From owner-freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Mon Dec 4 01:19:55 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A3F5CE6FAF7 for ; Mon, 4 Dec 2017 01:19:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wlosh@bsdimp.com) Received: from mail-it0-x22c.google.com (mail-it0-x22c.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4001:c0b::22c]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 699C272626 for ; Mon, 4 Dec 2017 01:19:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wlosh@bsdimp.com) Received: by mail-it0-x22c.google.com with SMTP id t1so8979411ite.5 for ; Sun, 03 Dec 2017 17:19:55 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=bsdimp-com.20150623.gappssmtp.com; s=20150623; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id :subject:to:cc; bh=4t3ouHaDM+kBfF5jFGNc/GveXwlexe3M888b+ACnJOE=; b=pzXLmOwdV45nN4CfLtK3RVjxS2rXS8/D0w14NXq+8S6R1SsWFKvsUOmOYo9kof7/2f YCAcVioGfzcDwmBduEZOpSAfF6anEUOfnNGcwMBHbTa+PPc3hp1tvA20kb63YR21WcHX i5Yl/+7svHknoa0Dryllqjy3Ps9qBmaRobxeDVZ5iRVknp5GnhSMhx+ZwUMG5tI2LcPi dQTsXjbH4Nsn8yykG3lHg0aeIr86p7hTqx649k0vUodd4L1gTuCawxdVbq4jWptSGR9M XYdy0g0O+pYAYGMf12ho23Vp93DrwT9Wi9JSDvaSwLRRcEa0gq8LMO5O2qJXKCk61dmm ID4Q== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:from :date:message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=4t3ouHaDM+kBfF5jFGNc/GveXwlexe3M888b+ACnJOE=; b=YXfD6D4ihu0CEmX9s+L7ktQ1LIu2PWPRnNadPf9VeAEL9YTzWsWkWQChdosLlo3vqd bYybjXO+Sdspu+BBImUidKWVQWfFbS4k/UrpS/vlAa0MhhA2M5rp7eybh7NNpnHghuhk bzSjx+JoM9jgS0pRMW1R8BQqd14VQ7EYgKQfrFTNf917u/DqcNuRqVlibmaZU/YtiARK YT0saliIXKqiqzCU2uBxqTPbZqD7i2NkO/KuVMezo48tksHmida3OD+A80wyj4/TFTS/ TpOnAKUK21LigD8QNHkU45T2/Cm4W/Q0wOX8ceHbHekdWq4RSS3TqW12lzS2PO4Hzu9g r02A== X-Gm-Message-State: AJaThX4h2poJpc+m7yAUhjuTg7lKOtGaH3+zn52dke1/PQWQUDUjxeYr gds3DFeA+BE07hrpWVd1qjdLmF/bo54/BrM8H9gq5g== X-Google-Smtp-Source: AGs4zMYurXh5EQfrdY7xou4RfNgfm94ksztacnJAAWLJnV4/6VsT+W9DS85s54QISnBKgVD0yyvFYpZMyNpCytAudxg= X-Received: by 10.107.48.197 with SMTP id w188mr22472596iow.301.1512350394686; Sun, 03 Dec 2017 17:19:54 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Sender: wlosh@bsdimp.com Received: by 10.79.108.204 with HTTP; Sun, 3 Dec 2017 17:19:54 -0800 (PST) X-Originating-IP: [2603:300b:6:5100:1052:acc7:f9de:2b6d] In-Reply-To: <5b6394f6-1c0a-5b1e-bf5e-84e848905392@aldan.algebra.com> References: <5b6394f6-1c0a-5b1e-bf5e-84e848905392@aldan.algebra.com> From: Warner Losh Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2017 18:19:54 -0700 X-Google-Sender-Auth: klnXnEFBi3iLygU-NlbI_0uVn7I Message-ID: Subject: Re: Low-level format an SATA-drive? To: "Mikhail T." Cc: freebsd-fs Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.25 X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.25 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2017 01:19:55 -0000 On Sun, Dec 3, 2017 at 6:13 PM, Mikhail T. wrote: > It used to be, performing a "low-level format" could get a few more months > -- may be a year -- out of a failing drive. How would I try that today? > > The camcontrol has a "format" subcommand, but it just gives me an error: > > # camcontrol format /dev/ada3 > You are about to REMOVE ALL DATA from the following device: > camcontrol: scsiformat: error sending inquiry > > Is my drive simply beyond repair, or is camcontrol being "naive" in some > way? > I don't think that SATA support low level format. If it is spinning rust, then dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada3 bs=1m might do the trick. If it's an SSD, then maybe a secure erase will help. I say maybe in both cases because it's a crapshoot once drives get bad enough to start throwing bad sectors back to the OS. Modern HDD will remap bad sectors on rewrite, and doing a full write sequentially is a little nicer to some drives, but won't hurt. SSDs try very hard to get your data back, so if it's throwing errors and hasn't been through a 'shock event' (eg, baking in a datacenter in PR after the hurricanes hit for months), chances are very high that even a secure erase won't help much at all... Warner