Toni writes: > > If we can find out what area > > this is (I assume it isn't in the normal space used for user storage) > > and how to zero it (if not already zero) there is no need to update > > the firmware. > > I'd rather say that the (ring) buffer has some external counter, also > stored somewhere, which needs to be adjusted. I'd not bet that simply > zeroing the area(s) will do.
>From what I've read, zeroing the area should make the disk safe. Depending on what it takes to zero the area, this might be either more or less safe than updating the firmware. > > Good question. Seagate has some web page that supposedly will tell you, > > but of course it is broken and doesn't work with all browsers. > > At some time, they had a page where you could enter your model and > serial number, but reportedly this page delivered a lot of false > positives and false negatives. After deciding that the results were > far too unreliable, the page was pulled. That too. For one thing people were entering the serial numbers using lower case letters and getting false negatives. Does Seagate test anything? Their firmware is buggy, their test equipment is buggy, their web site doesn't work, their model & serial number checker program is buggy. They released a firmware installer program that bricks drives. There is a reason I want to look into zeroing out the magic area as an alternative to risking updating the firmware. :-( > > So keeping the counter away from 320 is an okay short term workaround, > > This would require to periodically check the log position and eg. reset > it to zero at shutdown, to be on the safe side. Yes. Depending on what events make the counter increment, it might be possible for the counter to go from 0 to 320 in a short time, and then the power fails. So not a great workaround, but better than nothing, and if we get info on the counter before getting info on a proper fix (either zeroing the magic are or updating the firmware) we could use it as a workaround until we get a proper fix. > > but long term we want to either zero out the magic location or update the > > firmware. > > We want to have updated firmware and the ability to update firmware for > "all" drives, also from other manufacturers. Updating firmware for a > drive shouldn't be any more complicated or risky than updating the BIOS > on the motherboard. As I understand it, updating the firmware on some mainboards IS risky. Some have a fail safe that allows trying again, others have two areas that can be written, but some have neither of these and risk getting bricked. > > There is supposed to be some document that explains all this, > > with enough details to create a fix. If anyone finds this > > document I need a copy please. > > Me too! Sounds like you are on good terms with your dealer. Can your dealer get you a copy? -------------- Sieve-X writes: > As far I know the drive internal event counter can only be accessed > or changed from firmware level (ie. serial/pc-3000). By serial you mean using the TTL to RS-232 thing? For most of us that would require taking the drive out of whatever case it is mounted in to access the pins. What is pc-3000? > Drive firmware flashing from (S)ATA interface level could be done > on UNIX but doing so from a mounted file-system (to avoid a reboot) I was worried that device drivers might not have a facility to pass through whatever magic commands we need. But yeah, if the root partition is on an affected drive that might be a problem. It would be nice to know if rebooting is safe or not.
