topic Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please in Solid State Drives (NAND)

Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

MFull3 — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 20:43:20 GMT

I recently bought an 80gb 320 series ssd. I loaded intel toolbox and discovered (after a few months had passed after purchase from ebay) that the device has some strange properties. The drive health is almost 100%.

The smart details show:

host writes: ~433gb

timed workload media wear: 22828302 (divide by 1024 yields: 22293%)

workload read write ratio: 79

timed workload timer (in min): 2151741392

Questions:

1. It is possible to manually change the workload timer to a user defined value?

2. Is the correct procedure to divide e2 (timed workload media wear field) by 1024 to yield a percentage wear estimate?

3. The workload timer does not give a unit of time but I believe it is minutes. This number is crazy.

4. Did I buy a salvaged SSD about to get thrown in the trash that was then resold on ebay?

Sigh

If my understanding of these E1-E4 fields are correct, I believe someone manually edited some of the fields and put in gibrish that is somehow fooling the diagnostic system. It probably doesn't accept values above a certain threshold. I.e., there is no way the workload timer is right.

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

Jose_H_Intel1 — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 23:07:58 GMT

It is not possible to manually change the SMART attributes to user defined value. We highly recommend purchasing new Intel® SSDs from an Intel® Authorized Distributor.

You may also verify if the drive has the latest firmware.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?lang=eng&changeLang=true&DwnldId=18363 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?lang=eng&changeLang=true&DwnldId=18363

The following document may provide additional information:

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-specifications/ssd-320-enterprise-server-storage-application-specification-addendum.pdf http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-specifications/ssd-320-enterprise-server-storage-application-specification-addendum.pdf

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

MFull3 — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 23:41:56 GMT

Hmm, sounds good to me. But why are the e1-e4 attributes so strange? In particular, how do you correctly interpret the timed workload media wear attribute in my data?

Also, what advantage is there to purchasing a drive new if the smart data cannot be edited, so long as the smart data is the same as advertised?

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

Jose_H_Intel1 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:23:07 GMT

The values appear out of proportion somehow; however, we do not know at this time what usage was given to the drive or where it came from.

The recommendation of buying an Intel® SSD from an authorized distributor is basically in order to obtain full support and warranty from Intel so you can get a drive that will perform as expected.

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

MFull3 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 19:49:58 GMT

Here is the full smart data exported to csv format:

]http://speedy.sh/BAAUx/ssd-data.csv[/code] http://speedy.sh/BAAUx/ssd-data.csv

But, if you don't want to download it, here is the raw text

'ID', 'Description', 'Raw', 'Normalized', 'Threshold', 'Action'

03, Spin Up Time, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

04, Start/Stop Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

05, Re-allocated Sector Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

09, Power-On Hours Count, 1008, 100, 0, Ready for use.

0C, Power Cycle Count, 37, 100, 0, Ready for use.

AA, Available Reserved Space, 0, 100, 10, Ready for use.

AB, Program Fail Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

AC, Erase Fail Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

B7, SATA Downshift Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

B8, End-to-End Error Detection Count, 0, 100, 90, Ready for use.

BB, Uncorrectable Error Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

C0, Unsafe Shutdown Count, 3, 100, 0, Ready for use.

C7, CRC Error Count, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

E1, Host Writes, 456.22 GB, 100, 0, Ready for use.

E2, Timed Workload - Media Wear, 22828311, 100, 0, Ready for use.

E3, Timed Workload - Host Read/Write Ratio, 32, 100, 0, Ready for use.

E4, Timed Workload Timer, 2151746622, 100, 0, Ready for use.

E8, Available Reserved Space, 0, 100, 10, Ready for use.

E9, Media Wearout Indicator, 0, 100, 0, Ready for use.

F1, Total LBAs Written, 456.22 GB, 100, 0, Ready for use.

F2, Total LBAs Read, 217.91 GB, 100, 0, Ready for use.

