Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 17:39:35 +0200 From: Marcin Dalecki <mdcki@gmx.net> To: Andrew <andrew@ugh.net.au> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Retrieving disk geometry Message-ID: <3EDB6FB7.6060008@gmx.net> In-Reply-To: <20030603001755.S68271-100000@starbug.ugh.net.au> References: <20030603001755.S68271-100000@starbug.ugh.net.au>
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Andrew wrote: > Hi, > > Under FreeBSD 4.x the ioctl DIOCGDINFO could be used to retrieve the > number of cylinders, heads and sectors of a drive. This could be called on > /dev/ad0 for example. Under FreeBSD 5 it seems to produce "Inappropriate > ioctl for device" unless you call it on an individual partition > (/dev/ad0s1a for example). > > Is there a way around this? No. Becouse there is in fact no such thing like a "geometry" on modern ATA drives. There is just a quigmare of values which serve only one single purpose - satisfying rotten code in stinking BIOS. Not more not less. (Modern is here on the scale of about 8 or even more years.)
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