Fdisk disagreas with BIOS over 120GB drive.

[Jonathan Arnold]

Robert Stickney wrote:
> Fdisk (using /stand/sysinstall) disagrees with the values my bios is 
> reporting.  My BIOS reports that my 120GB drive has this geometry: 59131 
> Cylendars, 16 Heads, and 255 sectors.  The drive is an IBM deskstar.  When i 
> try to enter the correct geometry, Fdisk gives me the message below. 
>  
> ---------start message--------- 
>  			        Message 
>      WARNING:  A geometry of 59131/16/255 for ad2 is incorrect.  Using 
>      a more likely geometry.  If this geometry is incorrect or you 
>      are unsure as to whether or not it's correct, please consult 
>      the Hardware Guide in the Documentation submenu or use the 
>      (G)eometry command to change it now. 
>  
>      Remember: you need to enter whatever your BIOS thinks the 
>      geometry is!  For IDE, it's what you were told in the BIOS 
>      setup. For SCSI, it's the translation mode your controller is 
>      using.  Do NOT use a ``physical geometry''. 
>      (100%) 
>                                 [  OK  ] 
>       			   Press enter or space 
> ----------end message---------- 

In May, I installed a new, additional hard drive and documented it
in my FreeBSD blog. I too got the same "error", with my new 40gb hard
drive (US$29 after rebate at OfficeMax - I couldn't resist!). As I
explain in it, I just let it go with its numbers and things seem to
be working fine.

Shrug.....

-- 
Jonathan Arnold     (mailto:jdarnold at buddydog.org)
Daemon Dancing in the Dark, a FreeBSD blog:
http://freebsd.amazingdev.com/blog