How do I set a DCO on a hard drive over USB?

07
2014-07
  • Uğur Kırçıl

    I dropped my hard drive (a 320 GB WD Scorpio Blue, model number WD3200BEVT) and I want to create a Device Configuration Overlay over the bad sectors.

    The highest LBA on the drive is 6xxxxxxxx , and the bad sectors start around 4xxxxxxxx; I figure I can use around 210 GB of drive.

    I purchased and installed a new Seagate notebook drive, and connected the old, damaged drive via USB. I copied my files off the damaged disk.

    In the olden days, I could create a DCO using HDAT2. As a test, I tried to remove a preexisting DCO, but I couldn't remove it with HDAT2. I was able to remove it with Ubuntu's hdparm utility. I then tested the sectors to come up with a range of good sectors.

    Now I want to create a new DCO, but I'm unable to. HDAT2 doesn't recognize SMART or SATA commands. I tried Ubuntu, but I can't find any commands on hdparm to create a DCO.

    The damaged hard drive is unusable because it is too slow. When I remove access to the bad sectors via DCO, it should speed up.

    What can I do to create a DCO in this situation?

    • Answers
  • Synetech

    Connected old drive via usb
    …
    Now I want re enable dco. But I can't. Because hdat2 not necgonized s.m.a.r.t and s-ata commands.

    That’s why.

    In general, SMART data and advanced or non-standard settings and commands are just not supported when connected via USB or RAID.

    There are a (very) few drive+controller+software(OS/driver/program) combinations that will work for this, but unfortunately yours doesn’t seem to be one of them.

    You will need to connected it directly to the SATA controller, enable the DCO, then connected it back to the USB adapter.

  • tapped-out

    Synetech's point is valid - your USB controller may not be able to pass through these advanced commands to the drive.

    You seemed to imply, however, that you were able to remove the DCO/HPA over USB using hdparm. If this is indeed the case, you should be able to add a new one like so:

    sudo hdparm -N p400000000 /dev/sdb

    Where:

    • 400000000 is the maximum usable sector (empirically determined)
    • /dev/sda is your damaged hard disk (you may need to change this, depending on your setup)

    • Related Question

    My harddrive failed SMART check and short drive self test. What should I do?
  • Pacerier

    I used SeaTools for Windows to test my harddrive and i failed the S.M.A.R.T check and Short Drive Self Test.

    1. What's wrong with my hard drive?

    2. Is it a big problem? Do I need to do anything to solve the problem?

    3. (if I save a file and open it and it wasn't as i have saved it earlier, i would consider that a very big problem indeed)


    • Related Answers
  • techie007

    Back up everything you can from that drive, and then replace it. Short Test errors can sometimes be fixed, but SMART errors are usually permanent (an over-all SMART threshold for some error count has been exceeded).

  • KCotreau

    Based on the information provided, I cannot tell you what is wrong, but you should certainly replace the drive if you care about anything on it. Your drive is predicting failure, so I would consider that a big problem.

    You should also check to see if it is still under warranty. Depending on the drive, a 3-year or 5-year warranty would probably apply directly from Seagate if it is not OEM. Otherwise, you would need to contact the OEM for warranty replacement.