From: Emanuele O. <ema...@re...> - 2012-11-18 20:33:48
Attachments:
smartctl_20121118.txt
syslog_20121118.txt
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Hi, I've a Trekstor DataStation maxi light (2TB) USB disk which hosts, according to "smartctl -d usbsunplus ..." a SAMSUNG SpinPoint F4 EG (AFT), whose device model is "SAMSUNG HD204UI". When switching on the disk on a Ubuntu 12.04 box I get some error messages after HDIO_GET_IDENTITY: ---- ... Nov 18 20:30:43 desktop ata_id[2516]: HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed for '/dev/sdb': Invalid argument Nov 18 20:30:49 desktop kernel: [166244.537418] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled sense code Nov 18 20:30:49 desktop kernel: [166244.537424] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=invalid driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE Nov 18 20:30:49 desktop kernel: [166244.537430] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] Nov 18 20:30:49 desktop kernel: [166244.537437] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error Nov 18 20:30:49 desktop kernel: [166244.537444] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 e8 e0 87 a8 00 00 08 00 Nov 18 20:30:49 desktop kernel: [166244.537461] end_request: critical target error, dev sdb, sector 3907028904 ... ---- (full syslog attached) that stops after ~30 secs. Then the disk seems to work properly. It "seems" because I suffered a data loss recently (filesystem corrupted). I returned the disk to the vendor but they sent it back to me claiming that the disk works well. I am a surprised since "smartctl -a /dev/sdb -d usbsunplus" says: ---- ... ==> WARNING: Using smartmontools or hdparm with this drive may result in data loss due to a firmware bug. ****** THIS DRIVE MAY OR MAY NOT BE AFFECTED! ****** Buggy and fixed firmware report same version number! See the following web pages for details: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=386 http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/SamsungF4EGBadBlocks 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: FAILED! Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA. See vendor-specific Attribute list for failed Attributes. ... ---- (full output attached) After reading your webpage: http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/SamsungF4EGBadBlocks I am in the process of patching the firmware, as suggested. So I'd like to ask your opinion on: 1) Is it the right thing to do in my case? 2) How can I apply the patch from a Linux OS? I don't have windows... 3) Could you confirm that the actual samsung URL for the patch is: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223571en?language=en_US and not the one provided in the smartctl output? Best, Emanuele |
From: Christian F. <Chr...@t-...> - 2012-11-18 21:01:39
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Emanuele Olivetti wrote: > > After reading your webpage: > http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/SamsungF4EGBadBlocks > I am in the process of patching the firmware, as suggested. So I'd like > to ask your opinion on: > 1) Is it the right thing to do in my case? For drives manufactured after Dec 2010, an update should not be needed. > 2) How can I apply the patch from a Linux OS? I don't have windows... Even Windows won't help. The patch is a DOS program. > 3) Could you confirm that the actual samsung URL for the patch is: > http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223571en?language=en_US > and not the one provided in the smartctl output? Yes (AFAIK). The drive database is outdated. Please run /usr/sbin/update-smart-drivedb. Thanks, Christian |
From: Emanuele O. <ema...@re...> - 2012-11-18 21:21:08
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Hi Christian, Thanks for your reply, On 11/18/2012 10:01 PM, Christian Franke wrote: > Emanuele Olivetti wrote: >> >> After reading your webpage: >> http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/SamsungF4EGBadBlocks >> I am in the process of patching the firmware, as suggested. So I'd like >> to ask your opinion on: >> 1) Is it the right thing to do in my case? > > For drives manufactured after Dec 2010, an update should not be needed. The HD was bought more than 1yr ago and it might be that Trekstor or the shop had it in house since a while. It worths noting that I have a second identical drive (bought at the same time of the one giving me issues) that works with no problems at all. My main concern is to understand whether the issue I am observing can be solved in some way - for this reason the Samsung patch looks appealing. Do you think that the problem I am observing is related to the Samsung bug/patch ? > >> 2) How can I apply the patch from a Linux OS? I don't have windows... > > Even Windows won't help. The patch is a DOS program. Correct. I am not much knowledgeable of microsoft products. Maybe freedos or else would work? If you can share any pointer about procedures to follow I'd be very happy. > > >> 3) Could you confirm that the actual samsung URL for the patch is: >> http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/223571en?language=en_US >> and not the one provided in the smartctl output? > > Yes (AFAIK). > > The drive database is outdated. Please run /usr/sbin/update-smart-drivedb. > Done. Thanks! Emanuele |
From: Christian F. <Chr...@t-...> - 2012-11-20 20:02:24
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Emanuele Olivetti wrote: > Hi Christian, > > Thanks for your reply, > > On 11/18/2012 10:01 PM, Christian Franke wrote: >> ... >> For drives manufactured after Dec 2010, an update should not be needed. > > The HD was bought more than 1yr ago and it might be that Trekstor or > the shop > had it in house since a while. > > It worths noting that I have a second identical drive (bought at the > same time of the > one giving me issues) that works with no problems at all. > If possible, open the case and check the manufacturing date on the label. This is also needed for a firmware update. Update via USB is not possible. > My main concern is to understand whether the issue I am observing can > be solved in some way - for this reason the Samsung patch looks > appealing. Do you > think that the problem I am observing is related to the Samsung > bug/patch ? > The kernel log messages are likely not related to the Samsung bug. The bug does not result in any error messages. The disk write cache is silently cleared if an IDENTIFY command arrives. >> >>> 2) How can I apply the patch from a Linux OS? I don't have windows... >> >> Even Windows won't help. The patch is a DOS program. > > Correct. I am not much knowledgeable of microsoft products. Maybe > freedos or else would work? If you can share any pointer about procedures > to follow I'd be very happy. > Unfortunately Samsung/Seagate only provide a plain DOS EXE file. It may be possible to run freedos from UBCD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and load the EXE via USB or floppy. This (German) page provides bootable CD and USB images with the patch included: https://sites.google.com/site/realmadnex/boot-images/fw-update-boot-images/samsung-f4eg (As usual: own risk - I did not test these) Cheers, Christian |