Arch Linux

tomp

Member

Registered: 2006-07-02

Posts: 7

Kernel 2.6.20 - device naming - all hdx devices are now sdx/srx?

I just upgraded my Arch system (Voodoo 0.8), including the kernel to kernel26  (2.6.20.1-1)  from 2.6.17.

I'm noticing now that all devices that used to be hdx devices (hda, hdb etc) are now either sdx or srx.

Here's the contents of /sys/block, first for the old 2.6.17 kernel, and then with the new 2.6.20 kernel. I removed
ramx and loopx devices from the output below for brevity and clarity.

ls -l  /sys/block  (2.6.17)
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Feb 28 10:38 hda
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Feb 28 10:38 hdb
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 0 Feb 28 10:38 sda
drwxr-xr-x  9 root root 0 Feb 28 15:38 sdb
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Feb 28 15:38 sdc

ls -l /sys/block  (2.6.20)
drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 0 Feb 28 10:30 sda
drwxr-xr-x  9 root root 0 Feb 28 10:31 sdb
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Feb 28 10:31 sdc
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Feb 28 10:30 sr0
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 0 Feb 28 10:30 sr1

sda, sdb,sdc are correct - they are USB devices and shoud be sdx
Edit:  correction: sda is a SATA hard drive (not USB)

However hda became sr0, and hdb became sr1 (these are ATAPI CD/DVD burners)

On another system, an IDE hard drive (normally hda) became sda.

Since this data is taken right from /sys/block, the device naming is coming directly from the kernel and is not related to udev etc. Is everyone seeing this with 2.6.20? In other words, is this normal for the newer kernels, or is there something in the Arch config that causes this.

All installed packages are up to date as of today (standard Voodoo 0.8 system )

Last edited by tomp (2007-02-28 21:11:41)

surfer_rosa

Member

From: Glasgow, UK

Registered: 2005-02-21

Posts: 43

Re: Kernel 2.6.20 - device naming - all hdx devices are now sdx/srx?

Yeah this has happened to me as well.

My IDE CD drive is still hda but my sata CD drive has gone from an sdc to an sr0.

byte

Member

From: Düsseldorf (DE)

Registered: 2006-05-01

Posts: 2,046

Re: Kernel 2.6.20 - device naming - all hdx devices are now sdx/srx?

Have a look at http://www.archlinux.org/news/

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1000

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Kernel 2.6.20 - device naming - all hdx devices are now sdx/srx?

http://www.archlinux.org/news/272/

tomp

Member

Registered: 2006-07-02

Posts: 7

Re: Kernel 2.6.20 - device naming - all hdx devices are now sdx/srx?

http://www.archlinux.org/news/272/

Thanks for the replies everyone....and the links

I guess I skipped over the kernel where this change kicked in (2.6.19) so it took me by surprise.

At least I know it's not just me having one of those days. I'm working on s special purpose live-cd (and using a modified Arch kernel on it), where the naming changes will confuse some people (not to mention me). Guess i'll have to read up on this and see what I can work out...

Tom

iBertus

Member

From: Greenville, NC

Registered: 2004-11-04

Posts: 2,228

Re: Kernel 2.6.20 - device naming - all hdx devices are now sdx/srx?

You could use persistent naming to prevent future changes from being an issue. There is an article in the wiki about this particular topic.