Re: tools support for non-512 byte sector sizes

[Theodore Tso <tytso@mit.edu>]

On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 02:28:12PM -0400, Ric Wheeler wrote:
> If I remember correctly, the MS Vista new alignment for data partitions  
> is on a 0 offset, 1MB aligned boundary. The support for 4096 byte  
> sectors is only for data partitions (not boot).
>
> Array vendors, who consume a fair amount of drives, are most likely more  
> friendly to native 4k drives. The big fear from disk vendors is getting  
> a wave of returns from Best Buy, etc when people go and plug in a new,  
> native 4k drive into an old box....

Or a new box running XP, either via the Dell "upgrade to XP" program,
or from a corporate I/T load[1].  :-)

[1] http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/06/23/intel-dumps-vista

More to the point for Linux, are *our* partition table programs (i.e.,
fdisk, cfdisk, et. al) fixed with better defaults in upstream, and
what are the upcoming enterprise distributions going to ship with?
Since that's what a large number of Linux customers will end up using
for the next 3-5 years....

						- Ted