topic Re: How to use/select physical sector size? in Solid State Drives (NAND)

How to use/select physical sector size?

俊藤 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:59:32 GMT

Hi, all.

I heard earlier version DC series SSD reports is 512B of physical sector size.

But my firmware updated SSD reports 4K physical size.

Recently update in 3.2.1, SSD DC S3700 and S3500 have following change.

-Support for both 512B and 4KB physical sector size

How to use 512B physical sector size force, like older version?

thank you.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

Jose_H_Intel1 — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:24:13 GMT

Thank you so much for letting us know about this, we are investigating.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

Jose_H_Intel1 — Wed, 14 May 2014 21:34:33 GMT

I am sorry for my delayed response. I sent you a PM.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

LOste1 — Sun, 10 Aug 2014 18:25:50 GMT

Hello,

I would very much like to hear the result as well.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

GHodg — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 01:35:20 GMT

I also would like to know the answer unless you pmed "Contact Intel"...

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

PReid1 — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 11:26:40 GMT

March 4, this was posted. 8 months later, other users who asked for information got nothing, I see.

This is a massive screw up, especially on the enterprise class SSDs, like the DC 3500/3700 series. We can't just stick a 4K drive in an array formatted with 512b disks. Many arrays (most notably ZFS based storage, which is increasingly popular as software defined storage makes waves) will not accept a replacement drive with a different physical sector format.

For those running the older firmware when creating their arrays, their only option is to back everything up, destroy the array, then recreate the array after updating the firmware on all of the existing disks, then restore everything - assuming, of course, you have somewhere to back up all of the existing data. On a large SSD array, this is next to impossible. And all because Intel has decided to change the physical sector size on their SSDs without changing the part number. Any replacement disks we buy or get via RMA are useless to us.

There has been mention that there is a way to toggle the SSD between 4K and 512b, but no where is it mentioned how to do that. You'd think the SSD workbench tool would offer the option, but it doesn't.

Egg on your face, Intel. This will anger enterprise customers - I promise you.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

KenF_Intel — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 03:20:55 GMT

Hi Darkfall,

Please check the email account you used when you registered for access to this forum. I have sent you a message that should resolve your issue.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

PHans4 — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 12:30:33 GMT

Hi, I would also like a solution to this issue.

Re: How to use/select physical sector size?

idata — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 14:56:38 GMT

The instructions are here. Using the Intel Data Center tool 512k or 4096 can be selected.

http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-035064.htm http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-035064.htm

http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-035064.htm Intel® High Performance Solid-State Drives — How to Change Physical Sector Size for Optimal Performance