[gentoo-user] Re: mount: "special device /dev/hdc does not exist". What does this mean?

[Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@arcor.de>]

Alan Mackenzie wrote:
>> The default in new kernels is to only use /dev/sd*.
> 
> I'm totally confused.  Doesn't "sd*" mean "SCSI disk drive"?  When I was
> installing Gentoo from the CD, I had to mount my main hard drive as
> /dev/sdb5.  When I built my own kernel, it needed /dev/hdh5.
> 
> This seems crazy.  Is it documented anywhere in Gentoo?

Not sure.  But if you have /dev/hd* instead of /dev/sd*, it means you 
configured your kernel with the legacy IDE drivers instead of the new 
(P)ATA drivers.  The new drivers use /dev/sd* (for IDE/PATA/SATA and 
SCSI alike; there's no difference anymore.)

The CD/DVD-ROM can show up as /dev/sd* even with the old legacy drivers 
if you have enable "SCSI Emulation" for it.

In any event, try to build a new kernel using the new drivers.  The old 
legacy driver you're using will probably get declared "deprecated" at 
some point (if it didn't happen already).

To enable the new drivers, first disable the legacy drivers.  ("Device 
Drivers" section):

     < > ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support  --->

Now enable the new drivers:

    <*> Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers  --->

Enter that section and pick your chipset.  Don't enable the:

    < >   Generic ATA support

unless you can't find a native driver for your chipset (I doubt you have 
some extremely rare/exotic mainboard ;)