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From: "Patrick J. LoPresti" <patl@users.sourceforge.net>
Message-ID: <s5gaczkwvg8.fsf@patl=users.sf.net>
To: "Frediano Ziglio" <freddyz77@tin.it>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: 2.6.x partition breakage and dual booting
References: <40BA2213.1090209@pobox.com> <20040530183609.GB5927@pclin040.win.tue.nl> <40BA2E5E.6090603@pobox.com> <20040530200300.GA4681@apps.cwi.nl> <s5g8yf9ljb3.fsf@patl=users.sf.net> <20040531180821.GC5257@louise.pinerecords.com> <1086245495.3988.4.camel@freddy> <20040603103907.GV23408@apps.cwi.nl>
Date: 03 Jun 2004 10:46:33 -0400
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Frediano Ziglio <freddyz77@tin.it> writes:

> Yes and not... HDIO_GETGEO still exists and report inconsistent
> informations. IMHO should be removed. I know this breaks some
> existing programs however these programs do not actually works
> correctly.

Existing programs work fine if you do something like this first:

    echo bios_head:255 > /proc/ide/hda/settings

I know this works because it is how I convince Parted to prep a blank
drive for installing Windows.  In fact, it is the only way for me to
communicate the geometry to Parted, as far as I know.  (Other tools
usually have command-line switches or "expert" settings to control the
geometry; Parted does not.)

SCSI and RAID devices already return a suitable geometry in
HDIO_GETGEO on all of the systems that I or my users have tried.

So one approach is to leave HDIO_GETGEO alone, and to have a userspace
gadget run early to "fix" the kernel's notion of the geometry.  This
would avoid the need to rewrite every partitioning tool.

 - Pat