Certain Disk Drives May Experience Data Miscompare or Drive Initialization Issues

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Certain Disk Drives May Experience Data Miscompare or Drive Initialization Issues

1. Impact

Certain disk drives with disk firmware version SU0B may experience data integrity issues or drive intialization failure. There are two possible conditions associated with these drive firmware Bugs:

A. Disk drives may experience data miscompare errors, potentially affecting data integrity.
B. The affected drive may fail to initialize (hang) following power initialization and may not be visible to the system.

2. Contributing Factors

These issues can occur on the following disk drives:

• ST32502NS (250.0GB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0411-02, 390-0411-03)
• ST35002NS (500.0GB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0412-02)
• ST37502NS (750.0GB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0413-02)
• ST31000NS (1.0TB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0414-02)

with firmware version SUOB and without firmware version SU0D, for the following platforms:


To determine the firmware revision on the drive, run format(1M) with 'inquiry', as in the following examples:

example 1:

# format

Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
      0. c0t0d0 <ATA-SEAGATEST31000N-SU0B cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@0,0/pci1022,7458@1/pci11ab,11ab@1/disk@0,0
      1. c0t1d0 <ATA-SEAGATEST31000N-SU0B cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@0,0/pci1022,7458@1/pci11ab,11ab@1/disk@1,0
      2. c0t2d0 <ATA-SEAGATEST31000N-SU0B cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@0,0/pci1022,7458@1/pci11ab,11ab@1/disk@2,0
      3. c0t3d0 <ATA-SEAGATEST31000N-SU0B cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
          ...
     39. c5t4d0 <ATA-SEAGATEST31000N-SU0B cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@2,0/pci1022,7458@8/pci11ab,11ab@1/disk@4,0
     40. c5t7d0 <ATA-SEAGATEST31000N-SU0B cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@2,0/pci1022,7458@8/pci11ab,11ab@1/disk@7,0
Specify disk (enter its number):  40
selecting c5t7d0
[disk formatted]
FORMAT MENU:
       disk       - select a disk
       type       - select (define) a disk type
       partition  - select (define) a partition table
       current    - describe the current disk
       format     - format and analyze the disk
       fdisk      - run the fdisk program
       repair     - repair a defective sector
       label      - write label to the disk
       analyze    - surface analysis
       defect     - defect list management
       backup     - search for backup labels
       verify     - read and display labels
       save       - save new disk/partition definitions
       inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
       volname    - set 8-character volume name
       !<cmd>     - execute <cmd>, then return
       quit
format> inquiry
Vendor:   ATA     
Product:  SEAGATE ST31000N
Revision: SU0B  <---

example 2:

scsvr-56@[/]>format

Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
      0. c2t0d0 <DEFAULT cyl 45597 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@0,0/pci108e,534b@5/disk@0,0
      1. c2t1d0 <DEFAULT cyl 60797 alt 2 hd 255 sec 126>
         /pci@0,0/pci108e,534b@5/disk@1,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 1
selecting c2t1d0
[disk formatted]
FORMAT MENU:
       disk       - select a disk
       type       - select (define) a disk type
       partition  - select (define) a partition table
       current    - describe the current disk
       format     - format and analyze the disk
       fdisk      - run the fdisk program
       repair     - repair a defective sector
       label      - write label to the disk
       analyze    - surface analysis
       defect     - defect list management
       backup     - search for backup labels
       verify     - read and display labels
       save       - save new disk/partition definitions
       inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
       volname    - set 8-character volume name
       !<cmd>     - execute <cmd>, then return
       quit
format> inquiry
Vendor:   ATA     
Product:  SEAGATE ST31000N
Revision: SU0B  <---
format>

either of the above examples indicate the drive firmware revision is SU0B and requires upgrade to SU0D.

Alternatively, drives can be inspected visually for the Sun model number (as listed in Contributing Factors).

3. Symptoms

The data miscompare issue will not produce any visible symptoms and will not be detected by the drive or the host.

For the drive hang issue, the affected drive may fail to initialize following power initialization and may not be visible to the system.

4. Workaround

There is no workaround or avoidance for the data miscompare issue.

To avoid the drive hang issue, limit the number of power cycle events to the system until drive firmware can be upgraded.

5. Resolution

These issues are addressed in the following release:

• Firmware SU0D (as delivered in patch 140698-01 or later) for the following drives:

• ST32502NS (250.0GB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0411-02, 390-0411-03)
• ST35002NS (500.0GB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0412-02)
• ST37502NS (750.0GB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0413-02)
• ST31000NS (1.0TB) SATA Disk Drive (390-0414-02)

for the following platforms:


To address this issue for ST31000NS (1.0TB) drives in J4200/J4400 arrays only, two CAM patches must be installed (platform update first followed by firmware update) due to dependencies between the platform and firmware carried forward from the -01 version of these patches. In order for the two patches to be installed, CAM must be running (or upgraded to) version 6.2 (or later) and can be downloaded from:

http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp?cat=Systems%20Administration&tab=3&subcat=Storage%20Management

followed by application of the folllowing CAMS patches:

• for Solaris:140060-02 (or later) and 140064-02 (or later)
• for Linux: 140062-02 (or later) and 140065-02 (or later)
• for Windows:140061-02 (or later) and 140066-02 (or later)

Installation of these patches will vary for each OS, and instructions can be found in the README file of each patch.  Shortly after these patches are installed, CAM will generate an alarm which will guide the admin through the upgrade process when desired.

If the J4400 is used as part of Sun Storage 7310/7410, upgrade to the latest appliance software image, which can obtained from:


The disk drive firmware is included and will be upgraded automatically.

Note: Although the probability of occurrence for either condition is low, it is highly recommended that drive firmware be upgraded for all affected disks, regardless of system.

This Sun Alert notification is being provided to you on an "AS IS" basis. This Sun Alert notification may contain information provided by third parties. The issues described in this Sun Alert notification may or may not impact your system(s). Sun makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees as to the information contained herein. ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. BY ACCESSING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUN SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT ARISE OUT OF YOUR USE OR FAILURE TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This Sun Alert notification contains Sun proprietary and confidential information. It is being provided to you pursuant to the provisions of your agreement to purchase services from Sun, or, if you do not have such an agreement, the Sun.com Terms of Use. This Sun Alert notification may only be used for the purposes contemplated by these agreements.

Copyright 2000-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 U.S.A. All rights reserved.


Modification History

13-Apr-2009: Added Category of Data Loss
17-Aug-2009: Updated Resolution section with Additional Info for 7310/7410

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