#93 set-sector-size and -Istdout woes with TOSHIBA MG09ACA18TE

[dgcampea]

hdparm version: v9.65

Attempting to set the sector size of this disk to 4096 yields the following error:

$ sudo hdparm --set-sector-size 4096 --please-destroy-my-drive /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
READ_LOG_EXT(SECTOR_CONFIGURATION) failed: No such file or directory

According to [1], it should work as pages 14-15 list the commands B2h and 2Fh (presuming it means that they're supported).

Disk Information

$ sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       TOSHIBA MG09ACA18TE                     
    Serial Number:      <scrubbed>
    Firmware Revision:  4301    
    Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6, SATA Rev 3.0
Standards:
    Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x005e) 
    Supported: 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 
    Likely used: 11
Configuration:
    Logical     max current
    cylinders   16383   16383
    heads       16  16
    sectors/track   63  63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:    16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:   268435455
    LBA48  user addressable sectors: 35156656128
    Logical  Sector size:                   512 bytes
    Physical Sector size:                  4096 bytes
    Logical Sector-0 offset:                  0 bytes
    device size with M = 1024*1024:    17166336 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:    18000207 MBytes (18000 GB)
    cache/buffer size  = unknown
    Form Factor: 3.5 inch
    Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 7200
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Queue depth: 32
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 16
    Advanced power management level: 128
    DMA: sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled Supported:

       *    SMART feature set
            Security Mode feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    NOP cmd
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Advanced Power Management feature set
       *    48-bit Address feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
       *    General Purpose Logging feature set
       *    WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
       *    64-bit World wide name
       *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
       *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
       *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    unknown 119[6]
            unknown 119[7]
            unknown 119[8]
       *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
       *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
       *    Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)
       *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
       *    Host-initiated interface power management
       *    Phy event counters
       *    NCQ priority information
       *    Host automatic Partial to Slumber transitions
       *    Device automatic Partial to Slumber transitions
       *    READ_LOG_DMA_EXT equivalent to READ_LOG_EXT
       *    DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
            Device-initiated interface power management
       *    Software settings preservation
            unknown 78[7]
       *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
       *    SCT Write Same (AC2)
       *    SCT Error Recovery Control (AC3)
       *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
       *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
       *    SANITIZE_ANTIFREEZE_LOCK_EXT command
       *    SANITIZE feature set
       *    OVERWRITE_EXT command
       *    Extended number of user addressable sectors 
       *    DOWNLOAD MICROCODE DMA command
Security: 
    Master password revision code = 65534
        supported
    not enabled
    not locked
        frozen
    not expired: security count
        supported: enhanced erase
    1498min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 1498min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: <scrubbed>
    NAA     : 5
    IEEE OUI    : 000039
    Unique ID   : <scrubbed>
Checksum: correct

$ sudo hdparm --dco-identify /dev/sda  

/dev/sda:
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0a 04 53 40 01 21 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DCO Checksum verified.
DCO Revision: 0x0000 -- unknown, treating as 0002
The following features can be selectively disabled via DCO:
    Transfer modes:

    Real max sectors: 1
    ATA command/feature sets:

$ sudo hdparm -Istdout /dev/sda > /tmp/o
  -s: bad/missing powerup-in-standby value (0..1)

[1]: Datasheet - https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/content/dam/toshiba-ss-v3/master/en/storage/product/data-center-enterprise/MG09_Product_Manual_rev.1.pdf

[Carlos Lopez]

I had the same issue both with a Toshiba and a Seagate driver.
In the end I ended using the tool openSeaChest_FormatUnit and with that I was able to correctly change the logical sector size on both HDDs.

You can download the tool from here: https://github.com/Seagate/ToolBin (binaries avail here: https://github.com/Seagate/ToolBin/tree/master/openSeaChest/bin-build/22.07.26/ )

And there is a quick guide on how to use it here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Advanced_Format#Seagate

The tool its from Seagate but it works with any HDD brand because it worked fine both with my Seagate and with my Toshiba drive.

hdparm was failing to change the sector size on both brand drives

[Jaakko Hintsala]

Thank you so much! This worked for me too on TOSHIBA MG10ACA20TA

[Jaakko Hintsala]

This issue happens also on TOSHIBA MG10ACA20TA.

[Mark Lord]

The datasheet clearly shows that only the models with an "S" as the 5th character support changing the sector size. Yours has an "A". Drive doesn't support it.