Do Tableau bridges support HPA/DCO?
Yes, with Tableau firmware released in October of 2005, Tableau IDE and SATA bridges can detect and override both HPA (Host Protected Area) and DCO (Device Configuration Overlay) regions on a hard disk. HPA and DCO refer to specific mechanisms that can be used in IDE and SATA hard disks to “hide” regions at the “end” of a hard disk. Commands related to HPA and DCO are defined in the ATA specifications for hard disks, and these commands are often used by computer manufactures to hide, and thus protect, recovery partitions located at the end (or top) of the hard disk. In theory, HPA and/or DCO commands could be used to hide user data as well. In practice, Tableau believes this kind of data hiding is unlikely to be seen in the field. To upgrade your Tableau IDE or SATA bridges with support for HPA/ DCO, please download the Tableau Firmware Update.