'Word', 'Description', 'Value'

0, General Configuration, 0040

, Bit 15 - ATA Device Identifier, 0

, Bit 14:8 - Retired, 00

, Bit 7:6 - Obsolete, 1

, Bit 5:3 - Retired, 0

, Bit 2 - Response Incomplete, 0

, Bit 1 - Retired, 0

, Bit 0 - Reserved, 0

1, Obsolete, 3FFF

2, Specific Configuration, C837

3, Obsolete, 0010

4, Retired, 0000

5, Retired, 0000

6, Obsolete, 003F

7-8, Reserved, 00000000

9, Retired, 0000

10-19, Serial Number, BTPR305002A6080BGN

20-21, Reserved, 00000000

22, Obsolete, 0000

23-26, Firmware Version, 4PC10362

27-46, Model Number, INTEL SSDSA2CW080G3

47, READ/WRITE MULTIPLE Support, 8010

, Bit 15:8, 80

, Bit 7:0 - Maximum Sectors, 10

48, Trusted Computing Feature Set Options, 0000

, Bit 15 - Must be set to 0, 0

, Bit 14 - Must be set to 1, 0

, Bit 13:1 - Reserved, 0000

, Bit 0 - Trusted Computing Feature Set Supported, 0

49, Capabilities, 2F00

, Bit 15:14 - Reserved, 0

, Bit 13 - Standby Timer Option, 1

, Bit 12 - Reserved, 0

, Bit 11 - IORDY Supported, 1

, Bit 10 - IORDY May Be Disabled, 1

, Bit 9 - LBA Supported, 1

, Bit 8 - DMA Supported, 1

, Bit 7:0 - Retired, 00

50, Capabilities, 4000

, Bit 15 - Must be set to 0, 0

, Bit 14 - Must be set to 1, 1

, Bit 13:2 - Reserved, 0000

, Bit 1 - Obsolete, 0

, Bit 0 - Vendor Specific Minimum Standby timer, 0

51-52, Obsolete, 00000000

53, Field Validity, 0007

, Bit 15:8 - Vendor Recommended Free-Fall Control Sensitivity, 00

, Bit 7:3 - Reserved, 00

, Bit 2 - Word 88 is Valid, 1

, Bit 1 - Words 70:64 are Valid, 1

, Bit 0 - Obsolete, 1

54-58, Obsolete, 3FFF0010003FFC1000FB

59, Multiple Sector Setting, 0110

, Bit 15 - Block Erase Ext Command Supported, 0

, Bit 14 - Overwrite Ext Command Supported, 0

, Bit 13 - Crypto Scramble Ext Command Supported, 0

, Bit 12 - Sanitize Feature Supported, 0

, Bit 11:9 - Reserved, 0

, Bit 8 - Setting is Valid, 1

, Bit 7:0 - Sectors Per Transfer, 10

60-61, Total Number of user addressable sectors, 0950F8B0

62, Obsolete, 0000

63, Multiword DMA Transfer, 0007

, Bit 15:11 - Reserved, 00

, Bit 10 - Multiword DMA Mode 2 Selected, 0

, Bit 9 - Multiword DMA Mode 1 Selected, 0

, Bit 8 - Multiword DMA Mode 0 Selected, 0

, Bit 7:3 - Reserved, 00

, Bit 2 - Multiword DMA Mode 2 Supported, 1

, Bit 1 - Multiword DMA Mode 1 Supported, 1

, Bit 0 - Multiword DMA Mode 0 Supported, 1

64, PIO Transfer Modes Supported, 0003

, Bit 15:2 - Reserved, 0000

, Bit 1 - PIO Mode 4 Supported, 1

, Bit 0 - PIO Mode 3 Supported, 1

65, Minimum Multiword DMA Transfer Cycle Time Per Word (ns), 0078

66, Device Recommended Multiword DMA Cycle Time (ns), 0078

67, Minimum PIO Transfer Cycle Time Without IORDY Flow Control (ns), 0078

68, Minimum PIO Transfer Cycle Time With IORDY Flow Control (ns), 0078

69, Additional Supported, 4020

, Bit 15 - CFast Specification Support, 0

, Bit 14 - Deterministic Read After Trim Supported, 1

, Bit 13 - Long Physical Sector Alignment Error Reporting Control Supported, 0

, Bit 12 - DCO IDENTIFY DMA and DCO SET DMA Supported, 0

