Re: BUG in kernel: Wrong Handling of USB HDD’s in scsiglue(slave_configure) and scsi/sd(sd_read_cache_type)

[Douglas Gilbert <dgilbert@interlog.com>]

On 11-10-03 04:25 PM, Alan Stern wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Oct 2011, Amit Sahrawat wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Please find the USB Analyzer - logs for '6' USB based Mass Storage
>> devices attached.
>
> Too bad the analyzer log presents only the response, not the command.
>
>> So, only for one of the USB HDD(Seagate - Free Agent), the response
>> obtained is correct.
>
> I don't understand the format of the Seagate Free Agent MODE SENSE
> data.  Maybe someone else can interpret it; here it is for reference:
>
> SCSI Op(3) ADDR(4) Tag(0x00000004) SCSI CDB MODE SENSE(6)
> _______| Data(
> __ 000: 1C 00 00 00 86 0B 00 02 00 00 12 A1 9E B0 3C 01 00 1A 0A 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B B8 00 00 00
> __ 032: 00 00 00 00 1A 0A 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B B8 A2 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 78 20 55 53 42 32 2E 30
> __ 064: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 7F FF 00 00 00 00 80 FA 0B C2 50 21 4E 41 30 42
> __ 096: 36 58 33 4C 00 30 00 00 00 32 43 46 45 39 42 00 70 F5 12 00 74 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
> __ 128: 3C 00 00 0B B8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 02 50 01
> __ 160: 46 72 65 65 41 67 65 6E 74 20 47 6F 46 6C 65 78 10 50 11 46 72 65 65 41 67 65 6E 74 20 47 6F 46)

The RBC device parameters mode page followed by a Power
Condition mode page. The RBC device parameters mode page
is the only SCSI page I have seen (mode, log, VPD, etc)
with a 5 byte field!

Decoded response to a probable MODE SENSE(6) "fetch all
pages" command:
   RBC device parameters mpage:
     WCD=0 [double negative: write cache enabled]
     Logical block size: 512 bytes
     Number of logical blocks: 0x12A19EB0 *** [160 GB]
     Power/performance: 0x3c
     READD: 0 [READ enabled]
     WRITED: 0 [WRITE enabled]
     FORMATD: 0 [FORMAT UNIT enabled]
     LOCKD: 1 [media cannot be locked]
   Power Condition mpage:
     IDLE=0
     STANDBY=1
     IDLE_CONDITION_TIMER=0
     STANDBY_CONDITION_TIMER=0xbb8 [300 seconds]

References: rbc-r10a.pdf [1999] + spc3r26 [2005]

Hopefully Seagate will switch to UAS(P) in the near future.


*** That is _not_ the address of the last valid LB as in
     the SCSI READ CAPACITY command!

> For the other devices this seems clear enough.  In most of the cases,
> the data doesn't include the Caching page.  The Samsung and Transcend
> devices _do_ provide their Caching pages, and in both of them the data
> says that write caching is disabled.  (In the Samsung case this is
> wrong undoubtedly because of the JMicron bridge -- JMicron's firmware
> is notoriously buggy.)
>
> If you can suggest a robust way of determining whether or not a drive
> supports SAT (one which won't cause non-supporting devices to crash),
> it could be added.  In the meantime, I'm not sure what else we can do.
>
> Would it make sense to assume write caching is present and enabled if
> the drive does not provide a Caching page?

No. You need to also take into account the RBC
device parameters mode page if present. See above.

Doug Gilbert