Changed to 512 sector for HITACHI-Netapp Hard Drive but cant Format, Partition, or Reflash

[Luzer]

I purchased these drives off of eBay and I was able to reformat them to 512 but I cant add a partition with ESXi, Windows, or Gpart live in Ubuntu Live CD. I tried to flash like on this thread but I get the error below 'Write buffer failed: Illegal request, type: sense key, apart from Invalid opcode'.

I have about seven days before I can return them and I would like to get them working. I reformanted some Netapp drives back in the day and didn't hive this issue.

they read that they are 512:

mint@mint:~$ sudo sg_readcap -l /dev/sda

Read Capacity results:

   Protection: prot_en=0, p_type=0, p_i_exponent=0

   Logical block provisioning: lbpme=0, lbprz=0

   Last LBA=2344225967 (0x8bba0caf), Number of logical blocks=2344225968

   Logical block length=512 bytes

   Logical blocks per physical block exponent=0

   Lowest aligned LBA=0

Hence:

   Device size: 1200243695616 bytes, 1144641.6 MiB, 1200.24 GB


Hard drive:

[1:0:0:0]    disk    HITACHI  DKR5E-J1R2SS     GCGC  /dev/sda   35000cca072072350  /dev/sg0   1.20TB

[1:0:1:0]    disk    HITACHI  DKR5E-J1R2SS     GCGC  /dev/sdb   35000cca07206101c  /dev/sg1   1.20TB

[1:0:2:0]    disk    HITACHI  DKR5E-J1R2SS     GCGC  /dev/sdc   35000cca07202345c  /dev/sg2   1.20TB

[1:0:3:0]    disk    HITACHI  DKR5E-J1R2SS     GCGC  /dev/sdd   35000cca072022280  /dev/sg3   1.20TB



Try to flash error:

mint@mint:~/Desktop$ sudo sg_write_buffer -vvvvvv -m 5 --in=IBM-HUC1012.A1700D3E.41373030 /dev/sg0

found sg_bsg_major=243

open /dev/sg0 with flags=0x802

tried to read 8388608 bytes from IBM-HUC1012.A1700D3E.41373030, got 1048576 bytes

will write 1048576 bytes

sending single write buffer, mode=0x5, mpsec=0, id=0, offset=0, len=1048576

    Write buffer cdb: [3b 05 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00]

    Write buffer parameter list (first 256 bytes):

10 00 00 a1 70 0d 3e 41  37 30 30 20 20 20 20 20

20 20 20 00 00 00 00 ff  0f 00 00 37 f0 ff ff ff

48 47 53 54 2c 20 61 20  57 65 73 74 65 72 6e 20

44 69 67 69 74 61 6c 20  43 6f 6d 70 61 6e 79 20

49 43 33 35 4c 78 78 78  55 78 44 33 32 31 30 2d

30 20 4d 69 63 72 6f 63  6f 64 65 20 28 43 29 20

43 6f 70 79 72 69 67 68  74 20 57 65 73 74 65 72

6e 20 44 69 67 69 74 61  6c 20 43 6f 72 70 2e 20

32 30 31 32 2c 20 32 30  31 32 2d 32 30 31 32 2e

20 41 6c 6c 20 72 69 67  68 74 73 20 72 65 73 65

72 76 65 64 2e 20 20 55  53 20 47 6f 76 65 72 6e

6d 65 6e 74 20 55 73 65  72 73 20 52 65 73 74 72

69 63 74 65 64 20 52 69  67 68 74 73 20 2d 20 55

73 65 20 64 75 70 6c 69  63 61 74 69 6f 6e 20 66

6f 72 20 64 69 73 63 6c  6f 73 75 72 65 20 72 65

73 74 72 69 63 74 65 64  20 62 79 20 47 43 41 20

check_file_type: file descriptor is sg device

set_pt_file_handle: sg driver version 3.05.36 so choose v3

do_scsi_pt:  is_nvme=0, is_sg=1, is_bsg=0

      duration=12 ms

Write buffer:

Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request

Additional sense: Parameter value invalid

Raw sense data (in hex), sb_len=32, embedded_len=32

        70 00 05 00 00 00 00 18  00 00 00 00 26 02 00 00

        00 00 00 00 f1 30 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Write buffer failed: Illegal request, type: sense key, apart from Invalid opcode

 

[Luzer]

Using Niagara it looks like these drives are locked. I'll return them and do some more research on 520b drives so I can fill up my NAS at a discount.

