Getting close to releasing what I believe will be the new standard in storage diagnostics for sysadmins and service people … Let me know what you think!!
The SANtool™ is a multi-platform portable storage diagnostic tool. The SANtool enables the administrator/technician to efficiently diagnose, test, tune, break and/or repair storage peripherals. Unlike traditional software diagnostics there is nothing to license, “install” or remove. Plug the SANtool USB Flash stick into a machine running a supported Windows or UNIX/LINUX operating system, and start using the software. The diagnostics are performed by SANtools® command-line program, (SMARTMon-UX), and controlled via a web browser over a secure (SSL) connection. All HTML, Javascript files, images, the embedded web server, and O/S-specific executables are included on the SANtool. No java runtime, external DLLs, drivers, or web servers are required.
This is picture of the SANtool desktop
Read more…
Disk hacking, Failure analysis
Microsoft was told by a federal jury to pay $388 million to a Singapore company for infringing a patented invention used to deter software piracy. Read more…
“AFR and MTBF specifications are based on the following assumptions for desktop personal computer environments: .. 2400 power-on-hours per year” , so reads this screenshot is from the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 product manual. Read more…
boot-of-death
The link to Seagate data recovery services is https://services.seagate.com/online_request_form.aspx. Fill out the form, and they send you information. If you drop the disk drive off to a UPS store, then they pick up the costs so shipping is free (unless you want to overnight it). The two recovery centers in the USA are in Chicago and Santa Clara. The Seagate (US) 24 Hour Critical Response Number is: Read more…
boot-of-death
The nature and scope of the Seagate 7200.11 boot-of-death problem has been blown way out of proportion, and people are making grossly incorrect assumptions. Seagate recently released a failure analysis report under non-disclosure to some (or all, I don’t know) OEM partners and distributors that describes the issue in great detail. Why under NDA? In my opinion, full knowledge of the problem could potentially create a blueprint for virus writers who want to go beyond just erasing files on targeted machines. So to be safe, full specifics aren’t being disclosed (but you can now find a little more info on Tom’s Hardware if you know where to look).
As part of the manufacturing process, Seagate writes diagnostic information to reserved areas of the disk drives. These bit patterns work with the test equipment and drive firmware to perform diagnostic actions such as placing it in a secure lockdown mode. Read more…
boot-of-death
The firmware that is supposed to fix the boot-of-death problem on Seagate 7200.11 disks is “In Validation”.
“!!WARNING!!
The software and information in this article could be data destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable if not followed carefully. It is always recommended to keep a backup of critical data.
This article applies to the following models:
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Drive Family
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Models Affected
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Recommended Firmware Update Status
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Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
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ST31500341AS
ST31000333AS
ST3640323AS
ST3640623AS
ST3320613AS
ST3320813AS
ST3160813AS
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In Validation*
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Read more…
boot-of-death
Surely this is a temporary thing. The Seagate boot-of-death disk drive identification site worked just fine up till Sunday evening (update … Still offline as of Wed Jan 21st 10:14 PM)
boot-of-death
KBK LLP looking for plaintiffs for class-action lawsuit against Seagate
“Owners of Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives are reporting that their hard disk drives are failing at alarming rates. These failures, which have been reported to be as high as 30 to 40%, are believed to arise from faulty firmware that can cause the drives to suddenly lockup and stop working. We (Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP) are presently investigating a potential lawsuit
Read more…
boot-of-death
In light of the sev-1 Seagate firmware bug that bricks both consumer and enterprise-class SATA disks, I ran the Seagate online tool that tells people if any of my disks are affected by the boot-of-death bug.
- Is my drive destined to become a brick?
Yup, this just isn’t my day. Worse, my affected barracuda drives are running in a Solaris system as part of a zfs-based software RAID file system, and Read more…
boot-of-death, Failure analysis, Firmware
