Re: Disk geometry
From: Bas v.d. Wiel (beetjebrak78_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 07/29/04
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Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:34:06 +0200
Robert Kopp wrote:
> My system has a 120-GB WD1200JB hard drive (large, but there are larger)
> with WinXP occupying the first 50 GB of the drive. I would like to install
> FreeBSD 5.2.1 on the same drive. I have installed Linux before, but not
> FreeBSD.
>
> After the first CD boots, it tells me that I have the wrong disk geometry.
> Can anyone explain the reason for that, and suggest a solution? (I can
> provide more detailed information if necessary.) This must be a common
> problem, with large hard drives now available.
>
>
> --
> Robert T Kopp
> http://analytic.tripod.com/
>
>
Hello Robert,
I've experienced the same issue, but never had actual trouble with it.
This happened with about six drives that were between 120 and 250GB in
size. Your mileage may vary though, so I do suggest you back up your XP
partition before you let FreeBSD actually change anything. The chances
of FreeBSD destroying your XP partition are slim, but better safe than
sorry..
It may also be a good idea to backup your disk's master boot record. If
FreeBSD does something funny to the MBR, you can likely restore XP's
boot manager and rescue your data from there. I don't know of a tool to
do this from within Windows XP, but as usual: Google is your friend.
My memory on the exact cause of this issue is a bit sketchy, but I seem
to recall it had something to do with the newer breeds of translating
controllers. In the past harddisks had their geometry defined by
Cylinders/Sectors/Heads values. These are each bound to a maximum, but
drives have grown much bigger than what this scheme supports. Nowadays
controllers translate their own addressing schemes when needed. If I
recall correctly, LBA (Logical Block Addressing) was the first popular
scheme to get disks bigger than 528MB to work.
On a recent trip down memory lane (rediscovered my collection of old DOS
games) I noticed MS DOS 5.0 doesn't 'see' more than 8GB of the 20GB disk
in the system I use for tinkering. FreeBSD does see the whole disk, and
the two coexist peacefully.
Bas
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