Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 14:06:43 -0500 (EST) From: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> To: Joshua Byrnes <jbyrnes@w-link.net> Cc: FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: RE: HDD setup & boot questions Message-ID: <200003291906.OAA89568@server.baldwin.cx> In-Reply-To: <NDBBJCNHCLOLJNINLFAFCEEHCAAA.jbyrnes@w-link.net>
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On 28-Mar-00 Joshua Byrnes wrote:
> I apologize if this is the incorrect address to which to direct this
> question. I am a newbie and taking interest in FreeBSD and Linux for
> recreational/educational purposes. I purchased "The Complete FreeBSD" and
> it is a wonderful book but I cannot seem to find an answer to my particular
> question/situation.
> Right now I have 2 EIDE HDD, both WDC with the following statistics s my
> BIOS reports them
> SIZE CYL HD PRECOMP LAND
> HDD1:NORMAL 13677 26500 16 65535 26499
> HDD2:NORMAL 10141 19650 16 65535 19649
>
> I have an ASUS P2B-DS motherboard, which can read large HDD's correctly.
> I have Partition Magic 4.0
>
> I am planning to start from scratch reformatting both drives and Triple
> booting WIN98/or WIN2000, FreeBSD and Linux.
>
> ***Going with the assumption that I will have to install the MS-Operating
> System on the first partition of drive 1, what are the requirements/ options
> in where I can Install FreeBSD and Linux? Can I have HDD1 all for MS-OS and
> HDD2 for FreeBSD and Linux? Or is there a location requirement that I need
> to follow. I have read about the requirement of the root file system
> needing to be installed within the 1024 cyl. Because my BIOS can handle
> very large HDD, am I still limited by this?****
>
> Your response is greatly appreciated.
The only things to keep in mind are:
1) Install Windows first, as it will overwrite your MBR code during the
install, breaking any multi-OS boot loaders such as BootEasy if you
install FreeBSD first.
2) The root partition needs to be below the 1023 cylinder mark, or at least
the kernel and all of /boot needs to be, so it is easier to create a small
root partition near the beginning of the disk and stick /usr and /var closer
to the end. Although your BIOS supports more than 1023 cylinders, there isn't
a standard way of doing this. Well, there sort of is. LBA is a standard way
of getting around it, but you can't use that with older drives or with older
controllers. Thus, in the boot loaders, we are forced to use the lowest
common denominator, thus you still need to keep /boot and the kernel below
the 1023 mark. I hope to someday manage to figure out a good way for
determining when the controller and drive both support LBA and to use that to
automatically handle larger drives. However, I don't have this done yet. :)
> Sincerely,
> -Josh
--
John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> -- http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/
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