From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Wed Nov 23 08:52:19 2011
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4D69A106566C
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:52:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ml@netfence.it)
Received: from cp-out7.libero.it (cp-out7.libero.it [212.52.84.107])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C10438FC18
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:52:18 +0000 (UTC)
X-CTCH-Spam: Unknown
X-CTCH-RefID: str=0001.0A0B0206.4ECCB441.0205,ss=1,re=0.000,fgs=0
X-libjamoibt: 1555
Received: from soth.ventu (151.41.193.58) by cp-out7.libero.it (8.5.133)
	id 4E9539DD060EADCA; Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:52:17 +0100
Received: from alamar.ventu (alamar.ventu [10.1.2.18])
	by soth.ventu (8.14.5/8.14.4) with ESMTP id pAN8qEbl022859;
	Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:52:14 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from ml@netfence.it)
Message-ID: <4ECCB43E.7080403@netfence.it>
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:52:14 +0100
From: Andrea Venturoli <ml@netfence.it>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; it-IT;
	rv:1.9.2.24) Gecko/20111110 Thunderbird/3.1.16
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Pegasus Mc Cleaft <ken@mthelicon.com>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
References: <4EC38D1C.30205@netfence.it> <005601cca452$3a21f800$ae65e800$@com>
	<4EC3A608.8010905@netfence.it>
	<006101cca459$1e2dbba0$5a8932e0$@com>
In-Reply-To: <006101cca459$1e2dbba0$5a8932e0$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.72 on 10.1.2.13
Cc: 
Subject: Re: ATA trouble again
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:52:19 -0000

On 11/16/11 13:13, Pegasus Mc Cleaft wrote:
>>> or do you know if the drives are using 4096 bytes Per sector?
>>>
>> How do I find out without physical access to the box?
>
> 	The only way to be sure is to look at the datasheet for the drive. If the drives are SMART capable, you can always load Smart Monitoring Tools (/usr/ports/sysutils/smartmontools) and have it report the make and model of the drive. Just be careful, the report from the SMART data will more than likely show the drive as 512 Logical and Physical access (Even if they are not)

So: the specs, smartctl and diskinfo all say sectors are 512 bytes.

I tried disabling AHCI in the BIOS and, for now, this seems to work better.
I'll keep you informed if troubles persist.

  bye & Thanks
	av.