From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 6 17:03:01 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D817616A41F for ; Thu, 6 Oct 2005 17:03:01 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jerrymc@clunix.cl.msu.edu) Received: from clunix.cl.msu.edu (clunix.cl.msu.edu [35.9.2.10]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 71DD643D45 for ; Thu, 6 Oct 2005 17:03:01 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from jerrymc@clunix.cl.msu.edu) Received: from clunix.cl.msu.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by clunix.cl.msu.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.2) with ESMTP id j96H30Bn005752; Thu, 6 Oct 2005 13:03:00 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from jerrymc@localhost) by clunix.cl.msu.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.2/Submit) id j96H30nv005751; Thu, 6 Oct 2005 13:03:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Jerry McAllister Message-Id: <200510061703.j96H30nv005751@clunix.cl.msu.edu> To: garys@opusnet.com (Gary W. Swearingen) Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2005 13:03:00 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL7] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Norberto Meijome , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Hidden spot on hard drives? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 17:03:02 -0000 > > Norberto Meijome writes: > > > Where does HPA(Host protected Area) sit in all this? is this the > > 'boot sector' trick? > > I don't know. I just heard that some computer makers are somehow > reserving as much as half the HDD for a full copy of the OS to recover > from when the normal one trips over itself. I'm guessing that this has > more to do with MSFT licensing terms than with saving a buck from not > including a CDROM. I wonder if there's some low-level way to tell a > modern disk drive where you want "sector 0" to start. Manufacturers put all sorts of stuff in areas on the disk that will not normally show up if you are booting an MS system. But those areas are just disk outside the current slice to FreeBSD. An example is Dell makes a bootable diagnostic section on its disks. It will only normally boot when you choose run diagnostics during boot. But if you create a "dual" booted machine with FreeBSD, then to FreeBSD it is just slice 1, XP is slice 2 and FreeBSd is slice 3. The FreeBSD MBR recognizes it and lists 1 - ???, 2 - DOS, 3 - FreeBSD at boot time. If the "reserved" slice was not bootable, I don't think it would mention it in the boot menu, but it would still be just plain disk in another slice to FreeBSD. As others have mentioned, some have tried to make special drivers that do funny things like half-stepping the heads or accessing the replacement sector area. But, the same type of software could be written to access it and if FreeBSD were installed, it would ignore that stuff unless some driver was created and installed to access it. So, it wouldn't make much of a protection scheme. As for moving sector 0, I don't know. It would probably have to be something in the controller, but??? ////jerry > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >