Weird SSD Issue

[Topcat]

Long story short, I pulled a working SSD out of a system (upgraded it to a larger one) and connected the old pull to another controller. Ever since, the drive is no longer accessible, even in the system it originally came from. BIOS's see it, but it can not be initialized, read, partitioned, etc. I've tried a couple utilities on it, which see the drive....but some say 'lost partition', and timeout attempting to recover it. I can care less about the data on it, I dumped it before I started diddling with it.....but is there any way to recover/reuse the drive itself? It was perfectly fine before..... It's a 240gb OCZ TRION150.

[ratdude747]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

ESD? Was it used as part of a RAID array? The latter has done this to me, had to "remove" the drive from the array on a compatible controller before it would work right.

[Topcat]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

If it was ESD, that'd be a first in all my years...but I suppose it's possible. DBAN seems to be communicating with it....so I'll let DBAN zap it and see if it comes back to life.....last ditch effort before it ends up in the trash.

[goontron]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

^ Ive had SMART erases bring SSDs back to life. Last ditch effort if DBAN fails

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

^ Ive had SMART erases bring SSDs back to life. Last ditch effort if DBAN fails

ATA secure erase time! Parted Magic is the easiest Linux distro to do that with!

[ratdude747]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

If it was ESD, that'd be a first in all my years...but I suppose it's possible. DBAN seems to be communicating with it....so I'll let DBAN zap it and see if it comes back to life.....last ditch effort before it ends up in the trash.

If you toss it, can I have a crack? I'll pay shipping...

[Topcat]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

If you toss it, can I have a crack? I'll pay shipping...

Yea. I'll let you know in the next few days if it comes back to life.

[kaboom]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

I've had some strange issues caused by dirty SATA plugs and contacts on drives, both mechanical and a brand new SSD. The SSD in question is actually running perfectly in the E6400 I'm posting from. After imaging the original HDD to the SSD, this laptop didn't even see the SSD when placed into the internal bay. Yet it worked fine in the ext enclosure...

Spray the SATA cable plugs with Deoxit or your favorite substitute. Also scrub the SATA connector, both power and signal, with a Deoxit-dampened swab.

A few months ago, the HDDs (it would've seemed) in my main PC got slow. Sometimes holding the IRQs, just as a bad drive would in the old days. Re-enabling UDMA would always revert back to PIO, after any attempts to copy. I pulled the drives and cleaned the HDA-PCB contacts, and connected them to another system & backed them up. Great speeds now...

But in the main system, back to slow-ville. An 8 hour+ ETA for what should've been an hour's worth of copying. Tried several combinations of drive/SATA cable, finally discovering one which was suspect. Sprayed the ends of all 3 with 2-26 and cleaned the SATA contacts.

That did it. We were off, to the moon, Alice!

[junktv]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

That deoxit is expensive. Any stuff cheaper and available at stores? I'm sure I could use something like that. I know I have some pots and switches that need cleaned.

[stj]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

it's probably in secure mode - like a password - send a full erase sequence to it.

[kaboom]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

That deoxit is expensive.

Borderline overpriced, actually.
But I had to get mini squeeze tubes of the "red" and "gold" to clean a tape deck rec/play switch.
It wouldn't stay "good" after repeated attempts with CRC 2-26.

Any stuff cheaper and available at stores? I'm sure I could use something like that. I know I have some pots and switches that need cleaned.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/CRC-2-26...2004/100398344

Also works good on DIMM and card edge contacts with either sturdy paper towels or swabs.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

it's probably in secure mode - like a password - send a full erase sequence to it.

If the utility in Parted Magic shows that it's frozen, use the desktop menu to put it to sleep for some seconds, then wake it back up.

Don't use the "Sleep" button in the Parted Magic disk utility menu-> There's a bug that makes the BIOS state fucked up and apparently causes motherboard BIOSes to keep falsely reporting an overclock failure, possibly until you clear the CMOS!

[ratdude747]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

it's probably in secure mode - like a password - send a full erase sequence to it.

Topcat sent me the SSD... and yup, the SATA password somehow got set. Seems to be a common OCZ issue (why friends don't let friends buy OCZ?)

I tried to use an OCZ boot disc to secure wipe it but it immediately fails (forgot what the error was). Likewise, I couldn't find any OCZ master passwords online.

I'm all ears to other suggestions (or if you happen to have the OCZ master password, no it's not Toshiba's 32 spaces, I tried).

[CapLeaker]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

Was the error something like "drive is security locked"?

[Per Hansson]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

Well, it's not really a OCZ this drive, but a rebaged Toshiba drive.
So you might need to use Toshiba's tools for it (if such exists).

If not I've had success with Linux hdparm: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
However please exhaust all other options before you try that.
For example the MS-DOS utility hdderase.exe is a "safer" tool...

[ratdude747]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

Well, it's not really a OCZ this drive, but a rebaged Toshiba drive.
So you might need to use Toshiba's tools for it (if such exists).

If not I've had success with Linux hdparm: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
However please exhaust all other options before you try that.
For example the MS-DOS utility hdderase.exe is a "safer" tool...

One issue... I don't have either the user or the master password! Both methods seem to require one to know the password already... which I don't since it wasn't set by a conscious person.

Topcat didn't set it... it set itself due to a glitch of some sort?

Bricked?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

This is a piece of cake under Linux. With ATA secure erase, you set the password, then let it complete.

[ratdude747]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

This is a piece of cake under Linux. With ATA secure erase, you set the password, then let it complete.

Can't... if you don't have the current password, you can't set the new password. If this isn't the case, please give me the command for such, as all the hdparm stuff I found required the existing password and running off a live arch stick I couldn't get anywhere.

[Sparkey55]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

One issue... I don't have either the user or the master password! Both methods seem to require one to know the password already... which I don't since it wasn't set by a conscious person.

Topcat didn't set it... it set itself due to a glitch of some sort?

Bricked?

I think HDAT2 or MHDD32 have options to unlock passwords and to reset the drives.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Weird SSD Issue

Can't... if you don't have the current password, you can't set the new password. If this isn't the case, please give me the command for such, as all the hdparm stuff I found required the existing password and running off a live arch stick I couldn't get anywhere.

Normally, that don't happen, unless someone powered down during an ATA secure erase.

And you can normally set any password, just not too long, I would try 12 characters. (normally without an existing password)

And if it shows "frozen", put the PC to sleep, with the desktop menu, then wake the PC back up.