How can I "ignore"a dying hard drive?

[(``-_-´´) -- Fernando]

You can also use hdparm to turn the drive off.
just look at the man

On 6/26/07, Scott (angrykeyboarder) <geekboy at angrykeyboarder.com> wrote:
> I've got 4 identical internal drives (Maxtor 7Y25050 - 250 GB SATA
> 1.5GB/s - if anyone cares).
>
> One of them is dying and has been for some time.
>
> I've not been in the position to replace it. That will hopefully change
> next week when I come into some funds.
>
> Weeks ago I was in Windows and was warned the drive was dying (which
> made sense cuz it suddenly gotten *very* slow with I/O. It was
> NTFS-formatted and used for storage only. Luckily it was empty at the time.
>
> So now the drive is completely unformatted and not being used. Windows
> seems to be able to live with that just fine but Ubuntu is another story.
>
> Every time I boot I get one or more of the following:
>
> 1) A console screen full of I/O error gibberish (why I don't know the
> drive is not formatted at all).
> 2) Usplash starts and barely moves along. After a few minutes I'm either
> thrown to the console (see above) or I actually end up at (finally!) the
> GDM.
> 3) Usplash starts, barely moves along (maybe 1/10 of the way) and after
> a few minutes I'm back at a completely blank console screen with a "__"
> flashing cursor.
>
> In all cases but #2, I have to restart the computer only to have the
> same thing happen again. However *eventually* (after anywhere from say
> 3-10 tries) I manage to arrive at the GDM.
>
> Yes, I know I should just replace the offending drive, but it's a
> lack-o-funds thing, combined with unexpected expenses.
>
> But it seems to me if Windows can ignore this drive, then Ubuntu should
> be able to also.
>
> Here's some more detail:
>
> My motherboard is an ASUS A8V Deluxe with a ViA chipset.  That chipset
> has an onboard SATA controller *and* a Promise 378 SATA controller.
>
> The Promise has the bad drive plus the drive with (only) Ubuntu on it.
>
> The ViA has Windows on one drive and a second drive formatted in NTFS
> for storage.
>
> Any suggestions as to how I can get Ubuntu to ignore the bad drive till
> I can get it replaced?
>
> Oh and here's the output of "fdisk-l" if it's any help...
>
> Disk /dev/sda: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sda1   *           1       30516   245114880    7  HPFS/NTFS
>
> Disk /dev/sdb: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdb2   *           2       30515   245103705    5  Extended
> /dev/sdb5               2       30515   245103673+   7  HPFS/NTFS
>
> Disk /dev/sdc: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
>
> Disk /dev/sdd: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdd1   *           1       29759   239039136   83  Linux
> /dev/sdd2           29760       30515     6072570    5  Extended
> /dev/sdd5           29760       30515     6072538+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
>
> Disk /dev/sdi: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
> 64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 238475 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdi2   *           2      238475   244197376    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
> /dev/sdi5               2      238475   244197360    b  W95 FAT32
>
> Disk /dev/sdj: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/sdj1   *           1       32636   262148638+   7  HPFS/NTFS
> /dev/sdj2           32637       60801   226235362+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
> /dev/sdj5           32637       39163    52428096    b  W95 FAT32
> /dev/sdj6           39164       60801   173807203+  83  Linux
>
> ----------------------------------
>
> /dev/sdi and sdj are external drives. I have no idea why there's no
> /dev/sdf-h.....
>
>
>
> --
>             Scott
> http://angrykeyboarder.com
> (c)2007 angrykeyboarder™ & Elmer Fudd. All Wites Wesewved
>
>
> --
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>
>
>


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