Does anyone have the WD RE2 TLER enable/disable utility?

[traveler]

Does anyone have the WD RE2 TLER enable/disable utility?

I tried to get WD support to release a copy to me but they wouldn't do it.



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[traveler]

Finally found it !!!!!!! But not with the help of Western Digital.

Now I would like an explanation of the differences between what the utility does and what the new firmware upgrade for YS drives does.

The unavailable-from-Western-Digital utility is dated March 2006. The firmware upgrade for YS hard drives is dated March 2007.



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[JoeFrat]

New firmware is to resolve drives being dropped from Intel matrix raid arrays for no reason. Basically the communication between the raid controller and the drives resulted in the raid controller thinking the drive was dead when it wasn't.

Originally Posted by traveler

Finally found it !!!!!!! But not with the help of Western Digital.

Now I would like an explanation of the differences between what the utility does and what the new firmware upgrade for YS drives does.

The unavailable-from-Western-Digital utility is dated March 2006. The firmware upgrade for YS hard drives is dated March 2007.



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[triton54]

I talked to WD when the RaptorX came out. I didn't want it, I was interested in the quiet version. Didn't know there was a util. to change the function, that's great to hear, now if I can find it. TLER changes the time onboard HD error correction is enabled... it cuts off after 7 seconds. That's the way debug explained when my call got elevated. He said some host controllers would rebuild the raid if the drive was doing error correction and the host couldn't have control when it saw a data error.

Seems like they could have added a simple jumper. People this interested are very capable of handling a jumper, but I guess that would be too easy. Plus, one drive would become versatle, stand-alone or raid. Hmm, I guess that's the real reason.

t

[traveler]

Found more information.

The TLER utility works with the RE2 firmware update with no problems.

Also found out that Raptors come with the TLER disabled. If you want TLER on when you put your Raptors in a RAID then you must use the utility. There are reports of better Raptor performance with TLER enabled.



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[traveler]

Not my email. It's someone else's. But here are the instructions for all who need them. From an October 2006 email:


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Message from WD:

Thank you for your reply.

Attached is the WD TLER Utility. You’ll need to perform the following steps to disable TLER on our SATA drives.

1.Create a DOS-bootable floppy

Title: Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk
URL: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...s/renken1.mspx

2.Unzip the contents of “WDTLER.zip” to the boot floppy
3.Insert the boot floppy into the computer with the WD SATA drives
4.Boot the computer off the floppy
5.At the DOS prompt, type “TLER-OFF” and press ENTER
6.Wait for the program to finish and then remove the boot floppy
7.Restart the computer with the WD SATA drives


Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com

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[traveler]

Further information from the help screen of the utility. (not my capture although I will check it out when my drives arrive)


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F:\WD_TLER\WDTLER>wdtler /?
WDTLER Version 1.03
Copyright (C) 2004-2006 Western Digital Corporation
Western Digital Time Limit Error Recovery Utility
Using DT32.LIB version 08A

Syntax:
WDTLER [-R<time>] [-W<time>] [-?]
Parameters:
-R<time> Set read TLER seconds. Use 0 to disable.
-W<time> Set write TLER seconds. Use 0 to disable.

/? This help screen.


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[pepsi_max2k]

for anyone else wondering, it's here: RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

and it worked on my WD2500SB drive too, an IDE, RE drive.

[PeterT]

Thanks for the link. I have a Raptor and an RE drive running as single drives, NON-RAID. Should I use this utility?

[pepsi_max2k]

Probably best to, although I've read that having TLER stop inbuilt error correction after 7 secs is actually a technically superior way of functioning (then OS then marks the sectors as bad and doesn't write to them, instead of the drive pretending they're ok or something like that...) but given that all desktop drives have it turned off, and WD themselves are pretty forward about not using it on non-raid systems, you may as well shut it off.

You need to make a DOS boot floppy first:
Microsoft Corporation

Then copy the extracted wdtler files to the disk, boot from it, and...

wdtler
wdtler -r0 -w0
wdtler -r7 -w7

The first will list the current TLER status of all drives, the second can be used to turn it off on all drives, and the third will turn it on on (i think all) drives. At least I couldn't see a way of selecting between individual drives when I ran it.

[PeterT]

hmm...
I created the floppy and ran "TLERSCAN". The Raptor shows DISABLED, but the RE shows ENABLED. The program crashes when it finishes scanning the drives. I am afraid to run "TLER-OFF", because it may crash and possible damage my drive(s).

[pepsi_max2k]

try running "wdtler" instead, TLERSAN/ON/OFF do the same thing but through a bat file. also try a different floppy disc. could also try with just the RE drive connected, and running "wdtler -r0" then "wdtler -w0" to turn off read & write one at a time.

[PeterT]

Odd. No matter the boot disk image, floppy disk or the copy of wdtler.zip I used, it would crash after running the scan. But, I ran it with "-r0 -w0" and it worked. TLER is now disabled on both drives. Thanks.

[polonyc2]

huh?...so do I need to disable TLER with my new WD RE2 WD5001ABYS drive?

EDIT: after researching some more online looks like I do need to disable TLER...I wonder if it now comes disabled by default with the newer models...thanks for the info traveler

[polonyc2]

checked the TLER settings on my new WD5001ABYS Enterprise hard drive and it comes with TLER Read and Write enabled for 7 seconds

that TLER utility works beautifully and is easy to use...I didn't even know about disabling TLER until after reading this thread...seems like it doesn't get the attention it deserves...more people need to know about it and disable it if you are planning on using it in a single drive system

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