Need help with Hitachi HDS725050KLA360 0A32904 drive

[Cr0nJ0b]

Hi everyone,

I'm having some issues with a batch of Hitachi SATA drives. They are all the same model and part number

Model Number: HDS725050KLA360
Part Number: 0A32904
Firmware: K2AOA60A

The issue I'm having is that when I attach them to my SATA controller (ARECA 1260) some of them spin up and some don't. I can shift around the cables and get some more to spin up, but others wont. If I attach them to a PC, they all spin up fine...most of the time. In contrast, I have several other Seagate SATA drives that spin up on every channel of the RAID card and in fact will spin up with no SATA cable attached at all. My guess is that this is a firmware related setting, but since I can't adjust this with any Hitachi tools, I thought I would ask the experts.

What I would really like to do, is flash this firmware back to K2AOA51A, since i've seen that on compatibility charts for my raid card. I called Hitachi to see if they would send me the firmware, but since the drives come from an OEM, they won't help at all. I'm hoping to find some help.

thanks

[fzabkar]

It appears that at least some drives may be configured to Power Up In Standby (PUIS).

You should be able to use Hitachi's Feature Tool to disable PUIS. You may need to do this from a PC, though.

Alternatively, you can use HDAT2. Launch it with the /W switch to ensure that it spins up your drives.

http://www.hdat2.com/
http://www.hdat2.com/hdat2_faq.html

http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/f ... de_198.pdf

[Cr0nJ0b]

Thanks for the advice. I used the HDAT2 program, which is a pretty cool tool, but the PUIS is set to disabled. Here is what I've seen in these drives.

1) If they are connected to a good SATA bus, then they will spin up.
2) they won't spin up with just the power cable attached
3) on my RAID card (16 ports) some drives will spin up on some ports and not on others.

It's just strange. I used the PUIS setting in HDAT2, but with that set to enabled, the drive won't start and the BIOS locks up on the HDD scan. I could reset it to disabled with the /W switch.

I was thinking of flashing the drive to another firmware level, but the only other firmware version that I have is from an IBM server firmware refresh disk. The file is k2aoat3a.bd, which i presume would flash my K2AOA60A to version K2AOAT3A....but I don't have a load utility and I'm not 100% sure that this firmware would work on this drive. It's for the same part number HDS725250KLA360, but my guess is that there were more than one PCB type of this drive. There's another firmware I read about that is closer to mine K2AOA51A, which I would presume is a version back from mine, but I can't find that in the wild.

I also tried calling Hitachi and they basically said call the server mfg., which isn't a great help, since the drive was an OEM pull and not warranted or supported.

any additional thoughts would be appreciated.

[BlackST]

I was thinking of flashing the drive to another firmware level, but the only other firmware version that I have is from an IBM server firmware refresh disk. The file is k2aoat3a.bd, which i presume would flash my K2AOA60A to version K2AOAT3A....but I don't have a load utility and I'm not 100% sure that this firmware would work on this drive. It's for the same part number HDS725250KLA360, but my guess is that there were more than one PCB type of this drive. There's another firmware I read about that is closer to mine K2AOA51A, which I would presume is a version back from mine, but I can't find that in the wild.

BAD idea.

I also tried calling Hitachi and they basically said call the server mfg., which isn't a great help, since the drive was an OEM pull and not warranted or supported.

GOOD idea.

Particular FW version/s and OEM do exist for a reason !

[Cr0nJ0b]

so where does that leave me?

The core issue is this.

I have 20 x 500GB SATA drives. I want to use them for a test system RAID 5 connected to an Areca RAID controller. Some of the drives will spin up when attached to the RAID controller and some will not. I can fiddle with them, switch cables etc and get them to spin up, but they aren't recognized. I've basically had to map specific drives to specific channels to get the drives to consistently spin up and be recognized. My thought is that there is something in the drive settings or firmware that is giving the drives trouble with the RAID card. I've seen a compatibility matrix for the controller that calls out the A51A firmware for this model drive, but not the A60A that I have. That's why I was thinking of flashing the drive. I would even be willing to take the change of bricking a drive (since i have one that has failed smart anyway).

any thoughts?

[fzabkar]

Is it possible that the drives have Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) enabled? Some early controllers can't handle SSC. Hitachi's Feature Tool should be able to modify this setting.

Alternatively, could it be a 1.5Gbps / 3Gbps interface speed issue???

[BlackST]

Pointless discussion that must come to an end.
Get a simple PC , set SATA controller to legacy mode and test individually the drives with simple plain MHDD and see if the drives spin up, are correctly recognised AND MOST OF ALL you can scan / ERASE them.
Just to pinpoint once for all if you have 20x paperweight or 20x drives.

NOTE : right now I am sorting a stock of used Hitachies bought "as is" where a lot of them have FW problems - a common problem : the drive is perfectly OK until you CONNECT SATA CABLE, then.... CLUNK !

[Cr0nJ0b]

I wouldn't agree that the discussion is pointless. I have checked each of the drives individually, mostly running the short tools test on them and they are spin-up fine and most pass all of the test. I have 2 that show excessive shock and 3 had corrected block errors, but they are all accessible on the PC. I can format them and use them just fine on the PC. My issue is that when I attach them to the ARC-1260, some of them spin up and some don't. And it's not always consistent. I can plug and unplug some of the channels and they will eventually spin up, but the controller doesn't recognize them. It's really strange. That's why I wanted to try flashing the drives with a differnt firmware...to see if a different FW would help.

[BlackST]

In my opinion it CAN end with bricked drive , that way. With proper tools it is possible to revert the changes, but not at home...
Well, Without tools and clues, the unique way is try...

[Stoly]

What PSU are you using?

IIUC you already tested the drives on a PC and they all work, right? Then it could be either the PSU, the SATA controller or even the SATA cables. There might be a compatibility issue with the controller and your particular HDDs

[Cr0nJ0b]

The PSU is a brand new 500W PSU that is only running the disk drives, not the system. I don't think it's power. I really think it's compatibility with the Controller and these particular HDDs. The wierd thing is that they are all the exact same model, part and FW. Nothing is differnt about them.

[hdd_wanderer]

I am having the same problem trying to get the default firmware for some Hitachi drives 0A32904. Did anyone find location to download the default firmware from? I contacted Hitachi as well, and they said that they don't have the legacy firmware stored anywhere. Thanks.