Re: Device timeout reading fsbn ...

["Thomas Mueller" <mueller6725%twc.com@localhost>]

mueller6725%twc.com@localhost ("Thomas Mueller") writes, and Michael van Elst responds:

> >> sysctl -w hw.wd0.use_ncq=0

> >Actually that would be wd1 in my case as opposed to wd0, but is there any danger in using this sysctl, could it make the hard drive go bad more quickly?

> There is no danger, it prevents the driver from queuing more than one
> request to the drive. That's how older netbsd versions behaved.

> While a bad disk can't be ruled out, I tend to suspect a firmware or
> driver bug that gets exercised with NCQ. That would explain why there
> is no error with older netbsd.


> >I guess I still need to move things over to the Hitachi hard drive, including user data that could not be reinstalled.

> Backing up the data is of course the first thing. But please also check
> the disk with smartmontools or 'atatctl wd1 smart status' to see if itself
> reports problems.

Do you know when (what version) NCQ was introduced to NetBSD?  Was it before or after 7.99.1?

What is atatctl?  "which atatctl" shows nothing.  Is atatctl part of smartmontools?

I don't have smartmontools installed but could run it from the System Rescue CD or build in NetBSD (or FreeBSD or Linux?) on the Hitachi hard drive.

Firmware or driver bug could explain why the Western Digital Green hard drive might be adversely affected but not all other hard drives.

I believe Western Digital discontinued the Green hard drives because of technical or performance problems.

Tom