Re: Question about large disk problems

[Jan Carlson <janc iname com>]

Michael George wrote:
> 
> I've seen several postings about some disks not being fully utilized because
> they are too big for the current kernel.  However, I don't recall anyone
> drawing obvious distinctions between IDE and SCSI disks.
> 
> My question is this: Is this 8.4Gb limitation only w.r.t. IDE disks, or does
> it also affect SCSI disks also?  I'm thinking there's a chance that SCSI disks
> do not suffer this limitation...

These limitations are not in Linux or the kernel.
They are in the motherboard, IDE or SCSI BIOS chips.

There are several different kinds of limitations,
associated with various hardware combinations.

Many of the limitations can be overcome by using
a "disk manager" program that installs in the MBR
of the first disk.  Seagate's website has one
that seems to be compatible with Linux.

Jan Carlson
janc iname com   Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Mailed with Netscape 4.5 on Red Hat Linux 5.2