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Re: Am I going to have to reformat my HD? (was:Wierd Linux formatting prob with Western Digital's EZ-Drive.)
The problematic piece of software is not a "boot manager", but a "disk
manager".
A boot manager lets you boot into different partitions (and OSes) and
Linux does not have any problem with those - it even comes with one.
A "disk manager" on the other hand does something very different - DOS
and Windows rely on the information the BIOS gives them to manage disks.
Old BIOSes did not support big HD and small utility, a "disk manager",
is required to "cheat" the OS by translating the big disks for it.
Linux does not rely on BIOS information after it is loaded, and so this
DOS/WIn limitation does not affect it (after it is loaded - which might
mean you will need to place the root partition on the 1st 1024
cylinders). The "fake translation" the disk manager is doing however
messes things up.
The problem is not with a specific Linux distribution or even a Linux
quirk, but rather a genuine problem.
There might be a solution however - most of these disk manager utils are
placed on the HD by some sort of a setup program. This program can
sometimes uninstall the "disk manager". So IF your BIOS does support
large disks (LBA) and IF you can find (on WD website?) the setup program
or find it by other means - you might try uninstalling it.
Good luck,
and next time be very carefull what you are being sold.
Gilad
$hape$hiphter wrote:
>
> I really don't like the thought of reformatting my HD, all.
> It would mean me having to buy backup hardware sooner than I
> planned,
> and I don't think I can spare the cash. But that's not your
> problem.
> Is this Boot Manager problematic in ALL Linux Dists? Are
> there any public domain Unices which do cope with this?
> In hope of non-flammable replies,
> Klil N.