SOLVED: I cannot format/use HGST Ultrastar DC SN200 SAS NVMe 7.68TB HUSMR7676BDP3Y1

EDIT 22/4: I solved the problem with HGST Device Manager 3.4 but read the whole thread as you may find other suggestions if my solution doesn't work for you. Someone suggested NVME FORMAT command in Linux which seems to have similar syntax with HDM. HDM didn't find the SSD in Windows (driver issue perhaps, HGST has a specific NVMe driver which I didn't have) but worked fine in linux (ubuntu live) and the command is: "hdm format --sector-size 512 --metadata-size 0 --dif-level 0 /dev/nvme0" - use nvmeo NOT nvmeon1 as it seems you need to format the controller not the namespace, everything I did and posted in this thread was with /dev/nvme0n1 and didn't solve my problems until HDM manual mentioned nvme0 (you can find what nvme0 and nvme0n1 on page 2 after run few commands in HDM)


Hi all
Hope you can help.
I bought 2 cheap SAS SSDs 7.68TB HGST SN200 HUSMR7676BDP3Y1 from ebay removed from Dell EMC (has EMC P/N on them as well). The seller said they should work with a PCIe adapter
I tried every suggestion on this forum but nothing worked: sg tools, gparted, fdisk, diskpart
I thought it must be the 520b block size issue but according to info below it seems to be 512b
All above apps give one error or another, Windows is blue screening most of the time and when it loads it shows the size of the ssd 512b and won't clean/format it.
See below all info from all apps I tried.
I am accessing the drives with this m.2 nvme adapter + cable or the pcie card (I used this pcie card with many SAS nvme ssds)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01D8F9JAK/ & https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01J3MYD8K/
OR https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-U-2-PCIe-Adapter-SFF-8639/dp/B072JK2XLC/

I also contacted WD/HGST support and they said they haven't tested these SSDs with those adapters but the SSDs should work fine (they asked for photo of SSDs and S/N)

HD Sentinel

Code:

Hard Disk Summary
Hard Disk Number,1
Interface,NVMe
Disk Controller,"Standard NVM Express Controller (PCI\CC_010802) [VEN: 1C58, DEV: 0023] Version: 10.0.17763.168, 6-21-2006"
Disk Location,"Bus Number 0, Target Id 0, LUN 0"
Hard Disk Model ID,HUSMR7676BDP3Y1
Firmware Revision,KNEGZ107
Hard Disk Serial Number,XXXXXXXXX
Total Size,0 MB
Power State,Active

Properties
NVMe Standard Version,1.2
PCI Vendor ID (VID),0x1C58
PCI Subsystem Vendor ID (SSVID),0x1C58
IEEE OUI Identifier,CA-0C-00
Recommended Arbitration Burst (RAB),7
Multi-Interface Capabilities,0
Maximum Data Transfer Size,1 (0)
Abort Command Limit,256
Asynchronous Event Request Limit,8
Number FW Slots Support,5
Maximum Error Log Page Entries,256
Total Number Of Power States,16
Admin Vendor Specific CMD Format,1
Submission Queue Entry Size,"Max: 64, Min: 64"
Completion Queue Entry Size,"Max: 16, Min: 16"
Number of Namespaces,128
Stripe Size,0
Highest Possible Transfer Rate,PCIe 3.0 x4
Negotiated Transfer Rate,PCIe 2.0 x4
Maximum Power,2500

SG Tools in Windows

Code:

D:\sg>sg_scan
PD1             HUSMR7676BDP3Y1  KNEGZ107  0000_0000_0000_0000_000C_CA0B_01EC_2780.

D:\sg>sg_format --format --size=512 -v PD1
    NVMe      HUSMR7676BDP3Y1   Z107   peripheral_type: disk [0x0]
      PROTECT=1
      << supports protection information>>
      Unit serial number: XXXXXXXXXX
      LU name: eui.0000000000000000000CCA0B01EC2780
    mode sense (10) cdb: 5a 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 fc 00
mode sense (10):
Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Invalid field in cdb
  Info fld=0x0 [0]
bad field in MODE SENSE (10) [mode_page 1 not supported?]

D:\sg>sg_format --format --size=512 --six -v PD1
    NVMe      HUSMR7676BDP3Y1   Z107   peripheral_type: disk [0x0]
      PROTECT=1
      << supports protection information>>
      Unit serial number: XXXXXXXXXXX
      LU name: eui.0000000000000000000CCA0B01EC2780
    mode sense (6) cdb: 1a 00 01 00 fc 00
mode sense (6):
Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Invalid field in cdb
  Info fld=0x0 [0]
bad field in MODE SENSE (6) [mode_page 1 not supported?]

