Re: [PATCH #upstream-fixes 1/4] libata: fix device iteration bugs

[Mark Lord <liml@rtr.ca>]

Mark Lord wrote:
> Michael Guntsche wrote:
>> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:38:30 -0500, Mark Lord <liml@rtr.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> One more:  Let's see "hdparm -N" for that drive
>>> (note to self: add -N functionality to -I someday..).
>>
>> /dev/sda:
>>  max sectors   = 66055248/15723600, HPA setting seems invalid
>>
>> Hmm, is the "HPA setting seems invalid" an indication that this drive 
>> is clamped?
> ..
> 
> It's definitely clamped, but that output is a sign that you
> may need a newer version of hdparm -- could you try that again
> using hdparm-9.3 from sourceforge?
..

To clarify, the second number reported should NEVER be less than
the first number.  If it is, then there's a bug in the low-level
libata driver for your SATA/IDE controller -- it's not returning
the high-order-bytes from the SAT command.  Several drivers had
this bug until 2.6.27 or so, and some may still misbehave.

A newer version of hdparm will verify that, and also show the correct
value (hopefully) obtained via a completely different mechanism.

Thanks