Recognize hard drives

d4n1l0d · Post by **d4n1l0d** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 5:45 pm

How to recognize hard drives of my PC? ( How much they are, if they are ATA, SCSI, etc... )

pcmattman · Post by **pcmattman** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:03 pm

Find the ATA specification, and read through it. It has everything you need to know about hard drive access (unless it's SCSI... I have no idea about them).

I'd also suggest looking at the "LBA HDD access" tutorial on osdever.net. Don't use it for code, but look at the ports it references and match them with the ones in the specification. For instance, 0x1F0 is (usually) the data register for the primary controller.

exkor · Post by **exkor** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:07 pm

you do scan of all pci devices first, sample code is here http://www.osdev.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14204

then read specs about controller/device that you found

d4n1l0d · Post by **d4n1l0d** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:57 pm

OK, thanks

Brynet-Inc · Post by **Brynet-Inc** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:29 pm

It's easy to differentiate between a "hard drive" and a "soft drive", if you open your computer case and see a device that's soft and squishy, you can conclude it's not a "hard drive".

On a slightly more serious note lol.. PATA and SATA..
EDIT: Removed 2015: Imageshack replaced all links with spam.

pcmattman · Post by **pcmattman** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:31 pm

Brynet-Inc wrote:It's easy to differentiate between a "hard drive" and a "soft drive", if you open your computer case and see a device that's soft and squishy, you can conclude it's not a hard drive.

How on earth does this relate at all to the topic of discussion?

Brynet-Inc · Post by **Brynet-Inc** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:34 pm

pcmattman wrote:How on earth does this relate at all to the topic of discussion?

I was considerably bored, let me have my fun...

earlz · Post by **earlz** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:43 pm

...(lol)
I once bought a C++D drive....it wasn't what I was hoping for though