[ale] HD size limit?

[Gregory C. Johnson]

Mmm, I've got a 40GB Maxtor (94098H6) drive in a Compaq 486
print/file/archive/whatever server with a BIOS from the early Cretaceous...

I just booted in the config utility, and it says the drive is

Type 65 (263MB)
Cylinders   511
Heads        63
Sectors      16


...while fdisk says...

Disk /dev/hda: 16 heads, 63 sectors, 79408 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1             1       512    258016+   6  FAT16
/dev/hda2          4065     79408  37973376    5  Extended
/dev/hda3           513      1023    257544   83  Linux
/dev/hda4          1024      4064   1532664   83  Linux
/dev/hda5          4065      4349    143608+  82  Linux swap
/dev/hda6          4350      5365    512032+  83  Linux
/dev/hda7          5366     79408  37317640+  83  Linux

...and mount says...
/dev/hda7 on / type ext2 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
/dev/hda1 on /dos/c type vfat (rw)
/dev/hda3 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
/dev/hda6 on /var type ext2 (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=0620)

Basically, just user-define the largest drive your BIOS supports and make
sure your LILO partition fully resides within that "drive".  You really only
need access to the 1st sector (for the boot loader) and however many sectors
the OS image takes up (For the loader to read).  After the image is
decompressed, Linux takes over, the BIOS is a distant memory, and your ugly
duckling drive is recognized for the swan it really is.

Also MaxBlast is a diagnostic tool, while if memory serves EZ-Drive is a
common "Overlay" TSR Int13 extender that allows big-for-the-time drives to
be used on old-for-the-time BIOSes.

Also, I think MaxBlast will low-level format the drive.  If so, I suggest
that you do so in case it does have an overlay manager (Or, fdisk /MBR would
probably suffice), crack the case and ensure it's jumpered for master on the
primary interface, and remove the power plugs from any other IDE devices in
the box until you get this working.   There is no reason I can think of that
any functional drive couldn't be used for Linux.  (That, and $5 get's you
some Starbucks)

Cheers,
-Greg

----- Original Message -----
From: "da Black Baron" <dbaron13 at atl.bellsouth.net>
To: ale at ale.org
To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale at ale.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 10:24 AM
Subject: Re: [ale] HD size limit?


> Isn't it maxtor that used to have that crappy M$DOS installation program
> you had to run in order to get one of their drives to work?
> Maxi-blast?  Yeah!  I've got a couple of those around still, somewhere.
>
> Do they still require that be installed to talk to your bios?
>
> If so, you may be screwed in terms of using it for a linux partition...
>
>
>
> On Tue, 2003-01-21 at 14:25, Joe wrote:
> > "Robert E. Karaffa, II" <rkaraff at emory.edu> writes:
> >
> > > hi joe,
> > >     I tried just what you suggested.  the box would still hang during
bootup
> > > just after it recognized the boot drive.  I tried all permutations of
> > > telling the bios to "mind its own GD business, I'm in charge here!".
no
> > > dice.  I tried "none", "LBA", blah blah blah.  nothing worked.  I
still
> > > thought that, as long as I could get it to boot, linux would take over
and
> > > be able to format/partition the drive, but haven't got that to work.
I
> > > don't think it matters if the drive is slave or master (it's a maxtor)
or
> > > even what bus it's on.  I'm still working on it.  thanks again for the
> > > advice.
> >
> > Er. Ugh. Have you tried the BIOS upgrade that you mentioned before?
> >
> > I seem to remember that Maxtor drives might have "issues" with playing
> > nice with other brands; maybe that's your problem. Perhaps someone
> > on the list has more info. You might get away with trading it in
> > on a similarly-sized Seagate; I had to do that a couple of months
> > ago. The Maxtor drive simply would not play with the other drive
> > in the box, a WD (but the symptoms were different than yours).
> >
> > -- Joe
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> --
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>  Wylde Bill                                               ||||
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