Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 12:13:20 +0100 From: Peter Holzer <hjp@wsr.ac.at> To: aic7xxx@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Extended BIOS translation (worth disabling?) Message-ID: <19980205121320.58188@wsrk.wsr.ac.at> In-Reply-To: <87btwnexq5.fsf@nevermore.csres.utexas.edu>; from Rob Browning on Wed, Feb 04, 1998 at 05:50:26PM -0600 References: <87btwnexq5.fsf@nevermore.csres.utexas.edu>
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--VS++wcV0S1rZb1Fb Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Wed, Feb 04, 1998 at 05:50:26PM -0600, Rob Browning wrote: > I currently have translation enabled, which, as I understand it, means > that the drives appear to have a different geometry than they actually > do so that DOS can access drives > 1GB. No. You always have some translation enabled, and the BIOS never sees the real geometry of the drive. The difference between "normal" translation and "extended" translation is that the first uses 32 sectors and 64 heads, while the second uses 63 sectors and 255 heads. Since the BIOS can only handle 1024 cylinders this gives you a maximum disk size of 1GB and slightly under 8GB respectively. > 1) Is there any benefit (performance or other) from the unix > perspective to turning the option off? No. > 2) If I do turn it off, will I still be able to use the drives from > Win95, as long as I keep the DOS partitions under the 1024K > boundary on each drive? I think so (haven't tried it, though). If Win95 uses its own drivers instead of the BIOS, you would also be able to access partitions beyond the 1024 cylinder boundary, you just cannot boot from them. hp -- _ | Peter J. Holzer | If I were God, or better yet |_|_) | Sysadmin WSR | Linus, I would ... | | | hjp@wsr.ac.at | -- Bill Davidsen __/ | http://wsrx.wsr.ac.at/~hjp/ | (davidsen@tmr.com) --VS++wcV0S1rZb1Fb Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia iQBVAwUBNNmezjVMk61oGzl9AQHc9QH8DbjQRm5jDuNWlbN/FHVoqP/FwFXxDpoE AGMaU5B7EcO+YL6N8jSvYe10jXuadqXyEd7HJoSbw+FASK3JacBQhQ== =F8y/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --VS++wcV0S1rZb1Fb--
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