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From: John Dyson <dyson@dyson.iquest.net>
Message-Id: <199608301721.MAA00826@dyson.iquest.net>
Subject: Re: strange error with WD family disk
To: jack@xtalwind.net (jack)
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 12:21:38 -0500 (EST)
Cc: mnewell@newell.arlington.va.us, dyson@FreeBSD.org, igor@cs.ibank.ru,
        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org
In-Reply-To: <Pine.FBS.3.95.960830100144.1044A-100000@zeus.xtalwind.net> from "jack" at Aug 30, 96 10:09:11 am
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> > 
> >   wdc0: unit 0 (wd0): <Maxtor 72004 A>
> >   wd0: 1916MB (3924144 sectors), 3893 cyls, 16 heads, 63 S/T, 512 B/S
> >   wdc0: unit 1 (wd1): <Maxtor 72004 A>
> >   wd1: 1916MB (3924144 sectors), 3893 cyls, 16 heads, 63 S/T, 512 B/S
> > 
> > I saw the problem once after upgrading to 2.1.5 but it does not seem to 
> > have recurred.  The surfaces do not appear to have been damaged at all; 
> > at least I've not lost any files and the systems seem to recover fine.
> > 
> > Anyone else see this with Maxtor drives?
> 
> I have the same thing with WD drives but it isn't the drives.  It started
> when I updated my motherboard.  The damned "Energy saver" BIOS is
> powering down the drives.  I've diabled power management, enabled it and
> disabled powering down the drives, and it still insists on spinning them
> down.  :(
> 
If you are powering down the drives, then there might still be the problem
of the drive writing before it is ready.  Note that the drive can 'remember'
it's power down setup .  The bios doesn't come into play except at startup
where the drive can be "set-up."  We could disable the power down setup in the
wd driver, but that could be counter-productive for some.

John