> > The Ontrack program--DDO--is there to make sure that the whole drive can
> > be accessed without cylinder wrap. The proprietary format is there to
> > make sure that the drive cannot be read without DDO. Guess what. Linux
> > read it with no trouble (and with no DDO loaded).
>
> This means you use a floppy to boot Linux, right?
Currently I have to.
> > DOS, on the other
> > hand... I'll have to load DDO for Mr. Bill's sake. I don't want to
> > lose my data if the system is booted into DOS with a floppy that doesn't
> > load the DDO, so I guess I'm best off leaving the proprietary format on
> > there. In that case, I could use the floppy but not the big hard disk
> > (only the smaller one). I can boot from floppy *and* use the DDO if it
> > let it boot from disk, press space at the right time, and insert a
> > floppy (thanks to a feature of the DDO).
>
> Another thing you could do is make a copy of the MBR that loads DDO and
> then put that MBR on a floppy. It may not work, but then again, it may.
> You could then put LILO in the MBR of hda (since LILO can read your drive
> without the aid of DDO) and use the floppy to boot DOS. I think it
> depends on what you want to use as your primary operating system.
I need DOS to be default (for safety). I don't want any accidental
boots into Linux since _some_ people don't know how to shut down Linux
properly! Namely, my family.
> > I have the option of doing a BIOS format. The DDO will still work, but
> > then I can access the drive without it and risk cylinder wrap. I read
> > that 1024 cylinders is around 528MB or so. Hmm. That's pretty
> > limiting.
>
> Well, I don't know how your BIOS addresses the disk, but the way I
> understand it is that by CHS (Cylinders Heads Sectors) the BIOS can handle
> 1024 Cylinders, 256 heads, and 64 sectors per track.
Yes, my BIOS states those are the maximums. My big disk is autodetected
to be exactly that size, but I suspect that it's unlikely to be that
exact (i.e. BIOS is limiting the values to acceptible range).
> As each sector is
> 512 bytes, this allows up to (1024*64*256*512)=8589934592 bytes, or
> 8192MB, or 8.0GB. LBA simply addresses each sector sequentially, and I
> believe the upper limit there would depend on how many bits you use for
> addressing the disk. If today we use 32-bit processors, then you can
> address (512*2^32)=2199023255552 bytes, or 2.0TB- I know the G is close to
> the T, but this isn't a typo either. T is an abbreviation for "Tera" or
> 10^12. This is, of course, assuming my logic is correct.
Yeah. I know about terabytes. Trillion?
> I talked to somebody about this, and things are a little clearer now. It
> sounds like your old BIOS can't handle drives larger than 512MB. The
More like 528MB, but that's close enough.
> Ontrack program gets around this. Don't reformat until you get newer
> BIOS. Until then, continue to use the Ontrack program.
Ontrack has two parts for this. One is the DDO which somehow takes over
disk accesses to overcome BIOS's limitations. The other part keeps BIOS
from accessing the disk (only DDO can touch it)--it's a special
proprietary format.
> What you might do
> (if you're currently using floppies to boot Linux) is just let your
> computer boot to DOS, and use loadlin to load a copy of the Linux kernel
> off the 125MB DOS partition. I don't know too much about passing options
> to loadlin, but I think the program's on the Mandrake CD and I know
> there's documentation on the web (try
> http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Loadlin+Win95.html).
Loadlin? Hmm. I think I should tweak Windows to skip the splash screen
and boot to DOS by default. Then I could make a startup menu that
offers to go to DOS (default), Windows, or Linux (via loadlin). The
Linux option would only work if a password were entered correctly. This
would prevent accidental boots for sure. What do you think? I think
I'm handy enough with batch files and C/C++ to write such a menu
program. Hey. I could even make it the first thing that's run in
config.sys! That way no time would be wasted loading drivers and crap
if Linux mode is used.
> > I get it, except for cfdisk. I only heard of fdisk. Is that a typo? I
> > know the C key is really close to the F key...
>
> No typo. cfdisk is a "Curses-based fdisk," hence the "c." It's a little
> prettier than fdisk, and I'd think easier for a newbie. Curses refers to
> the libraries used to generate the text-mode menus.
Speaking of text mode menus, how do I draw high-bit characters in Linux
text mode?
