Re: qtparted and kernel disagree about partitions
On Thu, 4 Mar 2010 15:58:02 -0500 (EST), David Goodenough wrote:
> I found Host Protected Area on Google, and it said I could turn it off
> using hdparm, but when I try it says:-
>
> hdparm -N /dev/hda
>
> /dev/hda:
> The running kernel lacks CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL support for this device.
> READ_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS_EXT failed: Invalid argument
>
> Do we need another option turned on in the kernel?
Make sure you really know what you're doing if you disable detection
of a system-protected area. If it really is a system-protected area,
it's protected for a reason, and you ought not to let Linux use it.
I'm thinking way back to the IBM PS/2 model 9577 that I used to have.
This machine has a microchannel bus. It had a "system partition"
on the (SCSI) hard disk that contained what used to be on the "reference
diskette" and "advanced diagnostic diskette" on older PS/2 models. It
contained things such as the advanced BIOS routines (BIOS routines designed
to be called from protected mode -- intended for use by OS/2),
the BIOS setup program, microchannel configuration utilities,
diagnostic and testing routines, etc.
If you wipe that out, the
machine cannot boot *anything* EXCEPT a valid reference
diskette -- a diskette containing what the system partition should
contain. I had to backup the system partition to diskettes
(using IBM's internal backup utility) prior to upgrading to a bigger
hard disk, then boot the reference diskette just created and
re-create the system partition on the new hard disk after installing it.
If I didn't follow that special procedure, my machine was a brick.
Things are done differently now, of course, but the point is "don't
mess with a system protected area unless you really know what you are
doing". Maybe this is something else, but be sure first.
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