> > Because most modern BIOSes do CHS translation, the BIOS geometry is > > not always evident from the geometry reported by the drive, and > > FreeBSD may get this wrong, particularly if no existing partitions > > are defined. > > > > Since you are installing to a drive with no pre-existing non-FreeBSD > > partitions, I suspect sysinstall got the geometry wrong. Probably > > you should re-install and use the 'G' command in sysinstall's fdisk, > > after determining what geometry the BIOS is actually using. > > > > The best way to determine BIOS geometry in FreeBSD is to boot -v > > (but it should be from the old "boot:" prompt, not from loader(8) > > in 3.2R) and then check using dmesg(8) for "BIOS Geometries" > > information. > > Hmmm - perhaps it isn't possible then to do what I want (without > losing most of the drive). The drive is 17Gb, consisting of > 33416 cyls, 16 heads and 63 sectors. The BIOS reports 1023 cyls, 255 > heads and 63 sectors - which is approximately 8Gb. This doesn't change > if I change the BIOS mode between normal, large or LBA, nor if I make > the disk type in the BIOS user defined and enter the real parameters > (the BIOS is an Award BIOS v4.51PG, probably from about 1996).
1023/255/63 as the BIOS geometry is OK. It means that only about half the drive will be accessible through the BIOS CHS interface, but there is an "8.4GB" CHS limit anyway. The BIOS CHS interface is mainly needed only for booting. Some OSes support booting using a more recent BIOS LBA interface, which doesn't (effectively) have a size limit. Windows 9x and FreeBSD can do that, provided your BIOS LBA support isn't broken. Because not many OSes (or boot managers) support BIOS LBA, how you set up your partitions, and what OSes you choose to install in which partitions, needs some thought. Personally, for maximum flexibility, I'd use FreeBSD's boot0 (or some commercial boot manager that also supports LBA). And I'd install 2.2.8 in partition 4, but using the boot blocks from -current. I'd also suggest ending partition 2 about 32-64M below cylinder 1024. So it isn't completely straightforward, but you can make use of the whole disk. > I assume that if I set the gemoetry in fdisk to be the BIOS figures, > that I will lose the other half of the disk? Use 2096/255/63 in sysinstall. -- Robert Nordier To Unsubscribe: send mail to majord...@freebsd.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
