Hello Arnd,

Here are the hdparm and smartctl outputs for the first card I tested (Transcend ultra 2GB Industrial 'CF100BA8'). There seems to be no dma mode there, only PIO.

Philippe

tmp179:~ # cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name

8 0 244198584 sda 8 1 2103296 sda1 8 2 20972544 sda2 8 16 1990296 sdb tmp179:~ # hdparm -i /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:

Model=PIO, FwRev=20100202, SerialNo=20100716 CF100BA8 Config={ HardSect NotMFM Fixed DTR>10Mbs } RawCHS=3949/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=576, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=DualPort, BuffSize=1kB, MaxMultSect=1, MultSect=off CurCHS=3949/16/63, CurSects=3980592, LBA=yes, LBAsects=3980592 IORDY=no, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) Drive conforms to: Unspecified: ATA/ATAPI-4

* signifies the current active mode

tmp179:~ # hdparm -I /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:

CompactFlash ATA device Model Number: PIO Serial Number: 20100716 CF100BA8 Firmware Revision: 20100202 Standards: Supported: 4 Likely used: 6 Configuration: Logical max current cylinders 3949 3949 heads 16 16 sectors/track 63 63 -- CHS current addressable sectors: 3980592 LBA user addressable sectors: 3980592 Logical/Physical Sector size: 512 bytes device size with M = 1024*1024: 1943 MBytes device size with M = 1000*1000: 2038 MBytes (2 GB) cache/buffer size = 1 KBytes (type=DualPort) Capabilities: LBA, IORDY(may be)(cannot be disabled) Standby timer values: spec'd by Vendor R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 1 Current = 0 Advanced power management level: disabled DMA: not supported PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns Commands/features: Enabled Supported: * SMART feature set Security Mode feature set Power Management feature set WRITE_BUFFER command READ_BUFFER command NOP cmd CFA feature set Advanced Power Management feature set * Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s) * CFA Power Level 1 (max 500mA) Security: Master password revision code = 65534 supported not enabled not locked not frozen not expired: security count not supported: enhanced erase 2min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. Integrity word not set (found 0x0000, expected 0x52a5) tmp179:~ # smartctl --all -T permissive /dev/sdb smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] (SUSE RPM) Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: PIO Serial Number: 20100716 CF100BA8 Firmware Version: 20100202 User Capacity: 2,038,063,104 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 4 ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated Local Time is: Fri Mar 18 11:35:28 2011 CET SMART support is: Ambiguous - ATA IDENTIFY DEVICE words 85-87 don't show if SMART is enabled. Checking to be sure by trying SMART RETURN STATUS command. SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x26) Offline data collection activity is in a Reserved state. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 3) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x00) Offline data collection not supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0002) Does not save SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x00) Error logging NOT supported. No General Purpose Logging support.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 1 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 2 Throughput_Performance 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 43 195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0000 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0

Warning: device does not support Error Logging Error SMART Error Log Read failed: Input/output error Smartctl: SMART Error Log Read Failed Warning: device does not support Self Test Logging Error SMART Error Self-Test Log Read failed: Input/output error Smartctl: SMART Self Test Log Read Failed Device does not support Selective Self Tests/Logging tmp179:~ #