Question Seagate FireCuda 520 - Worst drive ever?

[Leptir]

No, not the drive itself, the software. I have the 2TB version of that drive, it works great. But the SeaTools SSD software!

It simply doesn't work, no matter what I try to do with it. Try to update the firmware? Doesn't work. Try to switch the drive to "Performance Optimized" mode? It crashes. And then there's the total bytes written! According to SeaTools SSD: 8.20 GB. There's 1.12 TB of data on that drive so how can it be 8.20 GB?! CrystalDiskInfo reports 7640 GB Total Host Writes which makes much more sense.

Am I missing something here or is the SeaTool SSD just junk?

 

[fzabkar]

Could you show us CDI's report?

The relationship between CDI's write count and SeaTools' count appears to be …

7640 × (1.024 ^3) = 8203

 

[Leptir]

Yeah, I see where you're going with that equation. Whoever wrote this thing may have confused GB and TB or something. Anyway...

Word for word, SeaTools says: TOTAL BYTES WRITTEN 8.20 GB

And this is the CrystalDiskInfo report:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 8.7.0 (C) 2008-2020 hiyohiyo
                                Crystal Dew World: https://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 19041] (x64)
  Date : 2020/10/15 20:10:59

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ Standard SATA AHCI Controller [ATA]
   - ASMT109x- Fast
- Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller [SCSI]
+ Standard NVM Express Controller [SCSI]
   - Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD ZP2000GM30002
+ Microsoft VHD Loopback Controller [SCSI]
   - Microsoft Virtual Disk

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
(01) ASMT109x- Fast : 1024.2 GB [0/0/0, pd1] - sg
(02) Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD ZP2000GM30002 : 2000.3 GB [1/1/0, sq] - nv

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(01) ASMT109x- Fast
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : ASMT109x- Fast
        Firmware : EMT24L0Q
   Serial Number : KfcV-*3jyv
       Disk Size : 1024.2 GB (8.4/137.4/1024.2/1024.2)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 2000420864
   Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ACS-2
   Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 4c
   Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
  Power On Hours : 20458 hours
  Power On Count : 4239 count
      Host Reads : 36328 GB
     Host Writes : 30184 GB
     Temperature : 48 C (118 F)
   Health Status : Good
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM, DevSleep
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----
    Drive Letter : D:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
05 100 100 _10 000000000000 Reallocated Sector Count
09 _95 _95 __0 000000004FEA Power-on Hours
0C _95 _95 __0 00000000108F Power-on Count
AA 100 100 _10 000000000000 Unused Reserved Block Count (Chip)
AB 100 100 _10 000000000000 Program Fail Count (Chip)
AC 100 100 _10 000000000000 Erase Fail Count (Chip)
AD _95 _95 __5 000000000057 Wear Leveling Count
AE _99 _99 __0 0000000000E5 Unexpected Power Loss Count
B2 100 100 _10 000000000000 Used Reserved Block Count (Chip)
B4 100 100 _10 0000000005EC Unused Reserved Block Count (Total)
B8 100 100 _97 000000000000 Error Detection
BB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Error Count
C2 _52 _33 __0 000000000030 Temperature
C7 100 100 __0 000000000000 CRC Error Count
E9 _95 _95 __0 000000F4DD2E Normalized Media Wear-out
F1 _99 _99 __0 0000000075E8 Total LBAs Written
F2 _99 _99 __0 000000008DE8 Total LBAs Read
F9 _99 _99 __0 00000000AE00 Vendor Specific

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
        0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
000: 0040 3FFF C837 0010 0000 0000 003F 0000 0000 0000
010: 4B66 6356 2D2A 336A 7976 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
020: 0000 0000 0000 454D 5432 344C 3051 4153 4D54 3130
030: 3978 2D20 4661 7374 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
040: 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 8010 4000 2F00
050: 4000 0200 0200 0007 3FFF 0010 003F FC10 00FB 0101
060: FFFF 0FFF 0000 0007 0003 0078 0078 0078 0078 0F00
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 001F 030E 00C6 016C 0060
080: 03FC 0039 746B 7D01 4163 7469 BC01 4163 407F 0001
090: 0004 0000 FFFE 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: 0000 773C 0000 0000 0000 0008 4000 0000 5002 538D
110: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 401E
120: 401C 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0021 0000
130: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
140: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
160: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001
170: 2020 2020 2020 2020 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 003D 0000 0000 4000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1C20 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 107F 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0800 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 4EA5

-- SMART_READ_DATA ---------------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 05 33 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 32
010: 00 5F 5F EA 4F 00 00 00 00 00 0C 32 00 5F 5F 8F
020: 10 00 00 00 00 00 AA 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 AB 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AC 32
040: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AD 33 00 5F 5F 57
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 AE 32 00 63 63 E5 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 B2 13 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B4 13
070: 00 64 64 EC 05 00 00 00 00 00 B8 33 00 64 64 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 32 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 C2 32 00 34 21 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 3E
0A0: 00 64 64 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E9 13 00 5F 5F 2E
0B0: DD F4 00 00 00 00 F1 32 00 63 63 E8 75 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 F2 32 00 63 63 E8 8D 00 00 00 00 00 F9 32
0D0: 00 63 63 00 AE 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 53
170: 03 00 01 00 02 FF 00 09 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 A9

