Question about SSHD drives

[NecroFlex]

It's an odd question, i have a 2.5" 1TB SSHD, which has 8GB of SSD cache on it.

The disk itself is dead, clicks 2 times, doesn't format and shows as ? in HDSentinel.

 

My question is, is it somehow possible to only use the SSD portion of the drive? I know it's only 8GB, but i'm curious if it's possible with maybe custom firmware etc.?

[svmlegacy]

7 minutes ago, NecroFlex said:

It's an odd question, i have a 2.5" 1TB SSHD, which has 8GB of SSD cache on it.

The disk itself is dead, clicks 2 times, doesn't format and shows as ? in HDSentinel.

 

My question is, is it somehow possible to only use the SSD portion of the drive? I know it's only 8GB, but i'm curious if it's possible with maybe custom firmware etc.?

As far as I know, the hardware controllers are pretty purpose built, and nobody has made custom firmware for HDD's. RIP.

[StDragon]

9 minutes ago, NecroFlex said:

It's an odd question, i have a 2.5" 1TB SSHD, which has 8GB of SSD cache on it.

The disk itself is dead, clicks 2 times, doesn't format and shows as ? in HDSentinel.

 

My question is, is it somehow possible to only use the SSD portion of the drive? I know it's only 8GB, but i'm curious if it's possible with maybe custom firmware etc.?

No. It's dead Jim.

 

The 8GB is only addressable by the drive's controller. It's not directly accessible as a separate volume to be used. Only the on-board drive algorithm decides what does and does not get cached based on most recently accessed blocks of data. Essentially, it's all transparent to you.

 

RMA the drive, or dispose of it.

[ProjectBox153]

I don't think so. The computer actually never sees the solid state portion as the drive uses it itself. 

[NecroFlex]

28 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

As far as I know, the hardware controllers are pretty purpose built, and nobody has made custom firmware for HDD's. RIP.

Ahh ok, figured as much but still took a shot if anyone knew.

 

24 minutes ago, StDragon said:

No. It's dead Jim.

 

The 8GB is only addressable by the drive's controller. It's not directly accessible as a separate volume to be used. Only the on-board drive algorithm decides what does and does not get cached based on most recently accessed blocks of data. Essentially, it's all transparent to you.

 

RMA the drive, or dispose of it.

Figured as much, idk what i'd use the 8GB for anyway, but wanted to see if it was possible.

Sadly a 2013 drive is out of warranty  Got it for free anyway, so oh well.

 

One more question, i have one of those SSHDs in my PS3, does the controller know what to do there aswell or is the 8GB part just wasted there?

[StDragon]

Just now, NecroFlex said:

Ahh ok, figured as much but still took a shot if anyone knew.

 

Figured as much, idk what i'd use the 8GB for anyway, but wanted to see if it was possible.

Sadly a 2013 drive is out of warranty  Got it for free anyway, so oh well.

 

One more question, i have one of those SSHDs in my PS3, does the controller know what to do there aswell or is the 8GB part just wasted there?

Same applies. The PS3 addresses the drive just like a PC does; at the LBA level. The file system and OS is abstracted from the underlying storage technology within the drive.

 

BTW, I've experienced a high level of failure with SSHDs. In theory, they're nice. And, they do cache the portions storing the OS, so it does boot faster.

 

Just get a real SSD, they're relatively cheap nowadays. 

[ProjectBox153]

38 minutes ago, NecroFlex said:

One more question, i have one of those SSHDs in my PS3, does the controller know what to do there aswell or is the 8GB part just wasted there?

Yes, it does. Whatever device the drive is connected to just sees a single drive. The drive's logic handles managing where to store different pieces of information and determining what files to put on the mechanical portion and what parts to put in the flash memory. 

[NecroFlex]

15 hours ago, StDragon said:

Same applies. The PS3 addresses the drive just like a PC does; at the LBA level. The file system and OS is abstracted from the underlying storage technology within the drive.

 

BTW, I've experienced a high level of failure with SSHDs. In theory, they're nice. And, they do cache the portions storing the OS, so it does boot faster.

 

Just get a real SSD, they're relatively cheap nowadays. 

I'll get an SSD in it at some point, atm the prices are still up and down a bit. I'd put a 500GB or more in there since i'll be softmodding it anyway.