roger@binky.uucp (Roger Taranto) (12/13/89)
When adding new disks to a 4.3BSD machine, you have to make sure that
the disk partition table for that drive has been added to the kernel.
However, how do you add two disks that answer to the same name, but
have different geometries? For example, I just added a SI RA90
look-alike to my 4.3BSD system; it's geometry is: 1629 cylinders,
15 tracks/cyl, 69 sectors/track. At boot time, it tells the kernel
that it is a RA90. However, let's say that I wanted to add a
genuine RA90 to my system; it's geometry is: 2649 cylinders, 13 tracks/cyl,
69 sectors/track. It too says that it's a RA90. So, how do you handle
this since 4.3BSD puts the partition table in the kernel instead of
on the disk?
-Roger
roger@binky.UUCP ...!{pacbell,ucbcad,rtech}!binky!rogerchris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) (12/14/89)
In article <1989Dec13.052939.17192@binky.uucp> roger@binky.uucp (Roger Taranto) writes: >However, how do you add two disks that answer to the same name, but >have different geometries? This is a problem indeed. The root cause is VMS + DSA. VMS does not care very much about layout (it just uses contiguous regions) so it is really only interested in total disk size. As a result, vendors can get away with calling a Wren V an `RA90' or `RA82'. This is rather similar to having Honda call their newest miracle a `Dodge Omni'. Yes, they are both cars, but good grief. >For example, I just added a SI RA90 ... 1629 cylinders, 15 tracks/cyl, >69 sectors/track. At boot time, it tells the kernel that it is a RA90. >However ... a genuine RA90 ... is: 2649 cylinders, 13 tracks/cyl, >69 sectors/track. It too says that it's a RA90. So, how do you handle >this since 4.3BSD puts the partition table in the kernel instead of >on the disk? Get 4.3BSD-tahoe, which can tell fakes from Gen-Yoo-Wine DECwreck disks, and which puts the partition tables on the media. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@cs.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris