[kde-linux] non KDE linux question

[Gaffer.]

Hi David,

On Tuesday 17 March 2009 10:36, david wrote:
> James Richard Tyrer wrote:
> > david wrote:
> >> Sorry for a non-KDE question ...
> >>
> >> I have some PATA > SATA adapters (to connect IDE hard drives to
> >> SATA connectors).

I use similar devices for service and maintenance.

> >> According to the vendor, neither the adapters 
> >> nor the drives attached to them will appear in the BIOS,

If I plug a PATA drive into the SATA adaptor it shows up just fine in 
the BIOS.  The only ones that don't are the USB -> SATA !  Having said 
that I can boot from a USB attached PATA drive but not a SATA one !

> >> but they 
> >> should appear to the OS. Their example is (of course)
> >> Windows-based, but the devices require and provide no drivers. I
> >> particularly picked these adapters because one of the reviewers
> >> who had bought one was booting Linux from a drive attached to the
> >> adapter ...

Was he using USB or was he actually plugged into the motherboard SATA ?
I suspect the former !

> >> So how can I figure out where the drives attached to these devices
> >> are showing up, so I can add them to fstab?
> >
> > You shouldn't have to figure that out.  These are hardware adapters
> > and I don't think that they have a driver.  You plugged the adapter
> > into a IDE socket so it is still the same device.  All you need to
> > figure out is how the Linux SATA driver works.

I agree !

> > Before you can add 
> > anything to fstab, you will need to find it and partition it with
> > fdisk.

I'd still be a bit miffed though !

> I simply need to find them. All the drives in question were in use in
> my server on the previous motherboard (one of them is the old system
> drive), all partitioned, etc. They're not showing up, period.

Can you try the kit out on a Wins machine and confirm that they work as 
advertised ?  Otherwise I would be returning the kit as faulty !

> The only thing I can report about the Linux SATA driver running there
> is it finds the one native SATA drive on ata1 and uses it just fine
> as /dev/sda. dmesg shows the system then checks ata2/3/4 and reports
> those SATA links down. The IDE drive attached to the motherboard's
> one IDE controller appears as /dev/hda and is not either of the 2
> missing drives.

The more I study your post the more I think that the kit is faulty !

> fdisk -l reports only the sda and hda drives mentioned above.
>
> I get the same results using either the recently-updated Debian 5
> system installed on it, or the December 2008 Sidux DVD ...
>
> Does the SATA driver have options or something like that needed to
> actually support more than one SATA port or something????

Sorry I can't offer anything more at the moment.

-- 
Best Regards:
             Derrick.