Since this is an Ultra-ATA-66 disk, I need to pass the disk geometry to the
boot: prompt to get it to recognize the whole hdd. I had passed 512 for the
number of sectors but then I came to realize what I passed was wrong.
The problem I have is I was wasting a lot of real estate on my hdd( large
disk). fdisk could not partition the whole disk. Actually I was unaware of
the problem as I passed CHS=15302,6,512 and partitioned till the 1024th
cylinder and used it. Later when I ran out of disk space I tried to find the
reason and came to realize that I have a lot of unused space in the end of
the disk. I want to use the remaining hdd for Linux. So I figured if I pass
the actual geometry fdisk might let me partition the whole area. I tried
putting "linear" in lilo.conf but that did not help either.
I should probably just unscrew my hdd and find the CHS :(
BIOS has no problems with my hdd. My primary master is a cdrom drive. My
secondary master is a cdrw-drive. I have a ulta-ata-66 port for my hdd. My
bios "AUTO" for primary/secondary master configurations. But it detects my
hdd during boot up.
Anyway thanks for your reply.
-prasanna subash
-----Original Message-----
From: Herman Aa [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 1999 9:01 AM
To: Prasanna Subash; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: What is my HD geometry ?
I dont see answers to your question ....
So here's my 2 cents' worth ....
(talking about IDE drives). There is more than 1 answer to your
question. The actual CHS is one. Usually there are several
'translated' CHS geometries.
On my 8.5 GB SeaGate harddisk I found all printed on the outside
of the harddisk.
...... now, what you need this for .....?
At 12:08 PM 10/27/99 -0400, Prasanna Subash wrote:
>
>Sector size (bytes) 512
>Recording zones 12
>User cylinders 15,302
>Data heads 6 GMR
>Disks 3
>Areal density
>(max. GB/sq. inch) 3.74
>Recording density
>(max. KBPI) 233.8
>Track density (TPI) 16,000
>
>
>
>What is my CHS ? I have an IBM DJNA-351520. I have a 15.2 GB huge hdd. I
>know my C=15302 and my H=6. What is my S( Sectors per track ). I dont have
>this information. Is it possible to find it from the above info ?
>
S is Sectors per cylinder.... AFAIK Bioses expect 63 sectors/cylinder.
So the harddisk manufacturers just state '63', regardless of actual.
They 'adjust' heads and cylinders as needed, leave the S constant
at 63.
Does your BIOS CMOS setup) have 'auto' perhaps?
If you set it to auto, the BIOS will ask the harddisk. You only have
to specify 'auto' in CMOS setup.
You can enter the CHS manually as well, usually.
>I got the information from the IBM website.
>http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/desk/familyspec/deskspec2.htm
>
Look for the website of your harddisk manufacturer. Usually you can
get the complete specs there.
The drive was probably made for IBM by another manufacturer.
---Herman Aa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From a mountaintop on Cebu island, Philippines.
