[mythtv-users] Gotchas replacing FC6 disk with new one?

[Craig Huff]

On Dec 8, 2007 12:13 PM, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam at courier-mta.com> wrote:
>
> Look in /var/log/messages to confirm that the kernel sees the new drive.
>
> Use fdisk to create a new partition table on the new drive. You may need to
> wipe it first:
>
> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
>
> Watch the device name. One typo and you'll nuke your current drive's
> partition table.
>

Still no luck.  /var/log/messages includes these lines:
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: SCSI device sda: 976773168 512-byte
hdwr sectors (500108 MB)
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: SCSI device sda: write cache:
enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: SCSI device sda: 976773168 512-byte
hdwr sectors (500108 MB)
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: SCSI device sda: write cache:
enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel:  sda: unknown partition table
Dec  7 18:54:18 localhost kernel: sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda

So it appears to me that it's working and recognized.  Here's what happened
when I tried fdisk before and after using dd:
[root at penguin ~]# fdisk /dev/sda

Unable to read /dev/sda
[root at penguin ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
dd: writing `/dev/sda': Input/output error
1+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes (0 B) copied, 0.0490544 seconds, 0.0 kB/s
[root at penguin ~]# fdisk /dev/sda

Unable to read /dev/sda

FWIW, hdparm shows the right Model Number, etc., and since
this is the first time there's ever been a SATA drive in the system,
I take that as a good sign.  Here's the configuration data I get
from hdparm:
[root at penguin ~]# hdparm -I /dev/sda|tail -57|head -11
Configuration:
        Logical         max     current
        cylinders       16383   16383
        heads           16      16
        sectors/track   63      63
        --
        CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
        LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
        LBA48  user addressable sectors:  976773168
        device size with M = 1024*1024:      476940 MBytes
        device size with M = 1000*1000:      500107 MBytes (500 GB)

Yet, with all this, I still can't figure out how to make this drive usable.
Should I take the system down and put the jumper back in to throttle
the drive back to SATA 150 speed instead of SATA 300?

Is there something else we haven't discussed yet?

At this point, I don't even have straws to grasp at anymore, so any
advice is welcome.

Craig.