Ubuntu Manpage: ata — generic ATA/SATA controller driver

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NAME

       ata — generic ATA/SATA controller driver

SYNOPSIS

To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

device scbus
device ata
options ATA_CAM

Alternatively, to load the driver as set of modules at boot time, place some of the following lines in
loader.conf(5):

ata_load="YES"

atacard_load="YES"
ataisa_load="YES"
atapci_load="YES"

ataacard_load="YES"
ataacerlabs_load="YES"
ataadaptec_load="YES"
ataahci_load="YES"
ataamd_load="YES"
ataati_load="YES"
atacenatek_load="YES"
atacypress_load="YES"
atacyrix_load="YES"
atahighpoint_load="YES"
ataintel_load="YES"
ataite_load="YES"
atajmicron_load="YES"
atamarvell_load="YES"
atamicron_load="YES"
atanational_load="YES"
atanetcell_load="YES"
atanvidia_load="YES"
atapromise_load="YES"
ataserverworks_load="YES"
atasiliconimage_load="YES"
atasis_load="YES"
atavia_load="YES"

The first line is for the common hardware independent code, and is a prerequisite for the other modules.
The next three lines are generic bus-specific drivers. Of the rest, ataahci is the AHCI driver. The
others are vendor-specific PCI drivers. The ATA_CAM option should always remain in the kernel
configuration, to make the driver work as a CAM(4) subsystem module.

The following tunables are settable from the loader(8):

hw.ahci.force
set to nonzero value for forcing drivers to attach to some known AHCI-capable chips even if they are
configured for legacy IDE emulation (the default is 1, force the attach).

hw.ata.ata_dma_check_80pin
set to 0 to disable the 80pin cable check (the default is 1, check the cable).

hint.atapci.X.msi
set to 1 to allow Message Signalled Interrupts (MSI) to be used by the specified PCI ATA controller, if
supported.

hint.ata.X.devX.mode
limits the initial ATA mode for the specified device on the specified channel.

hint.ata.X.mode
limits the initial ATA mode for every device on the specified channel.

hint.ata.X.pm_level
controls SATA interface Power Management for the specified channel, allowing some power savings at the
cost of additional command latency. Possible values:
0 Interface Power Management is disabled. This is the default value.
1 The device is allowed to initiate a PM state change; the host is passive.
2 The host initiates a PARTIAL PM state transition every time a port becomes idle.
3 host initiates SLUMBER PM state transition every time port becomes idle.
Modes 2 and 3 are only supported for AHCI.

hint.ata.X.devX.sata_rev
limits the initial SATA revision (speed) for the specified device on the specified channel. Values 1, 2
and 3 are respectively 1.5, 3 and 6Gbps.

hint.ata.X.sata_rev
Same, but for every device on the specified channel.

DESCRIPTION

The ata driver gives the CAM(4) subsystem access to the ATA (IDE) and SATA ports of many generic
controllers. Depending on the controller, each PATA (IDE) port or each one or two SATA ports are
represented to CAM as a separate bus with one or two targets. Most of the bus-management details are
handled by the ATA/SATA-specific transport of CAM. Connected ATA disks are handled by the ATA protocol
disk peripheral driver ada(4). ATAPI devices are handled by the SCSI protocol peripheral drivers cd(4),
da(4), sa(4), etc.

This driver supports ATA, and for the most of controllers, ATAPI devices. Command queuing and SATA port
multipliers are not supported. Device hot-plug and SATA interface power management is supported only on
some controllers.

The ata driver can change the transfer mode when the system is up and running. See the negotiate
subcommand of camcontrol(8).

The ata driver sets the maximum transfer mode supported by the hardware as default. However, the ata
driver sometimes warns: “DMA limited to UDMA33, non-ATA66 cable or device”. This means that the ata
driver has detected that the required 80 conductor cable is not present or could not be detected
properly, or that one of the devices on the channel only accepts up to UDMA2/ATA33. The
hw.ata.ata_dma_check_80pin tunable can be set to 0 to disable this check.

