Re: IDE HPA

[Bill Davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>]

Jeff Garzik wrote:

> It seems to me that one should write an ATA-specific Device Mapper 
> driver, which layers on top of an ATA disk.  The driver obtains the 
> starting location of HPA, then exports two block devices:  one for the 
> primary data area, and one for the HPA.

I've stayed out of this, but that sounds like a perfect solution to move 
the choice back to the user. However, installers still need to be aware 
of it at initial Linux install, and give the user some rational options:
   - ignore it
   - leave alone but visible
   - blow it away and use the whole drive

It feels as if that's where the future disposition needs to be made. I 
do like treating the HPA as a separate drive though.
> 
> For situations where we want the start Linux philosophy -- Linux exports 
> 100% of the hardware capability -- no DM layer needs to be used.  For 
> situations where its better to treat the HPA as a separate and distinct 
> area, the DM driver would come in handy.
> 
> This follows the same philosophy as fakeraid (BIOS RAID):  we simply 
> export the entire disk, and Device Mapper (google for 'dmraid') handles 
> the vendor-proprietary RAID metadata.

-- 
    -bill davidsen (davidsen@tmr.com)
"The secret to procrastination is to put things off until the
  last possible moment - but no longer"  -me