Incorrect ATA information of a Sandforce SSD with 4.20

[potyike]

I'm using HDS 4.20. I have two SSD's on the same AHCI controller. HDS displays incorrect information for one disk. Under the ATA information section, there are all zeroes. TRIM seems to be unsupported, but the chip does support it. Also SMART seems to be unsupported, but it actually works in HDS. The other disk information seems perfect.

Here's the information:
h**p://pastebin.com/c0SaAwRf
h**p://pastebin.com/uuGaSsdm

[hdsentinel]

The hard disk controller (and its driver) where the SSD is connected, provides partial / incorrect ATA information.
Hard Disk Sentinel has protection against it by detecting the correct information by different methods - but sometimes the driver can't provide the accurate ATA information.

Please use Report -> Send test report to developer option.
That would help lots in investigating the issue, check the current driver version (which may require update from Support -> Driver Zone) and improve the situation.

Please note that even TRIM is supported by the SSD - it may not be working, as the current driver may block that command also.
Please check www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#trim for more information about it.
The Report -> Send test report to developer option would help also to check the situation.

[potyike]

I sent the report. I don't think it's a driver problem because the two disks are attached to the same controller and they are using the exact same driver.

I'm using an Intel RST driver, I realize that mine's not the most current version, but I also tried with the most current one, and it produced the exact same results.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for the report !

Sorry to say - but yes, the issue is related to the driver. I'm not surprised.
As I saw in the report, you have one of the bad drivers for Intel SATA controller:

11.2.0.1006 5-30-2012 Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller

Drivers 10.8, 11.0, 11.2, 11.5 contain major problems. One of them is that they provide incorrect information, exactly as you can see.

I'd recommend to upgrade to 11.6 which is available at www.hdsentinel.com -> Support -> Driver Zone.
(exactly because of this, the non-working drivers are not listed there....)

After installation of that driver (and restart) there may be no more problems.
As you can see in this forum, an other topic we discussed this and the driver upgrade helped other users also.

[hdsentinel]

See this forum topic: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1772
about other problems related to these wrong drivers.

This is why it may be important to have a good, working driver for the controller: 10.5 or 11.6, but not any between them.

[potyike]

I updated to 11.6, but the problem persists. In the device manager, I checked the properties of the only one AHCI controller, the driver version is 11.6.0.1030. I just sent another developer report.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for the report !
Yes, I see the issue. I suspect it may be related to a previous DATA file (which created and saved by the software when the previous driver used).
So if possible, I'd recommend to perform a "clean" install: to uninstall Hard Disk Sentinel, clear its installation folder (backup and then remove all files from the folder of Hard Disk Sentinel, especially DISKDATA files related to the devices) and then re-install Hard Disk Sentinel - to check if the issue happens that way.

If the situation is better this way, and you can send the previously mentioned DISKDATA files (for example in a ZIP compressed file) to info@hdsentinel.com , it is possible to investigate them and check if they could contain such ATA information provided by the older driver.

Alternatively, you may try to download Hard Disk Sentinel 4.20 Pro portable from
http://www.harddisksentinel.com/hdsenti ... rtable.zip
and extract to a new, empty folder. So you can check if this "clean" start would work differently.

Please let me know if the situation is same or better with a clean install and/or the Portable version! You may use Report -> Send test report to developer option again in any cases - as these reports also help in investigating such issues.

[potyike]

After the uninstall, diskdata files were in the install folder, so I deleted the entire folder. After reinstall, the problem persisted with the newly created data files.

Pro Portable 4.20 has the exact same problem also.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks !

Ok, I see the issue: your Force GT provides an ID value in the ATA information block which causes that Hard Disk Sentinel does not accept it as a valid block.
Interesting, that other Force GTs (or other SSDs with same Sandforce controller) does not do this.

I'm investigating the ATA block of your GT (compared with others) and modify the filter to make sure further disk information (in addition to the current health, temperature and so) should be displayed in Hard Disk Sentinel.

Thanks for your attention and help to point on this situation !

[potyike]

This SSD is from November 2011, it's in the same state as when I bought it, works perfectly and I haven't changed the firmware or anything. Thanks for looking into this. I'll be glad to test if there's a fix.

[potyike]

Any news? I'm running out of the trial period and I'd like to buy the software if it works.

[hdsentinel]

Thanks for your message and question, to be honest, I just wanted to write you
The new version (4.30) released today should work differently and provide complete ATA information. If you have the opportunity, please download and check and use Report -> Send test report to developer option with 4.30, so it is possible to check the situation.

[potyike]

It's working, thanks! I bought it already and sent a test report.

[hdsentinel]

Me thanks too - glad to see from the report that now it works correctly !