From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265795AbUGCCzs (ORCPT ); Fri, 2 Jul 2004 22:55:48 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265803AbUGCCzs (ORCPT ); Fri, 2 Jul 2004 22:55:48 -0400 Received: from mail005.syd.optusnet.com.au ([211.29.132.54]:5091 "EHLO mail005.syd.optusnet.com.au") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265795AbUGCCzq (ORCPT ); Fri, 2 Jul 2004 22:55:46 -0400 Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2004 12:54:58 +1000 From: Andrew Clausen To: "Patrick J. LoPresti" Cc: Szakacsits Szabolcs , Andries Brouwer , Steffen Winterfeldt , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Thomas Fehr , bug-parted@gnu.org Subject: Re: [RFC] Restoring HDIO_GETGEO semantics (was: Re: workaround for BIOS / CHS stuff) Message-ID: <20040703025457.GC630@gnu.org> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: X-Accept-Language: en,pt User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.5.1+cvs20040105i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Fri, Jul 02, 2004 at 02:45:50PM -0400, Patrick J. LoPresti wrote: > > 2) use EDD, it does a much better job -- maybe this suggestions > > doesn't make much sense overall, so only 1) left if you don't > > want to keep guessing. > > Using EDD to deduce the geometry is the "right" answer. But this is > sufficiently complex and special-purpose that it has no place in the > kernel. You think it should be in user-space? I don't think talking to the BIOS should ever be in user-space. > > > The only case I see where absolutely something is needed is the > > > case of partitioning an empty disk. > > > > Recovery, cloning, ... > > ...moving a drive between machines... > > Why does this stupid idea keep coming up? Inferring the geometry from > the existing partition table is just plain wrong. It is even more > wrong than the old 2.4 behavior, because it is still a guess, just a > worse guess. Didn't the old 2.4 behaviour include BIOS queries? In any case, I don't have any evidence that anything is wrong. On my computer, I can tell the BIOS to use CHS geometry, (as opposed to "Auto", "LBA" or "Large") modify the partition table to set the CHS start/end of the Windows partition to 0, 1024, or anything I like, and Windows STILL works. I can't get anything to break! So, can anyone break Windows? Cheers, Andrew