From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jan 26 20:03:37 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9734216A420 for ; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:03:37 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nlandys@gmail.com) Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com (fg-out-1718.google.com [72.14.220.154]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 220AB13C44B for ; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:03:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nlandys@gmail.com) Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 16so1233496fgg.35 for ; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:03:35 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; bh=p4xbNTCir1q1dlD+YiVIUHakYEIABJ9PRT9iLh7RuvU=; b=jALzZHXB7SC2htEqhfBxdI4+NSscAAtAbcmGdlpV32Ndoy2aeJje5HMQ4KQeCCQHrCkO2SmClrFhJrvdqRj5tZx8Da5EHdoYUfYJUhUMgnUk8T8bQHcLzFQgUMa3b6AjbdG4pqNGU3RdzSuHjKrxl+5jINkYw8t9Z3kzFQzMw98= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; b=pLmxCiJtqXjZWqbuIB8eeiWgBOK2yOSoLF/jrMIyj0UABT8u0LCF+223dU0m+Ctxe6Eb/8FUy/ADUSTWba6G1IY1LjksC0oH7tM7wAejZzpZMnR2hZRnpi0PEbtcDbSmXlrqQkFb9c9/gFG+eGT5gPscmgTv8YRskpGNsoaW41w= Received: by 10.82.161.19 with SMTP id j19mr6429573bue.20.1201377815288; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:03:35 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.82.160.10 with HTTP; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:03:35 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <560f92640801261203i419bd27fq69cd96484cef9e05@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:03:35 -0800 From: "Nerius Landys" To: "Chris Whitehouse" In-Reply-To: <479A896C.2010001@onetel.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <20080125224807.233a2a14@sparrow> <560f92640801251437r3fd38d83xc7ec07841642fa05@mail.gmail.com> <20080125234146.083449bd@sparrow> <560f92640801251505q39b178feh6aa51424c0dff13c@mail.gmail.com> <479A896C.2010001@onetel.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: formatting disk for FreeBSD : Detecting IDE Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip] 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: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:03:37 -0000 > Some motherboards had an upper limit on hard disk size which I think was > 32gb. Some drives have a jumper to limit the apparent size to 32gb (if > that was the size). > > Also I no longer have hardware to test this on but if it is a BIOS > problem I believe if you could put the hard disk in a newer machine for > the install it would then boot in the older machine as FreeBSD accesses > the disk directly, not through the BIOS. > > When he puts that big hard drive back in the old computer, he still won't be able to boot because to boot the BIOS reads the MBR on the hard disk and passes control to that program. If BIOS can't recognize the disk, there is no possibility of booting. The initial stages of booting happen based on data on the hard disk. This is a chicken and egg problem. It boils down to the fact that BIOS needs to recognize the hard disk to be able to boot it.