Alan Perry wrote:
> Nothing to add to the discussion. Just wanted to get the submitter on
> the Reply-all list.
>
> Bill Sommerfeld wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 2007-11-19 at 11:53 -0800, Garrett D'Amore wrote:
>>
>>
>>> My main fear here is that we are creating yet another knob, with
>>> little explanation, and no automation behind it. But maybe I'm
>>> missing something here. If indeed there is no automatic selection
>>> behind it, then I fear the end result will just be more confusion
>>> and trouble amongst users.
>>>
>>
>> This is a "let's pretend the disk is smaller" interface.
>> I think this needs to be visible, and probably also settable, through at
>> least format(1m); ata.conf is not the right granularity for an
>> administrative interface.
>> one other data point: if I'm not mistaken at least some TiVo DVRs
>> shipped with this value (or at least some very similar drive-shrinking
>> parameter) set on its internal drive. I had to code up an
>> implementation for NetBSD to back up my ancient TiVo Series 1 hard
>> drive).
>>
>>
I still believe that Linux's behavior in this regard is fundamentally a bug.
Is there a way to inquire/detect the fact that the HPA has been
temporarily disabled and will be restored on reboot? If so, then
perhaps the ata driver can refuse to report the HPA area to the
operating system, regardless of whether it is enabled or not?
Since the details of the HPA are recorded in flash, then I believe if we
did the above thing (detect temporary disabling of HPA and treat it as
if the HPA were still active), then we'd be in good shape across reboots.
Now it may also be true that there is a desire to manage the presence of
the persistent HPA as well. I believe that should, as Bill points out,
be handled in format(1m), ideally. I do not believe that retaining
state in driver.conf files for this is ever likely to be the best
answer, since that is really just a second copy of the state that the
firmware is already keeping (and the potential for problems when the two
copies disagree then arises.)
-- Garrett