HARDWARE

       The currently supported ATA/SATA controller chips are:

       Acard:          ATP850P, ATP860A, ATP860R, ATP865A, ATP865R.
       ALI:            M5228, M5229, M5281, M5283, M5287, M5288, M5289.
       AMD:            AMD756, AMD766, AMD768, AMD8111, CS5536.
       ATI:            IXP200, IXP300, IXP400, IXP600, IXP700, IXP800.
       CMD:            CMD646, CMD646U2, CMD648, CMD649.
       Cypress:        Cypress 82C693.
       Cyrix:          Cyrix 5530.
       HighPoint:      HPT302, HPT366, HPT368, HPT370, HPT371, HPT372, HPT372N, HPT374.
       Intel:          6300ESB,  31244, PIIX, PIIX3, PIIX4, ESB2, ICH, ICH0, ICH2, ICH3, ICH4, ICH5, ICH6, ICH7,
                       ICH8, ICH9, ICH10, SCH, PCH.
       ITE:            IT8211F, IT8212F, IT8213F.
       JMicron:        JMB360, JMB361, JMB363, JMB365, JMB366, JMB368.
       Marvell         88SX5040, 88SX5041, 88SX5080, 88SX5081, 88SX6041, 88SX6042, 88SX6081, 88SE6101, 88SE6102,
                       88SE6111, 88SE6121, 88SE6141, 88SE6145, 88SX7042.
       National:       SC1100.
       NetCell:        NC3000, NC5000.
       nVidia:         nForce, nForce2, nForce2 MCP, nForce3, nForce3 MCP, nForce3 Pro, nForce4,  MCP51,  MCP55,
                       MCP61, MCP65, MCP67, MCP73, MCP77, MCP79, MCP89.
       Promise:        PDC20246, PDC20262, PDC20263, PDC20265, PDC20267, PDC20268, PDC20269, PDC20270, PDC20271,
                       PDC20275, PDC20276, PDC20277, PDC20318, PDC20319, PDC20371, PDC20375, PDC20376, PDC20377,
                       PDC20378, PDC20379, PDC20571, PDC20575, PDC20579, PDC20580, PDC20617, PDC20618, PDC20619,
                       PDC20620, PDC20621, PDC20622, PDC40518, PDC40519, PDC40718, PDC40719.
       ServerWorks:    HT1000, ROSB4, CSB5, CSB6, K2, Frodo4, Frodo8.
       Silicon Image:  SiI0680, SiI3112, SiI3114, SiI3124, SiI3132, SiI3512.
       SiS:            SIS180, SIS181, SIS182, SIS5513, SIS530, SIS540, SIS550, SIS620, SIS630, SIS630S, SIS633,
                       SIS635, SIS730, SIS733, SIS735, SIS745, SIS961, SIS962, SIS963, SIS964, SIS965.
       VIA:            VT6410,  VT6420,  VT6421,  VT82C586, VT82C586B, VT82C596, VT82C596B, VT82C686, VT82C686A,
                       VT82C686B, VT8231, VT8233, VT8233A, VT8233C, VT8235, VT8237,  VT8237A,  VT8237S,  VT8251,
                       CX700, VX800, VX855, VX900.

       Some  of  above  chips  are also supported by the more featured ahci(4), mvs(4), and siis(4) drivers.  If
       both drivers are loaded at the same time, those will have precedence.

       Unknown ATA chipsets are supported in PIO modes, and if the standard busmaster DMA registers are  present
       and  contain  valid  setup, DMA is also enabled, although the max mode is limited to UDMA33, as it is not
       known what the chipset can do and how to program it.

NOTES

       Please remember that in order to use UDMA4/ATA66 and above  modes  you  must  use  80  conductor  cables.
       Please  assure  that  ribbon  cables  are no longer than 45cm.  In case of rounded ATA cables, the length
       depends on the quality of the cables.  SATA cables can be up to 1m long according to  the  specification.
       External  SATA  cables  can  be  2m  long  and  more,  but  not all controllers work well on long cables,
       especially at high speeds.

HISTORY

       The ata driver first appeared in  FreeBSD  4.0.   It  was  turned  into  a  CAM(4)  interface  module  in
       FreeBSD 9.0.

AUTHORS

       Alexander Motin ⟨mav@FreeBSD.org⟩,
       Søren Schmidt ⟨sos@FreeBSD.org⟩

Debian                                           October 3, 2012                                          ATA(4)