busTRACE 6.0 can capture I/O activity to devices that process Command Descriptor Blocks (CDBs) such as hard drives, CD/DVD/HD/BD drives, tape drives, and more. Under Windows 2000 (and above, It can also capture all low-level USB Request Blocks (URBs) that Windows generates.

The very first time you run the busTRACE Capture Client, you will be asked to select which types of I/O activity you are interested in capturing. You can also get to this option from Configure button on the initial wizard screen that appears.

Select the types of I/O activity you are interested in capturing and then click on Next to continue. If you chose to capture storage class I/O activity, you will then be given the option of choosing the bus architectures you would like to capture.

All low-level storage class I/O activity (i.e. CDBs, SRBs, IOCTLs)

Windows supports a wide variety of storage class devices such as hard drives, tape drives, CD/DVD drives, jukeboxes, and more. To communicate with these devices, Windows drivers build up SCSI Request Blocks (SRBs). Do not be confused by the term "SCSI" within the term SCSI Request Block. SRBs are used to communicate with devices across a wide variety of bus architectures including SCSI, ATAPI, ATA, Serial ATA, Fibre Channel, 1394, USB, iSCSI, SAS, RAID, and more. Details on the SRB structure can be found in Microsoft's Windows Driver Development Kit.

Embedded within an SRB is a Command Descriptor Block (CDB). A CDB defines the command and its options being sent to a device (e.g. Test Unit Ready, Request Sense, etc.). The device's command specifications define which commands are supported and their behavior. Command specifications are typically available through industry standards organizations such as the Incits T10 Technical Committee (http://www.t10.org).

By placing a checkmark next to this option, you are configuring busTRACE to capture all storage class I/O activity on the computer.

All low-level USB bus activity (i.e. USB Request Blocks, URBs)

Windows supports a wide variety of USB devices such as keyboards, mice, cameras, network adapters, hard drives, and more. With the proper software, there are no limits as to the types of USB devices you can hook up to your computer. USB software drivers set up USB Request Blocks (URBs) to send requests to the USB controller driver which then sends them to the actual USB device. The URB structure defines a format for all possible commands that can be sent to a USB device.

By placing a checkmark next to this option, you are configuring busTRACE to capture all low-level USB I/O activity on the computer.

busTRACE is especially powerful if you want to capture I/O activity on a USB storage class device such as a flash drive or CD/DVD device. Not only will you be able to see all the SRBs/CDBs being sent to the device, but also the underlying URBs that will be built and sent to process the SRBs/CDBs.

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