, Bit 11 - READ BUFFER DMA Supported, 0

, Bit 10 - WRITE BUFFER DMA Supported, 0

, Bit 9 - SET MAX SET PASSWORD DMA and SET MAX UNLOCK DMA Supported, 0

, Bit 8 - DOWNLOAD MICROCODE DMA Supported, 0

, Bit 7 - Reserved, 0

, Bit 6 - Optional ATA Device 28-bit Commands Supported, 0

, Bit 5 - Read Zero After Trim Supported, 1

, Bit 4 - Device Encrypts All User Data, 0

, Bit 3 - Extended Number of User Addressable Sectors Supported, 0

, Bit 2 - All Write Cache Non-Volatile, 0

, Bit 1:0 - Reserved, 0

70-74, Reserved, 000000000000 00000000

75, Queue Depth, 001F

, Bit 15:5 - Reserved, 000

, Bit 4:0 - Maximum Queue Depth - 1, 1F

76, Serial ATA Capabilities, 0506

, Bit 15 - READ LOG DMA EXT As READ LOG EXT Support, 0

, Bit 14 - Device Automatic Partial to Slumber Transitions Support, 0

, Bit 13 - Host Automatic Partial to Slumber Transitions Support, 0

, Bit 12 - Native Command Queuing Priority Information Support, 0

, Bit 11 - Unload While NCQ Commands Outstanding Support, 0

, Bit 10 - Phy Event Counters Support, 1

, Bit 9 - Receipt of Host-Initiated Interface Power Managament Requests Support, 0

, Bit 8 - Native Command Queuing Support, 1

, Bit 7:4 - Reserved, 0

, Bit 3 - Serial ATA Gen3 Signaling Speed (6.0 Gbps) Support, 0

, Bit 2 - Serial ATA Gen2 Signaling Speed (3.0 Gbps) Support, 1

, Bit 1 - Serial ATA Gen1 Signaling Speed (1.5 Gbps) Support, 1

, Bit 0, 0

77, Serial ATA Additional Capabilities, 0000

, Bit 15:8 - Reserved, 00

, Bit 7 - DEVSLP to Reduced Power State, 0

, Bit 6 - RECEIVE FPDMA QUEUED and SEND FPDMA QUEUED Commands Supported, 0

, Bit 5 - NCQ Queue Management Command Supported, 0

, Bit 4 - NCQ Streaming Supported, 0

, Bit 3:1 - Coded Value Indicating Current Negotiated Serial ATA Signal Speed, 0

, Bit 0 - Shall be cleared to 0, 0

78, Serial ATA Features...

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

RRich12 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 21:53:24 GMT

WOW now I have a headache.

I went through that info.... all I picked up was It looks like somewhere there is a secret erase password.....

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

RRich12 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 22:00:12 GMT

I guess if the workload timer is in hours it comes out to about a quarter million years.... he he....in minutes it's about 25,000 years... seconds 2,500 years.... that drive has been on a time machine!

Re: Ebay SSD fraud or just ignorance: help with new purchase please

MFull3 — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 00:07:34 GMT

Yep, but the power on time is consistent with my usage. I read somewhere that you CAN modify the smart data. Maybe not on intel drives though.

You can reset certain parameters to test the drive health. That is, you can see what 'x workload' does to the drive. Resetting certain parameters thus is useful and is a feature.

Also, saying that intel doesn't allow editing smart values doesn't mean someone hasn't hacked it.