Starting download for SCSI Cobra-EP device
C:/Users/Administrator/Desktop/HGST-Ultrastar-C10K600-HUC106003CSS60-SAS-IBM-D2F8.LOD was loaded into buffer n0
for 950272 bytes
the following drives had errors:
================================================================
L0G16L4G
Error:

CMD: 3B 05 00 00 00 00 00 80 00 00


Error (1 ms) At 05:54:19 02/15/18

<E> Check Condition:

Info: Command Returned 0 bytes

70 00 05 00 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 00 26 02 00 00
00 00 00 00 F1 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Translation: Illegal Request.  Parameter Value Invalid.


<E> Code Download Unsuccessful: no drive successfully received the microcode

Code download to device 0 was unsuccessful!

***Code Download Failed***

Inquiry called:

HITACHI DKR5E-J1R2SS HA: 1 Ch: 0 Target: 18 Lun: 0

CMD: 12 00 00 00 FF 00


Success (0 ms) At 06:08:28 02/15/18

Info: Command Returned 144 bytes (recv=255)

OFFSET    00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07  08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F  0123456789abcdef
--------  ------------------------------------------------  ----------------
00000000  00 00 06 12 8B 01 10 02  48 49 54 41 43 48 49 20  ........HITACHI
00000010  44 4B 52 35 45 2D 4A 31  52 32 53 53 20 20 20 20  DKR5E-J1R2SS 
00000020  47 43 47 43 4C 30 47 33  32 35 4D 48 00 00 00 00  GCGCL0G325MH....
00000030  44 4B 52 35 45 29 4A 41  52 32 53 53 20 20 20 20  DKR5E-J1R2QQ
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
00000050  00 00 47 43 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..GC............
00000060  43 6F 70 79 72 69 67 68  74 20 28 43 29 20 48 47  Copyright (C) HG
00000070  53 54 2C 20 61 20 57 65  73 74 65 72 6E 20 44 69  ST, a Western Di
00000080  67 69 74 61 6C 20 43 6F  6D 70 61 6E 79 2E 20 20  gital Company.

Hugo is unable to flash it too:

(hugo) u -s L0G0TQQ -f .\HGST-FW.LOD

Attempting to update Firmware on 1 Devices...

Update Successful on device: L0G0TRQQ

WARNING: Firmware on device L0G0TR3G did not change from previous version.

Update Successful on 1 devices.

HGST recommends power cycling updated devices.

 

[NWBx01]

I'm aware this post is a bit old, but I was tempted to buy the same type of drives mentioned in this post before I read another thread here.

The drives you bought, HGST DKR5E-J1R2SS, are NOT NetApp drives. NetApp drives will very clearly have a NetApp or IBM part number listed on the drive label. You can tell that these instead came from a Hitachi VSP because they say that they are model DKR5E-J1R2SS. These drives have a particular firmware on them that vendor locks them into only being usable with Hitachi VSP systems.

Allegedly there is someone who is able to remote in and flash the firmware (mentioned in the thread I linked) to make them run standard HUC101212CS600 firmware, but from what I have read they charge something like $5-10 per drive, which in my opinion makes the value proposition on these drives pretty awful. It seems you'll often find these on eBay in listings of 20 for ~$200, so adding on an additional $5-10 will increase the price to the point where it doesn't make sense to buy them instead of just buying 1.2TB 2.5" drives for ~$15/each as you can find on eBay currently, with the added benefit of not having to screw around with having some random person remote in and flash different firmware.

That being said... If you have Seagate drives that came from a Hitachi VSP, those drives do appear to be able to be flashed with different firmware. Though personally I wouldn't bother with them.

For others finding this post in the future, avoid listings claiming the drives came from a Hitachi server (HDS, or VSP), or are in caddies like the image below, or have a model number like DKR5X-XXXXX. I noticed one poor sap on eBay recently who pretty clearly bought from this seller and is now trying to sell off these useless drives.