Fsys.ata

Driver for ATA fixed-disk interface (QNX)

Syntax:

Fsys.ata [options...]

Options:

-a controller

Assume the controller is at this address (default is 1f0 hex).

-B

Ignore BIOS settings for the drive.

-c drivespec

Assume these parameters for the drive. You specify these in the following format:

• heads,cylinders,sectors[,disknum]

You must include heads, cylinders, and sectors. If you omit disknum, unit 0 is assumed. (Default: autodetect)

-f fsysname

Registered name of filesystem process to attach to. (qnx/fsys32)

-i irq

Assume the controller is using this interrupt (default is 14).

-m maxsize

Allow no more than this many blocks to be transferred from the disk to memory in one operation (default is 127).

-M multi_limit

Maximum number of blocks per interrupt. (Default: maximum supported by the drive.)

-n device_name

Assign this name to the block special device associated with the hard disk. The default is hd, which yields a device name of /dev/hdn, where n is a unit number assigned by Fsys.

-N version_name

Assign this unique version name to this invocation of the driver. The name can be from 1 to 11 characters in length. (Default: IDE)

-p

Program the drive to use the highest I/O mode it is capable of.

-R nretries

Number of times to retry bad blocks (default 1)

-v

Verbose -- report information about drives on startup.

-V

Do not scan for CMD-640 VL interface.

Description:

Fsys.ata is the driver for the AT-Attachment (ATA) disk drive interface. This technology integrates the traditionally host-based controller electronics within the drive itself.

Note: If you are installing multiple OSs on the drive, make sure all OSs use a compatible mode. For example, if your drive is >=528Mb and DOS will also be installed on the drive, the driver should be configured to use LBA.

In order to obtain drive parameters, Fsys.ata examines values established by the BIOS of your computer. If necessary, you can override these default parameters with the -c option.

Fsys.ata will use LBA if the drive supports it. If the -p option is specified, the driver will use the highest PIO mode supported by the drive.

LBA is required if the drive is greater than 528M and DOS has been installed on the drive.

To define the largest single read or write the driver will support, use the -m maxsize option; the default value for this option is 127.

To help prevent you from unintentionally starting the same driver twice, Fsys rejects the invocation of any driver that has the same version name as a previously mounted driver. So if you wish to run multiple copies of Fsys.ata, you must use the -N version_name option to assign a unique version name to the driver. (You can display the version name of a driver with the sin ver command.) You should also use the -n device_name option to specify a unique device name, since another driver may have already created the default device name.

Caveats:

Some IDE drives don't match the draft standard that Fsys.ide assumes (AT Attachment Interface for Disk Drives, Rev 4, March 17, 1993). If a drive won't function with Fsys.ide, please inform our technical support group. We'll need the make, model, and year of purchase of your drive.

Don't use slay to shut down a filesystem driver! If you do, new drivers may not be able to load properly and Fsys itself may experience internal errors.

If you need to shut down a filesystem driver, follow the steps in the "Driver shutdown" section in the documentation for Fsys.

See also:

Blkfsys, Fsys, Fsys.*