I'm running CentOS 5 with a PATA hard drive. I've used hdparm to tune the hard disk for better performance, but there are 2 settings that don't work:hdparm -M 254 /dev/hdagives the errorHDIO_DRIVE_CMD:ACOUSTIC failed: Input/output errorandhdparm -d1 /dev/hdagives the errorHDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permittedWhat do I need to check to set these? It's already old hardware so anything I can do to squeeze out more performance would be helpful.Thanks.By request, here is the output of hdparm -iI /dev/hda and cat /proc/ide/hda/settingsDMA and acoustic settings do exist but I just can't set them successfully. Here is the output:[root@hptest ~]# hdparm -iI /dev/hda/dev/hda: Model=ST3500320AS, FwRev=SD15, SerialNo=9QM6WHGY Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: unknown:  ATA/ATAPI-4 ATA/ATAPI-5 ATA/ATAPI-6 ATA/ATAPI-7 * signifies the current active modeATA device, with non-removable media        Model Number:       ST3500320AS        Serial Number:      9QM6WHGY        Firmware Revision:  SD15Transport: SerialStandards:        Supported: 8 7 6 5        Likely used: 8Configuration:        Logical         max     current        cylinders       16383   65535        heads           16      1        sectors/track   63      63        --        CHS current addressable sectors:    4128705        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)Capabilities:        LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)        Queue depth: 32        Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum        R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 16        Recommended acoustic management value: 254, current value: 0        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4             Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120nsCommands/features:        Enabled Supported:           *    SMART feature set                Security Mode feature set           *    Power Management feature set           *    Write cache           *    Look-ahead           *    Host Protected Area feature set           *    WRITE_BUFFER command           *    READ_BUFFER command           *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE                SET_MAX security extension           *    48-bit Address feature set           *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set           *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE           *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT           *    SMART error logging           *    SMART self-test           *    General Purpose Logging feature set           *    64-bit World wide name           *    Write-Read-Verify feature set           *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE command           *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands           *    SATA-I signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)           *    SATA-II signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)           *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)           *    Phy event counters           *    Software settings preservationSecurity:        Master password revision code = 65534                supported        not     enabled        not     locked        not     frozen        not     expired: security count                supported: enhanced erase        102min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 102min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.Checksum: correct[root@hptest ~]# cat /proc/ide/hda/settingsname                    value           min             max             mode----                    -----           ---             ---             ----acoustic                0               0               254             rwaddress                 1               0               2               rwbios_cyl                60801           0               65535           rwbios_head               255             0               255             rwbios_sect               63              0               63              rwbswap                   0               0               1               rcurrent_speed           0               0               70              rwfailures                0               0               65535           rwinit_speed              0               0               70              rwio_32bit                0               0               3               rwkeepsettings            0               0               1               rwlun                     0               0               7               rwmax_failures            1               0               65535           rwmultcount               0               0               16              rwnice1                   1               0               1               rwnowerr                  0               0               1               rwnumber                  0               0               3               rwpio_mode                write-only      0               255             wunmaskirq               0               0               1               rwusing_dma               0               0               1               rwwcache                  1               0               1               rw[root@hptest ~]#
CentOS 5 - hdparm - how to set DMA mode
centos;disk;hdparm;tuning