RE: ATA Speed

["Jeff S Wheeler" <jsw@five-elements.com>]

You can use the hdparm utility to discover what mode your disks are
operating in.  Notice the second-to-last line that begins with 'DMA modes:'.
The '*' next to udma4 indicates it is operating in that mode, which equates
to something commonly called ATA/66.  :-)

intrepid:/home/jsw# hdparm -i /dev/hdc

/dev/hdc:

 Model=Maxtor 96147U8, FwRev=BAC51KJ0, SerialNo=N8046RBC
 Config={ Fixed }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=57
 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=2048kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=120060864
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 *udma4
 Kernel Drive Geometry LogicalCHS=7473/255/63

- jsw


-----Original Message-----
From: R K [mailto:microkernel@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 6:49 PM
To: debian-isp@lists.debian.org
Subject: ATA Speed


Does the following mean that Linux is only using my ide bus at ata33 speeds?
Or more accurately not using the full ata100 mode?

ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx

I've seen nothing from dmesg to indicate that it's doing otherwise.  Does it
configure it as 33 and then still use it to it's full potential or does it
impose restrictions on itself?  Even if this doesn't have anything to do
with it, how would I verify that Linux is using the hardware to its full
potential?

Thanks in advance