out if setblocksize had done its job.
==== sg_format ====
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ sudo sg_format /dev/sg1
     SEAGATE   ST31200N          8008   peripheral_type: disk [0x0]
 Mode Sense (block descriptor) data, prior to changes:
   Number of blocks=0 [0x0]
   Block size=1024 [0x400]
 Read Capacity (10) results:
    Number of logical blocks=1074591
    Logical block size=1024 bytes
 No changes made. To format use '--format'. To resize use '--resize'
So sg_format thinks the drive has 1024 byte blocks - good.
==== sg_readcap ====
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ sudo sg_readcap /dev/sg1
 Read Capacity results:
    Last logical block address=1074590 (0x10659e), Number of blocks=1074591
    Logical block length=1024 bytes
 Hence:
    Device size: 1100381184 bytes, 1049.4 MiB, 1.10 GB
sg_readcap also agrees with sg_format.

So it looks like setblocksize really managed to change the drive.

==== fdisk ====
fdisk -l output was requested. Here it is:
 [tingo@kg-htpc ~]$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb
 Disk /dev/sdb: 1 GiB, 1100381184 bytes, 1074591 sectors
 Units: sectors of 1 * 1024 = 1024 bytes
 Sector size (logical/physical): 1024 bytes / 1024 bytes
 I/O size (minimum/optimal): 1024 bytes / 1024 bytes
Another vote for 1024 byte blocks (or "sectors").

== History ==
:2016-09-07: I did 'fdisk -l' on the drive, and documented the output.
:2016-09-06: initial testing with setblocksize.

[[Category:Seagate]] [[Category:ST31200N]] [[Category:SCSI]] [[Category:Hard drive]] [[Category:Testing]] [[Category:setblocksize]]