Optical bay caddy HDD not recognized in Debian, but it is in Windows

andrei.wap · 01-25-2019, 03:29 PM

Hi there.
I have a Lenovo B50-70, with an SSD (let's call it "A") installed and working on the laptop SATA bay.
I have replaced my optical drive with a HDD (let's call it "B") fitted into a caddy.
BIOS didn't list the B disk. As you can read on Internet, this is a common problem with some BIOS/laptops and optical bay caddies.
I installed a Windows and Debian testing on A disk. Debian can't recognize the B disk, as expected, and that's filtered dmesg output about it:

dmesg | grep -E "ata|ATA"

Code:

[    1.268959] libata version 3.00 loaded.
[    1.285286] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0300 32 slots 4 ports 6 Gbps 0x3 impl SATA mode
[    1.287183] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xb261b000 port 0xb261b100 irq 44
[    1.287184] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xb261b000 port 0xb261b180 irq 44
[    1.287185] ata3: DUMMY
[    1.287185] ata4: DUMMY
[    1.604683] ata1: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)
[    1.606141] ata1.00: ATA-11: WDC WDS500G2B0A-00SM50, X61130WD, max UDMA/133
[    1.606147] ata1.00: 976773168 sectors, multi 1: LBA48 NCQ (depth 32), AA
[    1.608334] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
[    1.618918] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      WDC WDS500G2B0A- 30WD PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    3.829368] ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 1 SControl 300)
[    4.051917] EXT4-fs (sda5): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[    4.804937] EXT4-fs (sda6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)

At this point, nothing illogical at all.
But what really pissed me off was... Windows 7/8 can see it! It has no problem with the unit, it doesn't hang, and all normal operations can be done without surprises. (No reports or or warning messages also).
A little inspection shows that the Windows driver is the same as the A disk, nothing exotic, just a standard Microsoft driver.
So... It will be possible to configure Debian to do whatever Windows is doing to access the drive?

Notes:
Some data:

Kernel image: 4.19.0-1-amd54
BIOS version is at latest release: 3.04
Windows driver files: disk.sys, EhStorClass.sys, partmgr.sys, all version 10.0.16299 from Microsoft
It doesn't matter which drive is actually in which place: BIOS just detect the "normal" bay disk, same about Debian.
BIOS has very few items to tweak, it is just ugly. Changing UEFI/Legacy and Secure Boot / Non-secure boot didn't change a thing, anyway.

Thanks in advance.

ondoho · 01-26-2019, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrei.wap

BIOS didn't list the B disk.

hard to believe that windows sees it, but if you say so.

please show us

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

PS:
grep -E "ata|ATA"
is almost the same as
grep -i ata

andrei.wap · 01-27-2019, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

hard to believe that windows sees it, but if you say so.

Thank you for your reply.
Keep in mind that I don't know if BIOS can actually detect it. What I meant to say is that it is not listed in the BIOS UI.
BTW, I know nothing about how BIOS interact with operative systems or how OSs detect and load devices, sorry if I'm being a little confusing.

As you requested, "fdisk -l" output:

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WDS500G2B0A-
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x019745eb

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *         2048    206847    204800  100M  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848 201328639 201121792 95.9G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       201328640 402655231 201326592   96G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       402657278 528533503 125876226   60G  5 Extended
/dev/sda5       402657280 469764095  67106816   32G 83 Linux
/dev/sda6       469766144 494940159  25174016   12G 83 Linux
/dev/sda7       494942208 528533503  33591296   16G 82 Linux swap / Solaris

ondoho · 01-28-2019, 12:54 AM

apparently there's only one hard drive in your machine.

it must be the optical bay caddy that is not recognized properly on Linux.

can you unplug it while the system (Linux) is running?
if you can please do so.
then enter 'dmesg -w'.
then re-plug the caddy and wait half a minute.
then show us everything NEW that appeared after you plugged it in.

andrei.wap · 01-29-2019, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

then show us everything NEW that appeared after you plugged it in.

Your're gonna love this: absolutely nothing. Nothing at unplug, nothing when I plugged the caddy in.

ondoho · 01-30-2019, 12:08 PM

just to make sure:
the hard drive is connected inside the caddy when you do that, yes?

oh and not sure if i remember correctly, did you say that windows recognizes the drive?
if yes, i'd try some BIOS options next.
if no, i'd try to unplug the hard drive again, look at all connectors, see if everything is clean, no bent pins, fluff or hair shorting to pins etc.

andrei.wap · 03-15-2019, 06:40 PM

I had have no more time for this problem, so I just bought an external USB 3.0 carry and put the HDD inside it. At least it works.
Thank you Ondoho for all your suggestions, anyways.

BW-userx · 03-15-2019, 06:54 PM

I've got a dvd caddy for hdd
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CD-DVD-Univ...wAAOSwlAVcEKEb
and it works fine. for external and to save a little money I use these,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-To-...r=571565488304
for 2.5 laptop drives.