Arch Linux

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

How to enable UDMA6?

Alright, my Samsung SP0411N is an ATA-133 drive, supporting UDMA mode 6. But using hdparm -i or -I on the drive does not show support for UDMA6, trying to enable UDMA6 via hdparm invariably fails, and my BIOS doesn't have options for specific DMA modes, only for automatic selection of a DMA mode if available.

What's going wrong here? Is UDMA6 simply not supported by Linux? Is BIOS support for it not common? Do standard 80-wire IDE ribbons not work for it?

Neuro

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2005-10-12

Posts: 352

Re: How to enable UDMA6?

If your drive says it doesn't support udma6 mode, there isn't much you can do about it. hdparm takes it's data straight from the drive and I guess the disks internals know best what they're capable of. And it's not a matter of 80-wire cables, since they should do just fine.

AFAIK UDMA6 (ATA133) was always some sort of a marketing phrase. Many controllers/drives were sold saying they support it, while in reality they didn't.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: How to enable UDMA6?

Ooh... But you can't claim to do something and then not do it... That's fraud! :shock: Nothing got done about this? :shock:

(Then again, nothing gets done about homeopathy, so... :? )

Lone_Wolf

Member

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 11,911

Re: How to enable UDMA6?

Check if your chipset supports ATA 133.
for example  , i have a VIA KT266 chipset, which is limited to ATA 100.
A friend of mine has a KT266A chipset, which DOES handle ATA 133.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: How to enable UDMA6?

Biostar M7VIG 400 with MK266, which does indeed support UDMA6. From Biostar's page on it:

• IDE:
4 x EIDE Devices
Ultra DMA33/66/100/133

Unless they're lying of course.