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Date:      Sun, 13 Mar 2005 03:20:25 -0800
From:      "Loren M. Lang" <lorenl@alzatex.com>
To:        Mike Loiterman <mike@ascendency.net>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Incorrect geometry
Message-ID:  <20050313112025.GI18080@alzatex.com>
In-Reply-To: <200503120435.j2C4ZDr89213@fat_man.ascendency.net>
References:  <42326F4D.70008@daleco.biz> <200503120435.j2C4ZDr89213@fat_man.ascendency.net>

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On Fri, Mar 11, 2005 at 10:32:19PM -0600, Mike Loiterman wrote:
> =20
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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>=20
> Kevin Kinsey <mailto:kdk@daleco.biz> wrote:
> > Mike Loiterman wrote:
> >=20
> >>=20
> >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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> >> When I do a new install of FreeBSD 5.3-RELEASE I get an error saying
> >> the drive geometry is incorrect.  In the next screen, I put in the
> >> correct geometry, as reported by the BIOS, but after I hit q, I get
> >> the same error.=20
> >>=20
> >> The drive is a brand new 160 SATA Segate.  The geometry FreeBSD
> >> suggests yield 152 Gigs, slices correctly and functions perfectly.
> >> I'm plannning on reformating anyway as this is only a test run, but
> >> do I need to be conserned about the error?=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >=20
> > Isn't the rest of the error message "using a more likely geometry?"
> >=20
> > IANAE, but I believe FBSD is simply stating that it doesn't find
> > the BIOS's numbers to be what it wants, so it's going to use
> > its own.  This would explain the effect you see in the second
> > sentence above.=20
> >=20
> > As "yield", "slice", and "function" seems OK, I think "go for it!"
> > is perfectly good advice in this instance.  I've seen the error
> > several times, too, and so far so good.
> >=20
> > I am willing to be corrected by my betters, though, of course.
> >=20
> > Kevin Kinsey
>=20
> It does say, "using a more likely geometry".  The numbers are vastly
> different then what the BIOS says, but as I said, the capacity seems
> correct and it functions normally.
>=20
> I just don't want to have any trouble down the road...

It shouldn't be a problem.  Geometries nowdays aren't as useful as they
used to be and aren't really used much, LBA alleviates most of that.
The geometries that FreeBSD uses aren't the same that the drive
internally uses.  In fact, using geometries has been the cause of an old
8 gig limit on hard drives, a newer 137 gig limit, and an old boot
loader problem booting anything over cylinder 1023.

As for the missing 8 gigs, that's probably because your hard drive
manufacture used SI units (10^3=3D1000) instead of the standard units
(2^10=3D1024) just to make the number look bigger.  My 250 gig drive is
only 238 gig in reality.

>=20
> - ------------------------------
> Mike Loiterman
> grantADLER
> Tel: 630-302-4944
> Fax: 773-442-0992
> Email: mike@ascendency.net
> PGP Key: 0xD1B9D18E
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>=20
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--=20
I sense much NT in you.
NT leads to Bluescreen.
Bluescreen leads to downtime.
Downtime leads to suffering.
NT is the path to the darkside.
Powerful Unix is.

Public Key: ftp://ftp.tallye.com/pub/lorenl_pubkey.asc
Fingerprint: CEE1 AAE2 F66C 59B5 34CA  C415 6D35 E847 0118 A3D2
=20

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