Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 23:41:00 +0200 From: Philip Nienhuis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] OT: 30GB BIOS barrier on Dell Dimension
Raymond wrote: > > Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 17:17:22 +1000 > From: Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [LIB] OT: 30GB BIOS barrier on Dell Dimension > > >A disk overlay might help to use a disk up to 128 GiB (= 137 GB in SI > >units). > > Bear in mind though that AFAIK the drive overlay is designed to get around > the 8GB limit ... I don't know if the 30GB limit is due to the same thing Have a look here: http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3.htm (as claimed only valid for Maxtor but the principles described are valid for any HD) => 8GB (actually 1024 cylinders) is just one of the various barriers that drive overlays must tackle. (The 32 GB limit is often caused by reserving only 16 bits (2 bytes) in the hard drive parameter table (set up by the BIOS) to store the total number of sectors divided by some disk geometry factor. So it is more of a programming issue than a "physical"/"logical" limitation like the 540 MB and 8 & 137 GB barriers. Too bad that saving just a few bytes severely hampers later HD extensions....) BTW Win2K and XP, which bypass the BIOS HD functions anyway, probably have no trouble recognizing the entire disk size just by themselves, much like the Libretto 100/110 8 GB limit doesn't count for W2K & XP. One could also try booting Linux from a live CD (e.g., Knoppix) and see what Linux fdisk says about disk size...... I wouldn't be surprised if Matt's 32 GB limit only exists for DOS & Win9x/ME. Philip ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ - Archives -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