-- SMART_READ_THRESHOLD ----------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 01 00 05 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 09 00
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00
020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 AA 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: 00 00 AB 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AC 0A
040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 AD 05 00 00 00 00
050: 00 00 00 00 00 00 AE 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 00 B2 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B4 0A
070: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B8 61 00 00 00 00
080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 BB 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 C2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C7 00
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 E9 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 F1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 F2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F9 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(02) Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD ZP2000GM30002
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD ZP2000GM30002
        Firmware : STNSC014
   Serial Number : 7QH00ALM
       Disk Size : 2000.3 GB
     Buffer Size : Unknown
    # of Sectors :
   Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
       Interface : NVM Express
   Major Version : NVM Express 1.3
   Minor Version :
   Transfer Mode : PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x4
  Power On Hours : 604 hours
  Power On Count : 217 count
      Host Reads : 7744 GB
     Host Writes : 7645 GB
     Temperature : 40 C (104 F)
   Health Status : Good (100 %)
        Features : S.M.A.R.T.
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----
    Drive Letter : C:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 000000000000 Critical Warning
02 000000000139 Composite Temperature
03 000000000064 Available Spare
04 000000000005 Available Spare Threshold
05 000000000000 Percentage Used
06 000000F7D120 Data Units Read
07 000000F49E46 Data Units Written
08 00000AD48D17 Host Read Commands
09 00000A82DDB8 Host Write Commands
0A 000000000100 Controller Busy Time
0B 0000000000D9 Power Cycles
0C 00000000025C Power On Hours
0D 000000000035 Unsafe Shutdowns
0E 000000000000 Media and Data Integrity Errors
0F 00000000013E Number of Error Information Log Entries

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
        0    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
000: 1BB1 1BB1 5137 3048 4130 4D4C 2020 2020 2020 2020
010: 2020 2020 6553 6761 7461 2065 6946 6572 7543 6164
020: 3520 3032 5320 4453 5A20 3250 3030 4730 334D 3030
030: 3230 2020 5453 534E 3043 3431 CF01 0024 0900 0001
040: 0300 0001 9680 0098 9680 0098 0200 0000 0002 0000
050: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
060: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
070: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
080: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
090: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
100: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
110: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
120: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0017 0303
130: 081E 043E 0101 016B 0170 0064 0000 0000 0000 0000
140: 6000 C111 01D1 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 000A 0100
160: 0000 0001 0139 0166 0006 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
170: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
200: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
210: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
220: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
230: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
240: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
250: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

-- SMART_NVME --------------------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 00 39 01 64 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
020: 83 D1 F7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
030: DC A4 F4 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
040: 14 8F D4 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
050: E3 FF 82 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
060: 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
070: D9 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
080: 5C 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 35 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0B0: 3E 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0E0: 78 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

 

[fzabkar]

CDI is reporting 0xF49E46 data units written.

If 1 data unit = 1 sector = 512 bytes, then …

• 0xF49E46 * 512 bytes = 8.21 gigabytes

Otherwise, if 1 data unit = 512 KB, then …

• 0xF49E46 * 512 kilobytes = 7644 gibibytes

Here is the NVMe standard:

https://nvmexpress.org/wp-content/uploads/NVM-Express-1_4-2019.06.10-Ratified.pdf

On page 123 …

Data Units Written:

Contains the number of 512 byte data units the host has written to the controller; this value does not include metadata. This value is reported in thousands (i.e., a value of 1 corresponds to 1,000 units of 512 bytes written)

So SeaTools has a bug. Maybe you should report it.

 

[Leptir]

fzabkar, if only that was the only bug! The whole thing is a disaster IMO.

 

[fzabkar]

Years ago I found a minor bug in SeaTools for DOS. I reported it in Seagate's forum, identified the programming error that was the cause of it, and explained how to fix it. Seagate's moderator acknowledged it, but I don't know if it was ever fixed.

Years later I discovered a bug in Seagate's firmware update for their ST3000DM001 HDDs (the one that was the subject of a law suit). I identified the cause (an incorrectly named file), and provided a workaround in Seagate's own forum. Four years later (on April Fools Day) the forum was shut down and all posts deleted. Worse still, the bug was not fixed. In fact this bug is proof that the firmware update was not tested prior to its public release, which means that not one single user would have been able to apply it, at least not without my workaround.

My suggestion to you is to approach Seagate Tech Support, make them aware of the obvious NVMe SMART bug in SeaTools SSD, and then perhaps they will view your other concerns more seriously.

 

[Leptir]

On the Seagate website under "Contact Us" there's an email for their "VP of Quality and Customer Experience." I'll shoot him a link to this thread and your excellent technical explanation.

But I won't be holding my breath. Given my experience with SeaTools (and your own experience you described), I doubt this "VP of Quality" spends much of his time fussing over quality. 🙄

 

[fzabkar]

Some time ago I asked the author of CrystalDiskInfo if he would display the Identify Device report in decimal mode to match the way the data are presented in the ATA standards documents. He promptly added this feature, but unfortunately introduced a bug. When I made him aware of the bug, he fixed it immediately.

 

[Leptir]

Yeah, independent developers are always gonna be more responsive than big corporations.

When I work for a big corp, I only do what I'm told to do. I don't go fix bugs and make enhancements on my own initiative that nobody asked me to do. Not unless I first talk to my boss and get the OK... but normally he wouldn't give me the OK to fix something that nobody told him needs to be fixed. That's why I don't like working for big corporations, I hate bureaucracy, I hate political games.

 

[fzabkar]

Decades ago I was employed in a senior tech support role in the regional office of a multinational computer company. A salesman had made a claim which the company was unable to honour. I then got to work on this task and got to the point where a quirk in the company's workstation firmware was all that was required to be resolved. Fortunately I had access to the source code and was able to modify the software by adding an additional option. I then had to deliver the modified code to the customer in secret. If I had gone through official channels, nothing would have been done.