8gb is the limit of the 256 "head" bios mapping of the 16 "heads"
supported by the hardware interface (I took one apart. It had 2 heads.).
Earlier bioses used 64 "heads" for a 2gb limit. The limit of the IDE
hardware interface (ANSI X3.221-1994) is 28 bits (256m sectors, or 128
gb), this is what linux uses. The chs half of the partition table is
also limited to 8gb with a 256 "head" mapping, but I'm pretty sure the
latest fdisk can use the lba half instead, for a limit of 2tb for all
primaries and each logical partition.
It would make sense for the current ext2fs to be limited to 4tb per fs..
When somebody starts giving me 50 tb drives and a hardware interface
spec, I'll worry about making a driver and a bigger fs for 'em, if Ted
Ts'o or somebody hasn't done it already..
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will build a better mouse.
Lawson
On Thu, 18 Feb 1999 13:55:42 -0800 Ralph Gesler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
> Mitchell Maltenfort wrote:
> >
> > If I recall correctly, and I can't recall where I read this, Linux
> has a
> > hard time reading disks larger than 8.1 Gig.
>
> I believe that the 8.1G limit may be bios related. IIRC, prior to
> late
> 1995 many systems were limited to this HD capacity. I do not know if
> Linux avoids this limitation with software, but it is my
> understanding
> that starting with some kernel version 2.0.?? Linux partitions are
> limit to 4TB (terabytes) and 4 partitions per drive.
>
> Maybe someone who really knows will give us the true facts.
>
> Ralph Gesler
>
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