Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 03:22:08 -0800 From: Jeremy Chadwick <freebsd@jdc.parodius.com> To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: one more load-cycle-count problem Message-ID: <20100209112208.GA33249@icarus.home.lan> In-Reply-To: <4b713c02.ejMC00AVbJJ8gHAw%perryh@pluto.rain.com> References: <cf9b1ee01002080543m7a403a6ej1f25b88c47f18c68@mail.gmail.com> <20100208145504.762eaa7b.gerrit@pmp.uni-hannover.de> <cf9b1ee01002080556s4d6cc981sf17106692da701da@mail.gmail.com> <20100208142259.GA3210@icarus.home.lan> <4b713c02.ejMC00AVbJJ8gHAw%perryh@pluto.rain.com>
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On Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 02:42:10AM -0800, perryh@pluto.rain.com wrote: > Jeremy Chadwick <freebsd@jdc.parodius.com> wrote: > > The DOS utilities submit custom ATA CMDs or data to all WD disks > > to toggle or adjust these features. If someone could figure out > > what the command(s) were, the feature(s) could be implemented into > > atacontrol(8). Of course, that would require reverse-engineering > > of the EXEs ... > > Or use of an ATA analyzer (think wireshark, but for ATA). 1) ...which are guaranteed to be outrageously expensive: - LeCroy SATAAnalyzer -- price unknown, requires you to mail company for quote. LeCroy bought out Catalyst (known for their STX Series). - SerialTek BusXpert Micro -- same situation. - SerialTek BusXpert PRO -- same situation. - DataTransit BusDoctor + BusDoctor Rx module -- same situation. - Xgig Bus Doctor 1.5G/3G SATA Protocol Analyser -- same situation. - Xgig 6G SAS/SATA Analyzer -- same situation. - Absolute Analysis Investigator SATA Analyser -- same situation. Usually this means the products are in the multi-thousand USD range, if not tens of thousands. Google Shopping turns up very few results, including one from eBay. I rest my case: - DataTransit DrSATA analyser (EOL'd long ago) -- US$1,200 - LeCroy SA005APA-X analyser -- US$4,992 - SerialTek BusXpert Micro -- US$20,521 - SerialTek BusXpert PRO -- US$52,889 2) ...which would still be sufficient grounds for WD to sue (under DMCA) whoever was responsible for the reverse-engineering efforts. My advice would be to RE the EXE, simply because the binary requires that the SATA controller be operating with AHCI disabled, or be in PATA Emulation mode. IDA Pro could probably make this task easier, but the binary runs using a DOS extender (protected mode wrapper; think DOS4GW). I've had WDTLER generate an exception error on first use but proceed to work fine during subsequent uses. Am I willing to do any of this? Absolutely not -- DMCA violation has serious repercussions to a person, both professionally and financially. It's not worth the risk; God bless the United States. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc@parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |
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