Is there way to read sectors from SATA drive without ECC correction?

I know, there was such possibility like that in old ATA standards: "READ LONG" command produced LBA sector + ECC payload. sg_read_long supports in in linux, but the command is obsolete for quite a long time, so I'm not surprised, that my HDD does not implement it.

root@ubuntu:~# sg_read_long --lba=2118229 /dev/sdc
sg_read_long: issue read long (10) to device /dev/sdc
    xfer_len=520 (0x208), lba=2118229 (0x205255), correct=0
  SCSI READ LONG (10) command not supported
root@ubuntu:~# sg_read_long -v --16 --lba=2118229 /dev/sdc
sg_read_long: issue read long (16) to device /dev/sdc
    xfer_len=520 (0x208), lba=2118229 (0x205255), correct=0
    Read Long (16) cmd: 9e 11 00 00 00 00 00 20 52 55 00 00 02 08 00 00 
read long (16):  Fixed format, current;  Sense key: Illegal Request
 Additional sense: Invalid field in cdb
  SCSI READ LONG (16) command, bad field in cdb

Here is hdparm dump too:

root@ubuntu:~# hdparm -I /dev/sdc

/dev/sdc:

ATA device, with non-removable media
    Model Number:       WDC WD30EZRX-00MMMB0                    
    Serial Number:      WD-WCAWZ1777146
    Firmware Revision:  80.00A80
    Transport:          Serial, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6, SATA Rev 3.0
Standards:
    Supported: 8 7 6 5 
    Likely used: 8
Configuration:
    Logical     max current
    cylinders   16383   16383
    heads       16  16
    sectors/track   63  63
    --
    CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
    LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
    LBA48  user addressable sectors: 5860533168
    Logical  Sector size:                   512 bytes
    Physical Sector size:                  4096 bytes
    Logical Sector-0 offset:                  0 bytes
    device size with M = 1024*1024:     2861588 MBytes
    device size with M = 1000*1000:     3000592 MBytes (3000 GB)
    cache/buffer size  = unknown
Capabilities:
    LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
    Queue depth: 32
    Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum
    R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 0
    DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 
         Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
    PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
         Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
    Enabled Supported:
       *    SMART feature set
            Security Mode feature set
       *    Power Management feature set
       *    Write cache
       *    Look-ahead
       *    Host Protected Area feature set
       *    WRITE_BUFFER command
       *    READ_BUFFER command
       *    NOP cmd
       *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
            Power-Up In Standby feature set
       *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up
            SET_MAX security extension
       *    48-bit Address feature set
       *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
       *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
       *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
       *    SMART error logging
       *    SMART self-test
       *    General Purpose Logging feature set
       *    64-bit World wide name
       *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
       *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
       *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
       *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
       *    Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)
       *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
       *    Host-initiated interface power management
       *    Phy event counters
       *    NCQ priority information
            DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
       *    Software settings preservation
       *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
       *    SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2)
       *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
       *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
            unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)
            unknown 206[13] (vendor specific)
Security: 
    Master password revision code = 65534
        supported
    not enabled
    not locked
    not frozen
    not expired: security count
        supported: enhanced erase
    508min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 508min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 50014ee25bc950c2
    NAA     : 5
    IEEE OUI    : 0014ee
    Unique ID   : 25bc950c2
Checksum: correct

I want to read several sectors without ECC to create better dump of half-dead HDD.

Another part of story is ATAPI-8 command set. It declares SCT Read/Write Long command that works when when IDENITFY DEVICE data word 106 bit 12 is cleared to zero according to T13/1699-D Revision 6a, Working Draft AT Attachment 8 - ATA/ATAPI Command Set (ATA8-ACS). This bit is set to 1 iff Device Logical Sector longer than 256 Words.

OTOH, it works only with 512-byte sectors, so I don't understand if it works when ECC/CRC is applied to 4k sectors.


Short answer: NO.

SCT Read/Write Long is obsoleted by T13/e08153r1 ACS-2 Obsolete SCT Read and Write Long. T13/2015-D Revision 4, Working Draft ATA/ATAPI Command Set - 2 (ACS-2) dated December 7, 2010 already marks this command as obsolete.

The T13/e08153r1 states the reason being for removal of Read/Write Long commands:

Recent changes in recording technology have made the idea of a host being able to actually force its own error correction/detection data to the device meaningless.

See http://www.t13.org/documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2009/e08153r1-Obsolete_SCT_Read_Long_and_SCT_Write_Long.pdf and http://www.scribd.com/doc/88224835/Ataatapi-Command-Set-2-Acs-2-Rev4 fot details.

End of story.

P.S. SCT LBA Segment Access (AC2) should really be SCT Write Same (AC2) in hdparm dump :)