README for 'setblocksize' tool

General

This is a tool for adjusting the blocksize of SCSI disks. It is available under GPL. See 'LICENSE' file.

I have tested it with the following disks:

• Seagate Barracuda 4 (ST15150DC)
• Seagate Hawk 1LP (ST31200N)

Seagate told me, that all of their disks use the same scheme for changing the blocksize (if they support it at all). It works like this:

1. Send a 'MODE SELECT' command with a block descriptor that contains the desired blocksize. The value on the Format page (03h) is not changeable!
2. Do nothing else or the buffered new blocksize is canceled.
3. Send a 'FORMAT UNIT' command.
4. Now the Format page (03h) reflect the new setting.

I hope that this will work with disks from most other manufacturers too (Check the manual of your disk to verify whether the blocksize can be changed and/or which values are allowed).

Requirements

• SCSI disk ;-)
• Linux with SCSI generic support (sg driver) The sg2 or sg3 drivers as in Linux 2.2.6 or newer works (Kernels 2.2.10, 2.4.21 and 2.6.16.20 are tested)
• Kernel header files (in '/usr/src/linux/include')
• GNU make
• GCC

How to configure

The desired blocksize must be specified in 'setblocksize.c' (default is a blocksize of 512 Bytes). Note: Since V0.2 the new blocksize can be specified on the command line.

The SCSI command timeout is set to 2 hours. If your disk cannot complete a 'FORMAT UNIT' command within that time, you have to adjust the 'TIMEOUT' constant in 'setblocksize.c'.

How to build

Type 'make all' in this directory to build the binary. Type 'make clean' to get back to source only state.

How to run

The device file (normally '/dev/sg*') must be specified on the command line when running the binary. Use 'sg_map' and/or 'sg_scan' from the sg_utils package (http://www.torque.net/sg/index.html) to determine the correct device file if you don't know it. Check that you have adequate permission to nuke the data on the specified disk and execute like this:

./setblocksize /dev/sg4

Note: Since V0.1 you get a last chance to abort before your data is lost.

Note: Since V0.2 the blocksize can be specified on the command line like this:

./setblocksize -b2048 /dev/sg4

Now the LED of the disk should be lit or flashing (My ST15150 flashes) ... Note that the disk is not formatted by the host, but formats itself - therefore the LED of the host adapter is off (there is no data transfer on the SCSI Bus).

IMPORTANT: The LL-format can take some time ... be patient and do not manually interrupt. If you do so the disk can become unuseable!

Use 'scsiinfo', 'scsi-config' or something like that to check the new blocksize after 'setblocksize' has finished. Search for the Format page (03h).

2007-09-04 Michael Baeuerle micha@hilfe-fuer-linux.de