HDD

This article Article description::describes the setup of an internal SATA or PATA (IDE) rotational hard disk drive.

Hardware detection
To choose the right driver, first detect the used storage controller. can be used for this task:

(At runtime) show identification and feature info (replace  with the right device):

For more detailed information see the hdparm article.

BIOS
For AHCI SATA controllers, check the system's BIOS or firmware to see if if AHCI has been activated.

Kernel
Activate the following kernel options:

Configuration
Generally when configuring a hard disk drive one or more partition will need to be created and filesystem written into them.

Usage
Filesystems can be mounted in several ways. Notable methods include:


 * The command.
 * file - Automatic mount at boot time (does not support on demand mount).
 * removable media - Automated mount on demand.
 * AutoFS - Automated mount on demand.

Troubleshooting

 * See Libata error messages
 * See E2fsprogs/badblocks

External resources

 * libata wiki