[syslinux] Intel Z-U130 SSD

Robert DeLaGarza rdelagar at gmail.com
Fri Jun 13 15:03:02 PDT 2008


>
> There are some firmware problems with some SSDs.  I don't know anything
> about the Z-U130 SSD, including whether it's a relabeling of another
> manufacturer's drive.  I do know about this one:
>
>  MemTech AT2550 Wolverine 2.5" IDE Solid State Drive
>
> The problem is MemTech's mis-reading of the ATA specs, resulting in an
> "off-by-one" error.  What happens is that when inquiring about the
> last block address, the drive returns the number of blocks, not the
> address of the last block.  Since blocks are numbered starting at 0,
> not 1, you get an off-by-one error.  When you try to access the "last
> block", you are actually past the end of the disk.
>
> This has been fixed in recent versions of MemTech's SSDs.
>


Interesting--thanks!  This would explain an error message I recall
seeing when I tested GRUB.  I'll see if I can duplicate it and get the
exact text.  I also have to wonder if things like internal wear
leveling algorithms come into play here.

I should note that this Intel SSD also has an entry in the Linux
'drivers/usb/core/quirks.c' file.  I doubt it's related to the problem
I'm having, though.




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