removing hpa on a S...
 
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removing hpa on a SATA drive

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(@elmurado)
Eminent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 29
Topic starter  

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone knew whether there was any difference between using ATA commands on an ATA drive as opposed to on a SATA drive?

I'm trying to remove the HPA on an 80gb Fujitsu drive which appears to have a an approx 5gb HPA. READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS seems to work fine and the difference between the documented size and the READ NATIVE is 5gb.

I can't seem to find a resource for purely SATA commands and was wondering if there actually is any difference.

I'm using taft http//vidstrom.net/stools/taft/ to run the commands.

cheers.


   
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hogfly
(@hogfly)
Reputable Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 287
 

I don't believe there is a difference in that set of commands. There is a different set of SATA related commands like NCQ and the like, but it should adhere to ATA specs.

Interestingly enough - Tableau write blockers can remove HPA and DCO.


   
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(@elmurado)
Eminent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 29
Topic starter  

Thanks Hogfly. I had surmised as much but was wondering whether there was a special subset of commands for SATA, updated ones if you will.
I will check out Tableau's blockers.
Thanks


   
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(@elmurado)
Eminent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 29
Topic starter  

Okay, so does anyone understand why I would now be getting some conflicting results here?

TheREAD_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS returns a drive of approx 76 Gb(eg 156301487 sectors)
Whilst the IDENTIFY_DEVICE gives the same and so does DEVICE_CONFIGURATION_IDENTIFY.
Which means that it is ostensibly a 76Gb drive with no HPA or DCO.
But the manufacturer's specs say it is an 80Gb drive.
weird.

I found this tool too http//www.hdat2.com/
very cool.


   
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NeGrusti
(@negrusti)
Active Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 18
 

Could be the refurbished drive with a modified passport (to hide damaged tracks at the end for example).
AFAIK HPA features are the same on SATA.


   
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