1 files changed, 16 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/drivers/ide/Kconfig b/drivers/ide/Kconfig
index 6eaece96524..e2c21699603 100644
--- a/drivers/ide/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/ide/Kconfig
@@ -152,9 +152,22 @@ config BLK_DEV_IDEDISK
           If unsure, say Y.
 
 config IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE
-        bool "Use multi-mode by default"
-        help
-          If you get this error, try to say Y here:
+        bool "Use multiple sector mode for Programmed Input/Output by default"
+        help
+          This setting is irrelevant for most IDE disks, with direct memory
+          access, to which multiple sector mode does not apply. Multiple sector
+          mode is a feature of most modern IDE hard drives, permitting the
+          transfer of multiple sectors per Programmed Input/Output interrupt,
+          rather than the usual one sector per interrupt. When this feature is
+          enabled, it can reduce operating system overhead for disk Programmed
+          Input/Output. On some systems, it also can increase the data
+          throughput of Programmed Input/Output. Some drives, however, seemed
+          to run slower with multiple sector mode enabled. Some drives claimed
+          to support multiple sector mode, but lost data at some settings.
+          Under rare circumstances, such failures could result in massive
+          filesystem corruption.
+
+          If you get the following error, try to say Y here:
 
           hda: set_multmode: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
           hda: set_multmode: error=0x04 { DriveStatusError }