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Tyler Erickson edited this page Feb 11, 2026 · 3 revisions

Welcome to openSeaChest!

Thank you for choosing openSeaChest for your storage device management needs. Whether you're diagnosing drive health, updating firmware, or performing advanced configurations, these command-line tools provide comprehensive capabilities across SATA, SAS, NVMe, and USB devices.

This wiki will help you use openSeaChest effectively and also educate you about how modern storage devices work and the features they implement. If you are new to command-line tools, we have included guides to help you get started. Experienced users will find detailed documentation for all 200+ commands throughout this wiki.

We appreciate your feedback and contributions to make these tools even better. Please do not hesitate to ask questions in Issues or Discussions!

Important: Always maintain current backups of your data. While many commands are completely data-safe, others (like firmware updates or secure erase) will modify your drive. Please review each command's documentation carefully before use.

🚀 New User? Start Here!

Get your first success in under 5 minutes! Here's how to scan for drives and check basic health:

Step 1: Download and Install

  • Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
  • Extract the tools to a directory of your choice (e.g., Documents/openSeaChest)

Step 2: Open Command Line with Administrator/Root Privileges

  • Windows: Right-click Command Prompt or PowerShell → "Run as Administrator"
  • Linux/BSD: Open terminal and use sudo before commands

Step 3: Scan for Your Drives

# Navigate to openSeaChest directory first
openSeaChest_Basics -s

This command scans and lists all detected storage devices with their handles (e.g., /dev/sg0 on Linux, PD0 on Windows).

Step 4: Check Drive Health

# Replace <deviceHandle> with your drive (e.g., /dev/sg0 or PD0)
openSeaChest_SMART --device <deviceHandle> --smartCheck

This performs a quick SMART health check and tells you if your drive is healthy.

Next Steps: For detailed guidance on using command-line tools, see Introduction To Command Line Tools.

🎯 What Do You Need to Do?

🏠 Home & NAS Users

Common tasks for home users and lab administrators:

🏢 Enterprise & Data Centers

Automation and scale for system administrators:

🔧 Solve a Specific Problem

Quick links to common operations:

💡 Why Choose openSeaChest?

openSeaChest is the storage expert so you do not have to be. Instead of requiring deep knowledge of low-level ATA, SCSI, or NVMe command sets, openSeaChest provides task-focused utilities that handle the complexity for you.

Key Advantages

🎯 Task-Focused Design

  • 18 specialized utilities organized by what you want to accomplish (check health, erase data, update firmware, configure settings)
  • No need to know which specific SCSI or ATA command to issue - just choose the utility that matches your goal
  • Consistent command-line interface across all utilities and device types

🌐 True Cross-Platform

  • Same commands work identically on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFlyBSD, Solaris, and Illumos
  • Single tool for managing storage across your entire infrastructure
  • Extensive USB device support with compatibility testing (PassthroughTest utility)

🔄 Unified Interface Across Device Types

  • One set of commands works across ATA/SATA, SCSI/SAS, and NVMe devices
  • openSeaChest translates your intent into the correct low-level commands for each interface
  • No need to learn different tools or syntax for different drive types

📊 Comprehensive Feature Set

  • 200+ commands covering diagnostics, configuration, firmware, security, erasure, and more
  • Advanced features: FARM logs, SCSI reservations, Zoned Block Devices (ZAC/ZBC), raw command passthrough
  • Enterprise and home user features in one toolset

How openSeaChest Compares

Aspect openSeaChest smartctl sg3_utils hdparm nvme-cli
Learning curve Task names (--smartCheck, --sanitize) Need to know monitoring concepts Need to know SCSI command names Need to know ATA registers Need to know NVMe admin commands
Cross-platform Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris Yes (cross-platform) Linux primarily, some BSD Linux only Linux primarily
Cross-interface ATA + SCSI + NVMe in same tool ATA + SCSI + NVMe (different syntax each) SCSI focus (some ATA via SAT) ATA/SATA only NVMe only
USB support Extensive testing & workarounds Basic Basic No passthrough No passthrough
Firmware updates ATA, SCSI, NVMe No Yes (sg_write_buffer) Yes (ATA only) Yes (NVMe only)
FARM logs Yes Yes No No No
Task organization 18 specialized utilities by task Single tool ~80 utilities by SCSI command Single tool Single tool
Raw commands Yes (openSeaChest_Raw for all interfaces) Limited Yes (SCSI commands) Limited ATA Yes (NVMe commands)

Note: We have the utmost respect for smartctl, sg3_utils, hdparm, sdparm, nvme-cli, and camcontrol. These are excellent, proven tools used by professionals worldwide. Each has strengths - smartctl's monitoring focus, sg3_utils' comprehensive SCSI coverage, nvme-cli's NVMe expertise. openSeaChest complements them by providing a task-focused, cross-platform approach where you do not need to be a low-level command expert to accomplish your goals.

�️ Platform Support

openSeaChest runs on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFlyBSD, Solaris, Illumos, and more. Support varies by operating system and interface type (SATA/SAS vs NVMe), with most platforms providing comprehensive support.

For detailed platform compatibility matrices, known limitations, and interface-specific notes, see the Platform Compatibility Tables in README.md.

�📚 Explore the Wiki

Getting Started:

Drive Health & Diagnostics:

Security & Data Erasure:

Advanced Topics:

Reference:

🤝 About the Team

openSeaChest is written by Seagate's Field Tools team. This team specializes in assisting customers with software to diagnose drive issues, configure drives for use with various features, sanitize and repurpose drives, and much more.

This team writes openSeaChest, SeaChest, SeaTools, Seagate internal test software, return site software, and custom software for customers as needed.

All these different use-cases and system requirements have led this team to write cross-platform software that meets customer needs no matter their environment.

🔗 Additional Resources

Building from Source - Compile instructions Contributing Guide - Help improve openSeaChest

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