Command syntax for format

[chickennuggets]

I want to format one of my empty drives that is currently not part of any pools. What is the correct syntax in the shell for formatting the disk? I tried
format /dev/ada

This is not the right syntax and I can't find a reference to this command.

 

[Redcoat]

AFAIK, drives are prepared when they are added to a pool. For what purpose do you want to format this empty drive?

 

[danb35]

In what way do you want to format it? As its own ZFS pool, or in some other way? In general, the process to "format" a hard disk would be:

• Create a partition table on the disk
• Create a partition of the appropriate type for the filesystem you want to use
• Create a filesystem on that partition

If you're using CORE, this would be a good place to start:

Chapter 20. Storage

This chapter covers the use of disks and storage media in FreeBSD. This includes SCSI and IDE disks, CD and DVD media, memory-backed disks, and USB storage devices.

docs.freebsd.org

 

[chickennuggets]

I bought a used samsung ssd pm863a and it has "ERRORMOD" on the firmware info. The ssd is not recognized or usable. However, I still see it as a connected device in Truenas. I searched for a working solution and someone had done a format command in Freebsd to reset the ssd to a working state, without "ERRORMOD" showing anymore with everything showing normal in smartctl.

 

[chickennuggets]

In what way do you want to format it? As its own ZFS pool, or in some other way? In general, the process to "format" a hard disk would be:

• Create a partition table on the disk
• Create a partition of the appropriate type for the filesystem you want to use
• Create a filesystem on that partition

If you're using CORE, this would be a good place to start:

Chapter 20. Storage

This chapter covers the use of disks and storage media in FreeBSD. This includes SCSI and IDE disks, CD and DVD media, memory-backed disks, and USB storage devices.

docs.freebsd.org

I just went through the freebsd docs in your post and didn't contain anything that I was looking for. I'm not looking to partition the drive. I trying to figure out if there's an easy way to reset the drive so I don't have to go hunting for impossible to find firmware.

 

[chickennuggets]

AFAIK, drives are prepared when they are added to a pool. For what purpose do you want to format this empty drive?

You just gave me an idea. I wonder if I could just create a new pool with that one bad drive and see if that will fix it....

 

[Redcoat]

You just gave me an idea. I wonder if I could just create a new pool with that one bad drive and see if that will fix it....

Go for it!

 

[Samuel Tai]

No, don't do that. This appears to be a known firmware bug with these SSDs that corrupts itself. See https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/so...and-pm883-data-miscompare-issue-lenovo-server.

To fix, you'll need to reflash the firmware using something like this:

Samsung SSD resurrection – [mjuː]wave

blog.muwave.de

or

fix Samsung SSD 1Gb - Cokll's Blog

I've come across a similar situation on a PM863a Samsung SSD 3,8TB with a Firmware version 'ERROR...

cokll.com

 

[chickennuggets]

Go for it!

Didn't work. I actually can't even create a pool by itself due to the disk size limitation.

 

[Samuel Tai]

In TrueNAS Core, you would use camcontrol fwdownload to reflash the firmware.

 

[chickennuggets]

No, don't do that. This appears to be a known firmware bug with these SSDs that corrupts itself. See https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/so...and-pm883-data-miscompare-issue-lenovo-server.

To fix, you'll need to reflash the firmware using something like this:

Samsung SSD resurrection – [mjuː]wave

blog.muwave.de

or

fix Samsung SSD 1Gb - Cokll's Blog

I've come across a similar situation on a PM863a Samsung SSD 3,8TB with a Firmware version 'ERROR...

cokll.com

That's what I was trying to avoid. I understand his method but I am having a hard time finding the firmware.

Someone did some kind of format command here and got it working without getting a firmware.

Samsung SM963 960GB M.2 to 1GB issue!

So I have been running windows server core (headless) on ESXI 6.5 with a Samsung SM963 960GB M.2 NVME (MZ1LW960HMJP | Samsung Enterprise SSD | Samsug Semiconductor) passed-through to each instance. The main motivation was to try out starwind virtual san with two nodes. I shut down one of the...

forums.servethehome.com

 

[Samuel Tai]

Unfortunately, that command only appears to work with NVMe SSDs, which is a different access technology than SATA, which is what your PM863a drive is. nvmecontrol won't work on your drive, even though it is available in TrueNAS.

 

[chickennuggets]

Unfortunately, that command only appears to work with NVMe SSDs, which is a different access technology than SATA, which is what your PM863a drive is. nvmecontrol won't work on your drive, even though it is available in TrueNAS.

I might be out of luck on this one, Thank you for your efforts to help, despite this being borderline out of scope of Truenas. I appreciate it!

 

[Samuel Tai]

A search for PM863a firmware leads to this Dell site: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=p2yrj&lwp=rt. If the model numbers match your PM863a, you may be able to extract the GC5B_NF.fwh firmware file to run the procedure from [mju:]wave. The file size is 1048880 bytes, or 304 bytes of prefix in front of the 1048576 bytes of the actual firmware.

 

[chickennuggets]

A search for PM863a firmware leads to this Dell site: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=p2yrj&lwp=rt. If the model numbers match your PM863a, you may be able to extract the GC5B_NF.fwh firmware file to run the procedure from [mju:]wave. The file size is 1048880 bytes, or 304 bytes of prefix in front of the 1048576 bytes of the actual firmware.

This was the one I was looking at earlier, but the last few digits are off. It was close though! The one I have is MZ7LM3T8HMLP-00005

 

[Samuel Tai]

It's worth a shot. the [mju:]wave blog post said his was off in the last few digits too, but it still worked.

 

[chickennuggets]

It's worth a shot. the [mju:]wave blog post said his was off in the last few digits too, but it still worked.

I'll play around with this and see!

 

[terelaad]

I actually can't even create a pool by itself due to the disk size limitation.