Seagate ST318438LW, ST318418N, ST336918N Hot plugging Barracuda 36ES2 disc drives, 5.2.7 S.M.A.R.T

Barracuda 36ES2 Product Manual, Rev. B 15

5.2.6Hot plugging Barracuda 36ES2 disc drives

The ANSI SPI-3 (T10/1302D) document defines the physical requirements for removal and insertion of SCSI devices on the SCSI bus. Four cases are addressed. The cases are differentiated by the state of the SCSI bus when the removal or insertion occurs.

Case 1 - All bus devices powered off during removal or insertion

Case 2 - RST signal asserted continuously during removal or insertion

Case 3 - Current I/O processes not allowed during insertion or removal

Case 4 - Current I/O process allowed during insertion or removal, except on the device being changed

Seagate Barracuda 36ES2 disc drives support all four hot plugging cases. Provision shall be made by the sys- tem such that a device being inserted makes power and ground connections prior to the connection of any device signal contact to the bus. A device being removed shall maintain power and ground connections after the disconnection of any device signal contact from the bus (see T10/1302D SPI-3 Annex C).

It is the responsibility of the systems integrator to assure that no hazards from temperature, energy, voltage, or ESD potential are presented during the hot connect/disconnect operation.

All I/O processes for the SCSI device being inserted or removed shall be quiescent. All SCSI devices on the bus shall have receivers that conform to the SPI-3 standard.

If the device being hot plugged uses single-ended (SE) drivers and the bus is currently operating in low voltage differential (LVD) mode, then all I/O processes for all devices on the bus must be completed, and the bus qui- esced, before attempting to hot plug. Following the insertion of the newly installed device, the SCSI host adapter must issue a Bus Reset, followed by a synchronous transfer negotiation. Failure to perform the SCSI Bus Reset could result in erroneous bus operations.

The SCSI bus termination and termination power source shall be external to the device being inserted or removed.

End users should not mix devices with high voltage differential (HVD) drivers and receivers and devices with SE, LVD, or multimode drivers and receivers on the same SCSI bus since the common mode voltages in the HVD environment may not be controlled to safe levels for SE and LVD devices (see ANSI SPI-3).

The disc drive spindle must come to a complete stop prior to completely removing the drive from the cabinet chassis. Use of the Stop Spindle command or partial withdrawal of the drive, enough to be disconnected from the power source, prior to removal are methods for insuring that this requirement is met. During drive insertion, care should be taken to avoid exceeding the limits stated in Section 6.4.4, "Shock and vibration" in this manual.

5.2.7S.M.A.R.T.

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. This technology is intended to recognize conditions that indicate a drive failure and is designed to provide sufficient warning of a failure to allow data back-up before an actual failure occurs.

Note. The firmware will monitor specific attributes for degradation over time but cannot predict instantaneous drive failures.

Each attribute has been selected to monitor a specific set of failure conditions in the operating performance of the drive, and the thresholds are optimized to minimize “false” and “failed” predictions.

Controlling S.M.A.R.T.

The operating mode of S.M.A.R.T. is controlled by the DEXCPT bit and the PERF bit of the “Informational Exceptions Control Mode Page” (1Ch). The DEXCPT bit is used to enable or disable the S.M.A.R.T. process. Setting the DEXCPT bit will disable all S.M.A.R.T. functions. When enabled, S.M.A.R.T. will collect on-line data as the drive performs normal read/write operations. When the PERF bit is set, the drive is considered to be in “On-line Mode Only” and will not perform off-line functions.