Patch from Denis Vlasenko to add xstat() and use it.
diff --git a/miscutils/hdparm.c b/miscutils/hdparm.c
index bd3065d..ca60dcf 100644
--- a/miscutils/hdparm.c
+++ b/miscutils/hdparm.c
@@ -1871,8 +1871,7 @@
 #ifndef HDIO_DRIVE_CMD
 	int force_operation = 0;
 #endif
-	if (stat(devname,&stat_buf))
-		bb_perror_msg_and_die(devname);
+	xstat(devname,&stat_buf);
 
 	switch(major(stat_buf.st_rdev))
 	{