Origin of hard drive parameters

[Hilt, Ian]

Basically, I want to know where the BIOS gets the hard drive parameters
when the Drive Type is set to "AUTO" in the BIOS configuration. The best
I've been able to come up with from the internet is an "IDENTIFY"
command that purportedly
(<http://www.linux.com/howtos/Large-Disk-HOWTO-10.shtml>) gets its
information from the "IDE controller". This does not answer my question
completely. Are the parameters returned by the controller hard coded
into a chip on the board or are they on the platters of the hard drive,
or neither?

I realize this is a mailing list for FreeBSD. However, I use FreeBSD on
a regular basis, enjoy its "under-the-hood" structure, and have found it
difficult to "play" in a windows operating environment. I have also
found the FreeBSD mailing lists to be a source of useful information
from times past. These are the reasons I decided to post to the FreeBSD
mailing list. If this is not the place to ask such questions, thanks for
reading my post and I'll continue my search elsewhere.

Ian Graeme Hilt