Re: Big IDE HD unclipping and IBM drive

Andries Brouwer
2000-12-08T23:17:40Z

On Fri, Dec 08, 2000 at 11:24:56PM +0200, Matan Ziv-Av wrote:

> I have an IBM drive, DTLA-307075 (75GB), and a bios that hangs with
> large disks. I use a jumper to clip it to 32GB size, so the bios can
> boot into linux. The problem is that WIN_READ_NATIVE_MAX returns 32GB,
> and not the true size, and even trying to set the correct size with
> WIN_SET_MAX fails. Is there a way to use this combination (Bios, HD,
> Linux)?

Don't know where you found WIN_READ_NATIVE_MAX,
or what program you tried in order to fiddle with
these things. The ATA standard calls the command
READ NATIVE MAX ADDRESS.

So far I have seen success with READ_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS
and SET_MAX_ADDRESS on Maxtor drives but do not offhand
recall any reports on IBM DTLA drives.
(Posted a few times a setmax.c utility that you can try.)

You can also try to contact IBM support.
Files like dtla_spw.pdf only mention that you can clip capacity
using a jumper, but there is no hint that it would be
possible to unclip using SET_MAX_ADDRESS.

Be careful that you do not lock the disk.
(The command only functions as a SET_MAX_ADDRESS when
immediately preceded by a READ_NATIVE_MAX_ADDRESS.)

Andries