Crystal Disk Info Windows

Code:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (2) HUSMR7676BDP3Y1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : HUSMR7676BDP3Y1
        Firmware : KNEGZ107
   Serial Number : XXXXXXX
       Disk Size : 4294967.2 GB
     Buffer Size : Unknown
    # of Sectors :
   Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
       Interface : NVM Express
   Major Version : NVM Express 1.2
   Minor Version :
   Transfer Mode : PCIe 2.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x4
  Power On Hours : 45 hours
  Power On Count : 46 count
      Host Reads : 0 GB
     Host Writes : 0 GB
     Temperature : 47 C (116 F)
   Health Status : Good (100 %)
        Features : S.M.A.R.T.
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----
    Drive Letter :

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 000000000000 Critical Warning
02 000000000140 Composite Temperature
03 000000000064 Available Spare
04 00000000000A Available Spare Threshold
05 000000000000 Percentage Used
06 000000000003 Data Units Read
07 000000000003 Data Units Written
08 0000000008BB Host Read Commands
09 000000000005 Host Write Commands
0A 000000000000 Controller Busy Time
0B 00000000002E Power Cycles
0C 00000000002D Power On Hours
0D 000000000028 Unsafe Shutdowns
0E 000000000000 Media and Data Integrity Errors
0F 00000000003F Number of Error Information Log Entries

DISKPART Windows - Disk 1 is the SAS SSD

Code:

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          238 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online           512 B    512 B
  Disk 2    Online           57 GB      0 B

FDISK in ubuntu (I tried creating partition table and partition with it but when write/save it says denied or something

Code:

Unpartitioned space /dev/nvme0n1: 7 TiB, 7681500061184 bytes, 15002929807 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 7 TiB, 7681501126656 bytes, 15002931888 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: F476C156-5811-C74F-BDFF-D93BD78E2F63

SG TOOLS in ubuntu doesn't show the SAS SSD

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo sg_scan -i
/dev/sg0: scsi0 channel=0 id=0 lun=0 [em]
    Kingston  DataTraveler 3.0  PMAP [rmb=1 cmdq=0 pqual=0 pdev=0x0]
/dev/sg1: scsi2 channel=0 id=0 lun=0 [em]
    ATA       SanDisk SD8SB8U2  2000 [rmb=0 cmdq=1 pqual=0 pdev=0x0]

GPARTED errors in ubuntu

Code:

e2label: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/nvme0n1p1
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.

Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.

dumpe2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018)
dumpe2fs: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/nvme0n1p1

Unable to read the contents of this file system!
Because of this some operations may be unavailable.
The cause might be a missing software package.
The following list of software packages is required for ext4 file system support:  e2fsprogs v1.41+.

 

I've never heard of converting a SAS drive to nvme like this. I don't think this will work.

 

What do you mean convert?
I just want to use them and I used sas nvme before (Intel) with same pcie adapter
I ordered a MegaRAID 9440-8i should arrive in few days and I am hoping the ssds will work with this raid card but if they don't work with these simple pcie adapters, I don't think they will work with the raid card without doing something.... maybe the ssds are "locked" or something...

 

SAS and nvme are completely different interface protocols. You need a SAS hba, like the 9440 you ordered.

 

did you check using gpart if the disk is in read only mode ?? you can try to select the disk and run "clean" command under diskpart and see if that helps ??
Can you also post sg_readcap -v

 

clean in diskpart doesn't help, I tried it many times, it gives an error but does clear the partitions I try to create with gparted.... gparted is creating partitions but it won't write anything on them in ubuntu and I cannot access them at all in windows
I will run sg_readcap -v now

 

Code:

D:\sg>sg_readcap -v pd1
    read capacity (10) cdb: 25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Read Capacity results:
   Last logical block address=0 (0x0), Number of blocks=1
   Logical block length=512 bytes
Hence:
   Device size: 512 bytes, 0.000488281 MiB, 5.12e-007 GB

 

hmm looks like your drive have been short stroke with only 1 block, try running this command to see if it restore the full size;

sg_format --resize --count=-1 pd1

This should resize the drive to its maximum block size, once its finished try to run the format command again.

sg_format --format --size=512 (--six) -v pd1 -- try without the "--six" first.

If these command still doesn't work then its probably a good time to start thinking about RMA

Good Luck!

 

thanks, tried it but no luck but do you think both issue could have happened to both drives or could something else be the issue as I tried both SSDs and both give the same error as below? they look new according to crystal disk info show no reads/writes on them only power on counts. See below

Code:

E:\sg>sg_format --resize --count=-1 -v pd1
    NVMe      HUSMR7676BDP3Y1   Z107   peripheral_type: disk [0x0]
      PROTECT=1
      << supports protection information>>
      Unit serial number: xxxxxx
      LU name: eui.0000000000000000000CCA0B01EC2780
    mode sense (10) cdb: 5a 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 fc 00
mode sense (10):
Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Invalid field in cdb
  Info fld=0x0 [0]
bad field in MODE SENSE (10) [mode_page 1 not supported?]

