From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Aug 30 15:15:07 2004 Return-Path: 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 ADE3616A4CE for ; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 15:15:07 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mproxy.gmail.com (rproxy.gmail.com [64.233.170.198]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5D4CF43D31 for ; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 15:15:07 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from subhro.kar@gmail.com) Received: by mproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id v30so135744rnb for ; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:15:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.38.179.69 with SMTP id b69mr483400rnf; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:15:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.38.206.18 with HTTP; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:15:03 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:45:03 +0530 From: Subhro To: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD. ORG" In-Reply-To: <20040830141749.GA534@iib.unsam.edu.ar> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <20040830141749.GA534@iib.unsam.edu.ar> cc: Fernan Aguero Subject: Re: maximum hard drive capacity supported? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Subhro List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 15:15:07 -0000 On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 11:17:49 -0300, Fernan Aguero wrote: > Hi! > > I have a box built on a Soyo 6VBA133 motherboard. BIOS is > from Award, v4.51PG and the identifier from Soyo is > VBA-2BAB. > > Upon trying to buy a new hard drive (80 GB) I was asked > about the capabilities of my system, and I just thought that > these were needed to tell what kind the IDE (ATA) > capabilities. However, the vendor said that depending on the > BIOS the system might not be able to recognize a large disk. > > I'm now confused on the extent to which FreeBSD uses or > relies on the BIOS. I know that for PnP Windows does rely on > the BIOS, and it seems to me that FreeBSD does not. No thats not true. The BIOS is like a guide which introduces to the OS the different hardware available to the system. So even FreeBSD needs the BIOS to start the games up. > > With respect to this particular issue (max hard drive > capacity supported): is the BIOS limiting here? As you guessed, the limiting factor is your mo bo BIOS and not FreeBSD. How old is your BIOS? Generally any BIOS newer than 2 yrs can support upto 120G drives without any problems. > > Thanks in advance for the information, > > Fernan > > PS: please CC me since I'm not subscribed to the list (yet) > > PS2: I have not been able to find what is the maximum hard > drive capacity supported by my combination of mother and > BIOS. If some of you know where to find this, I'll very much > appreciate it if you can give me some clue. > > -- > Fernan Aguero - fernan at iib.unsam.edu.ar > Phone: +54 11 4580-7255/7 ext 310, Fax: +54 11 4752-9639 > Check http://genoma.unsam.edu.ar/~fernan for more info. You could check the motherboard manufacturer site for the exact size of hdd that is supported but don't bet your house on it ;-) Regards S. -- Subhro Sankha Kar School of Information Technology Block AQ-13/1 Sector V ZIP 700091 India