NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     ata, ar, acd, ad, afd, ast -- generic ATA/ATAPI disk controller driver

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     For ISA based ATA/ATAPI support:
     device isa
     device ata

     In /boot/device.hints:
     hint.ata.0.at="isa"
     hint.ata.0.port="0x1f0"
     hint.ata.0.irq="14"
     hint.ata.1.at="isa"
     hint.ata.1.port="0x170"
     hint.ata.1.irq="15"

     For PC98 based ATA/ATAPI support:
     device isa
     device ata

     In /boot/device.hints:
     hint.atacbus.0.at="isa"
     hint.atacbus.0.port="0x640"
     hint.atacbus.0.irq="9"

     For PCI based ATA/ATAPI support:
     device pci
     device ata

     To support ATA compliant disk drives:
     device atadisk

     To support ATA software RAID's:
     device ataraid

     To support ATAPI CDROM, DVD and CD/DVD burner drives:
     device atapicd

     To support ATAPI floppy drives:
     device atapifd

     To support ATAPI tape drives:
     device atapist

     The following tunables are settable from the loader:

     hw.ata.ata_dma
     set to 1 for DMA access, 0 for PIO (default is DMA).

     hw.ata.atapi_dma
     set to 1 for DMA access, 0 for PIO (default is PIO).

     hw.ata.wc
     set to 1 to enable Write Caching, 0 to disable (default is enabled).
     WARNING: can cause data loss on power failures.

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The ata driver provides access to ATA (IDE) and SerialATA disk drives,
     ATAPI CDROM/DVD drives, ZIP/LS120 ATAPI drives and ATAPI tape drives connected
 to controllers according to the ATA/ATAPI standards.

     The currently supported ATA/SATA controller chips are:

     Acard:	     ATP850P, ATP860A, ATP860R, ATP865A, ATP865R
     ALI:	     Aladdin (ALi5229) compatible chips.
     AMD:	     AMD756, AMD766, AMD768, AMD8111.
     CMD:	     CMD646, CMD648, CMD649.
     Cypress:	     Cypress 82C693.
     Cyrix:	     Cyrix 5530.
     HighPoint:      HPT302, HPT366, HPT366, HPT368, HPT370, HPT371, HPT372,
		     HPT374.
     Intel:	     PIIX, PIIX3, PIIX4, ICH, ICH0, ICH2, ICH3, ICH4, ICH5.
     National:	     SC1100.
     nVidia:	     nForce, nForce2, nForce3.
     Promise:	     PDC20246, PDC20262, PDC20263, PDC20265, PDC20267,
		     PDC20268, PDC20269, PDC20270, PDC20271, PDC20275,
		     PDC20276, PDC20277, PDC20318, PDC20319, PDC20371,
		     PDC20375, PDC20376, PDC20377, PDC20378, PDC20379,
		     PDC20617, PDC20618, PDC20619, PDC20620.
     ServerWorks:    ROSB4, CSB5, CSB6.
     Silicon Image:  SiI0680, SiI3112, SiI3114.
     SiS:	     SIS5513, SIS530, SIS540, SIS550, SIS620, SIS630, SIS630S,
		     SIS633, SIS635, SIS730, SIS733, SIS735, SIS745, SIS961,
		     SIS962, SIS963, SIS964
     VIA:	     VT82C586, VT82C586B, VT82C596, VT82C596B, VT82C686,
		     VT82C686A, VT82C686B, VT8231, VT8233, VT8233A, VT8233C,
		     VT8235, VT8237.

     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 limitted to UDMA33, as it is not known
     what the chipset can do and how to program it.

     The ata driver can change the transfer mode and various other parameters
     when the system is up and running.  See atacontrol(8).

     The 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.

     ATAPI devices are set to PIO mode by default because severe DMA problems
     are common even if the device capabilities indicate support.  You can
     always try to set DMA mode on an ATAPI device using atacontrol(8), but be
     aware that your hardware might not support it and can potentially hang
     the entire system causing data loss.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /dev/ad*		     ATA disk device nodes
     /dev/ar*		     ATA RAID device nodes
     /dev/acd*		     ATAPI CD-ROM device nodes
     /dev/afd*		     ATAPI floppy drive device nodes
     /dev/ast*		     ATAPI tape drive device nodes
     /sys/i386/conf/GENERIC  sample generic kernel config file for ata based
			     systems

NOTES    [Toc]    [Back]

     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.

     Static device numbering (enabled with the ATA_STATIC_ID kernel option)
     reserves a number for each possibly connected disk, even when not
     present.  This is useful in hotswap senarios where disks should always
     show up as the same numbered device, and not depend on attach order.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     atacontrol(8), burncd(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The ata driver first appeared in FreeBSD 4.0.

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Soren Schmidt <sos@FreeBSD.org>.


FreeBSD 5.2.1		       November 4, 2003 		 FreeBSD 5.2.1