E:\sg>sg_format --format --size=512 -v pd1
    NVMe      HUSMR7676BDP3Y1   Z107   peripheral_type: disk [0x0]
      PROTECT=1
      << supports protection information>>
      Unit serial number: xxxx
      LU name: eui.0000000000000000000CCA0B01EC2780
    mode sense (10) cdb: 5a 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 fc 00
mode sense (10):
Fixed format, current; Sense key: Illegal Request
Additional sense: Invalid field in cdb
  Info fld=0x0 [0]
bad field in MODE SENSE (10) [mode_page 1 not supported?]

 

hmm, I just realized this is an NVME drive and not SAS..., I am not sure if sg3_utils works on NVME drives as I never had any issue with my NVME drives before... I think your best luck now is to try and use HDM tools, however from a quick google search this is not something that is very easy to find.

 

I did try to find the HDM tools but couldn't, hope someone here can provide them

 

As azev pointed out, the drive is not SAS, it's NVME. That means that the sg* utilities aren't going to be useful, because those utilities are designed to work with the SCSI protocol.

It's encouraging that your HD Sentinel and Crystal Disk Info output shows the model number and firmware; that's good evidence that the OS recognizes the device.

From some of the other output you posted, I suspect that the drive has a GPT partition table, but no partitions defined. Under Ubuntu, the "fdisk" only works with MBR partition tables. For GPT, you need gdisk, parted, gparted, etc.

Would it possible for you to run the following commands under Ubuntu and show us the output?

Code:

dmesg | grep -i nvme
nvme list
lsblk
parted /dev/nvme0n1 print

 

please see below

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo nvme list
Node             SN                   Model                                    Namespace Usage                      Format           FW Rev
---------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------- -------------------------- ---------------- --------
/dev/nvme0n1     xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx         HUSMR7676BDP3Y1                          1           7.68  TB /   7.68  TB    512   B +  8 B   KNEGZ107

------------------------------------------------------------
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dmesg | grep -i nvme
[   10.789156] nvme nvme0: pci function 0000:01:00.0

------------------------------------------------------------
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lsblk
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0     7:0    0   1.8G  1 loop /rofs
loop1     7:1    0    91M  1 loop /snap/core/6350
loop2     7:2    0  34.6M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/818
loop3     7:3    0 140.7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/74
loop4     7:4    0   2.3M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/260
loop5     7:5    0    13M  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/139
loop6     7:6    0  14.5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/45
loop7     7:7    0   3.7M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/57
sda       8:0    1 115.5G  0 disk
└─sda1    8:1    1 115.5G  0 part /cdrom
sdb       8:16   0 238.5G  0 disk
├─sdb1    8:17   0   499M  0 part
├─sdb2    8:18   0   100M  0 part
├─sdb3    8:19   0    16M  0 part
└─sdb4    8:20   0 237.9G  0 part
nvme0n1 259:0    0     7T  0 disk

-----------------------------------------------------------
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted /dev/nvme0n1 print
Error: /dev/nvme0n1: unrecognised disk label
Model: HUSMR7676BDP3Y1 (nvme)                                            
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 7682GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: unknown
Disk Flags:

 

I did try to create a gpt partition table with gparted and create new partitions (with errors) and Windows will only see the partitions but they won't be accessible and I can't format or delete them in Windows

 

Good, that tells us that Linux recognizes the NVME drive and shows its correct 7 TB size and that the block size is 512B.

It also says that there is no recognizable partition table. So, normally the next step would be to create a GPT partition table, make partition(s), and format the partitions with a filesystem.

One thing bothers me, though. In your previous post, Windows DISKPART "list disk" shows the device size to be 512 B.

Are you going to be using the drive under Windows, Linux, or both? The next thing I'd try would be to make partitions under Linux, but if your planned use is Windows only, that's kind of a bunny trail.

 

I am planning to use it in a small server with windows server 2012 but if I cannot get it to work in Windows, linux will also be ok I guess
I created now a gpt partition table and partition in parted and this is what diskpart shows in Windows as previous it sees the ssd as 512b only so I have negative number free space lol

Code:

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          238 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online           512 B  -7681499856896 B        *

 

I am trying to format now the partition created with parted in windows with diskpart - long format not quick... it says 0% completed, now 1% but being 7TB partition I am guessing it will take hours, I will leave it to finish to see if any luck as I tried all other format commands in windows and linux

even though list disk shows 512b in diskpart, list partition shows 7TB partition and I see long format takes a long time... so weird why windows sees the drive as 512b only

4% now

 

That definitely doesn't look right. I wonder if Windows is getting confused by the large capacity? What version of Windows, by the way?

Since you've created a GPT under Linux and started a slow format of the partition under Windows, let's see what happens with that.

 

Windows 10 pro updated so it shouldn't be an issue with large hdds

 

Even ubuntu doesn't see the partition after created with gparted/parted and gparted shows errors so it must be something with the drive but I refuse to think it is dead as I have 2 and both are showing the same errors

If this long format doesn't work I am hoping the megaraid card I ordered will work with these drives, maybe the nvme adapters are not good enough for these drives for some reason (worked fine with 1.6TB intel nvme ssds)