VOGONS


First post, by pentiumspeed

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There are some datacenter SSDs rated that is set to 520 byte sector as far as I can tell not always can be converted to 512 byte sector due to hard lock on the firmware's settings. Was purchasing datacenter SSD drives to get high TBW endurance and still will do in the future, more carefully this time. And there is another way with consumer SSDs is over prevision your SSD by partitioning less than the full capacity but this is not best solution as not all SSD quality is created equal too both in firmware and hardware enabled for datacenter rated is not same as consumer SSDs.

Some with largest capacity in each model group can exceed 500TBW or more, in some case for example Intel DC 3610 1.6TB is around 8PB which is really large endurance.

I know there is wear number that had already went up on these used drives but sellers does not indicate this for each SSD drive so just be mindful of this.

The biggest draw was good prices but please do not make this mistake like I did, just once luckily and was not too expensive, whew.

Well, in this SSD of interest is Micron P400m this mode bought in error was 400GB model, there is another model with same string is P410m, are SATA, as far as I can tell these two most commonly sold on auction places are usually 520 byte sector by their model string ending in -2S1AA. Not compatible with linux and windows and other OSes that use 512b, unless you have a OS and hardware that supports this.

Make sure you do find and buy these P400m and P410m only ending in "-1S1AA" which is 512 byte sector.

Now that said, ask you with deep vogons knowledge who are working in datacenter ITs, ever you had successfully converted any of these OEM SSD firmware locked ones to 512 byte sector? Not the these public software methods like sg_format utility etc. As far as can tell, Micron locked these P400m firmware so 520b cannot be altered to 512b by request by Dell EMC.
I'm look at this in recycling hindsight point of view and purchasers' choices and we are not interested in hardware makers imposing their restrictions on our choices. Remember right to repair part is part of this.

Second, far as I can tell, I don't know if there a way even by secure erasure to 'unlock' these locked ones is not obvious to me.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 1 of 6, by Horun

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Thanks for the info.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 6, by eisapc

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The 520 byte sectored disks are a known Problem for SCSI and Fibre Channel Drives as well.
While there exists a tool to reset the sector size for (IBM) SCSI drives, I am still looking for a solution for some FC drives I purchased for my Sun Blade 2000.

Reply 3 of 6, by Jo22

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Thanks a lot of the information! 🙂👍
Though aren't we using 4Kn since ~2010, anyway?

512 Bytes/per Sector on the interface level is obsolete/deprecated for 15 years.

Windows 8 fully supported 4k native, Windows 7 recognized it, at least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 4 of 6, by BitWrangler

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People in Ontario might like to check out Brantford Surplus for cheap SSDs, they seemed to be getting low hour "take out" units from laptop stock that is upgraded to larger one right away. But they only have smaller sizes.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 5 of 6, by pentiumspeed

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Platter based hard drives are only one that can be converted to any sector size, if you come across these in 520b, 528b or something, use the utility on linux to reset them to 512b. Just take awhile through.
Only thing that is a problem is SSD that I mentioned above.

And yes, can use SAS controller on PC to run SAS drives as long as these drives ditto SAS SSDs are 512b.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 6 of 6, by Jo22

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-01-26, 20:07:

Only thing that is a problem is SSD that I mentioned above.

"SSDs have been 4K since day one... its spindle disks that are now transitioning from 512 B to 4KB sectors (which matches SSDs actually)."

Src: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/4k-secto … nd-ssd.2059083/

pentiumspeed wrote:

Cheers,

Nastrovje! 🥂

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//