Messages in this thread | | | From | Oliver Tennert <> | Subject | IDE disk and HPA | Date | Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:17:04 +0200 |
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Hello,
I have a question concerning the handling of HPA (Host-protected areas) in current Linux kernels.
Have a look at drivers/ide/ide-disk.c:
static inline void idedisk_check_hpa(ide_drive_t *drive) { unsigned long long capacity, set_max; int lba48 = idedisk_supports_lba48(drive->id);
capacity = drive->capacity64; if (lba48) set_max = idedisk_read_native_max_address_ext(drive); else set_max = idedisk_read_native_max_address(drive);
if (set_max <= capacity) return;
printk(KERN_INFO "%s: Host Protected Area detected.\n" "\tcurrent capacity is %llu sectors (%llu MB)\n" "\tnative capacity is %llu sectors (%llu MB)\n", drive->name, capacity, sectors_to_MB(capacity), set_max, sectors_to_MB(set_max));
if (lba48) set_max = idedisk_set_max_address_ext(drive, set_max); else set_max = idedisk_set_max_address(drive, set_max); if (set_max) { drive->capacity64 = set_max; printk(KERN_INFO "%s: Host Protected Area disabled.\n", drive->name); } }
Do I interpret it right that the following is done in the above function:
1.) The current capacity of the disk is detected. 2.) The "native max. address size" of the disk is detected and stored in set_max. 3.) If capacity < set_max then it is rightly stated that an HPA is detected. 4.) If an HPA is detected, then that HPA is disabled, i.e. the maximum address size is set to the "native max. address size". Afterwards, the HPA is no more!
My question is now: why is an HPA disabled i.e. disprotected when detected? Why not let the HPA alone, because a certain set of disk sectors shall not be accessible by the OS?
Best regards
Oliver --
Acid -- better living through chemistry. -- __ ________________________________________creating IT solutions
Dr. Oliver Tennert Senior Solutions Engineer CAx Professional Services science + computing ag phone +49(0)7071 9457-598 Hagellocher Weg 71-75 fax +49(0)7071 9457-411 D-72070 Tuebingen, Germany O.Tennert@science-computing.de www.science-computing.de
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