SCSI Mode Sense Command

The SCSI Mode Sense command is used to obtain current device information from mode pages in a SCSI target device. There are two different versions of the command, a 6 byte version and a 10 byte version.

The CDB structure for the Mode Sense(6) command is:

bit→
↓byte

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

Operation code = 1Ah

1

LUN

Reserved

DBD

Reserved

2

PC

Page code

3

Reserved

4

Allocation length

5

Control

The CDB structure for the Mode Sense(10) command is:

bit→
↓byte

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

0

Operation code = 5Ah

1

Reserved

LLBAA

DBD

Reserved

2

PC

Page code

3

Reserved

4

Reserved

5

Reserved

6

Reserved

7–8

Allocation length

9

Control

The special control fields in the CDB have the following meaning:

  • LLBAA - Long LBA Accepted - if "1" then the target is allowed to return parameter data with the LONGLBA bit set to "1"
  • DBD - Disable Block Descriptors - if "1" then the target must not return any block descriptors
  • PC - Page control -
    • 00 - return current values
    • 01 - return changeable values
    • 10 - return default values
    • 11 - return saved values
  • Page Code - see the separate Wikipedia page for a list of mode pages