Fixing a UGREEN 30353 USB-SATA Adapter That Detects a 6TB HDD as Only 1.6TB

How an Innostor IS611 firmware update from 0923 to 0937 restored full capacity detection.

Tags: #hardware #firmware #debugging #storage

The problem

I wanted to wipe a 6TB Western Digital Red HDD (WD60EFAX) using ShredOS and a UGREEN 30353 USB 3.0-to-SATA/IDE adapter.

But something was wrong.

Instead of the expected 6TB, the drive appeared as approximately 1603GB.

At first, I suspected a partition table issue or a limitation in ShredOS. However, Windows reported the same incorrect capacity.

That suggested the problem was happening below the operating system, most likely inside the USB-to-SATA bridge.

The hardware

Component	Model
USB adapter	UGREEN 30353
USB bridge controller	Innostor IS611
USB VID:PID	1F75:0611
Hard drive	WD Red WD60EFAX
Drive capacity	6TB
Original firmware	0923
Updated firmware	0937

Investigating the USB controller

Using Linux, I identified the USB device:

lsusb

The relevant USB ID was:

1f75:0611

This identifies an Innostor IS611 USB storage bridge.

I also inspected the USB device descriptor:

lsusb -v -d 1f75:0611

The controller reported:

bcdDevice 0.06
iSerial   20170420

The bcdDevice value is a USB descriptor version, not necessarily the actual firmware revision.

To find the firmware revision, I needed the manufacturer's production tool.

Why 1603GB was suspicious

The unusual capacity was an important clue.

A 6TB disk contains approximately 6 trillion bytes. With 512-byte logical sectors, its sector count exceeds the range of a 32-bit unsigned integer.

If a bridge truncates the sector count to 32 bits, the remaining reported capacity can be calculated as:

capacity = 6_000_000_000_000
sector_size = 512

sectors = capacity // sector_size
reported = (sectors % (2**32)) * sector_size

print(reported)

This produces a capacity of approximately 1.602TB.

That was remarkably close to the 1603GB reported by both Windows and ShredOS.

It suggested a 32-bit sector-count truncation or related firmware addressing bug.

This was a diagnostic hypothesis, not proof of the controller's internal implementation.

Finding the Innostor firmware tool

I found the following third-party package:

Innostor IS611 MPTool v1.0.3

https://flashboot.ru/files/file/654/

The package included a firmware image named:

611ExFW_09_37.BIN

Warning: This is not an official UGREEN firmware release. Flashing firmware from third-party sources can permanently disable your adapter. I cannot guarantee that the same firmware is compatible with other hardware revisions.

Reading the installed firmware

After connecting the adapter to Windows and launching the MPTool, it detected the IS611 controller.

The tool displayed:

Chip Value:
Firmware: 0923

Update Value:
Firmware: 0937

This confirmed that the adapter was running firmware 0923 and that the tool was configured to install 0937.

The firmware version was read directly from the controller, rather than inferred from its USB descriptor.

Updating the firmware

I disconnected the hard drive from the adapter before flashing.

The MPTool configuration was:

Setting	Value
Profile	IS611
Setup Type	Update Setting & FW
SPI Flash Size	512 Kbit
Firmware	611ExFW_09_37.BIN
Verify Chip	Enabled
MP mode	Enabled

These are the settings used in my successful test, not universal recommendations. In particular, the SPI flash size must match the actual hardware.

The firmware update completed with:

PASS
Chip Done

After disconnecting and reconnecting the adapter, I scanned it again.

The tool now reported:

Chip Value:
Firmware: 0937

The firmware update had persisted successfully.

The result: Full 6TB capacity!

I reconnected the WD60EFAX and ran the following command in Windows PowerShell:

Get-Disk | Format-Table Number,FriendlyName,Size,BusType

The result:

Number FriendlyName                 Size BusType
------ ------------                 ---- -------
0      WD Blue SN570 250GB  250059350016 NVMe
1      Innostor Ext. HDD   6001175126016 USB

6,001,175,126,016 bytes!

The same adapter that previously exposed only approximately 1.6TB now reported the full capacity of the disk.

I then booted ShredOS natively again.

It also displayed approximately 6001GB.

Test	Firmware 0923	Firmware 0937
Windows capacity	~1603GB	~6001GB
ShredOS capacity	~1603GB	~6001GB
USB controller detected	Yes	Yes

The firmware update resolved the capacity-detection problem in this particular setup.

Important limitations

A correct capacity report does not by itself prove that every sector can be read and written reliably.

I have not established that firmware 0937 fixes every large-drive compatibility issue, nor that it is safe for all UGREEN 30353 hardware revisions.

Also, USB-to-SATA bridges may restrict ATA pass-through functionality. If you need ATA Secure Erase or another drive-level sanitization feature, a direct SATA connection may be preferable.

For secure data erasure, use an appropriate method and verify the completed operation.

Conclusion

This was a surprisingly satisfying hardware debugging exercise.

The initial symptom looked like a defective disk or a storage-tool limitation. Instead, the problem was resolved by updating the Innostor IS611 USB bridge firmware from 0923 to 0937.

The key lesson: When a large SATA disk reports a strangely specific smaller capacity through USB, investigate the bridge controller and its firmware before blaming the disk or partition table.

Hardware: UGREEN 30353 + WD60EFAX 6TB

Controller: Innostor IS611 (1F75:0611)

Firmware: 0923 → 0937

Result: 1603GB → 6001GB

If you've encountered the same issue with an Innostor-based adapter, I'd be interested to hear which firmware revision and drive capacity you're using.