Does BIOS really need to recognize correct HDD size?

ikletti · 09-24-2003, 04:59 PM

Hello.

I'm planning to set up a file server for personal use. The thing is: I only have an old AMD K6 on a Gigabyte
Motherboard (AMI BIOS). I also have a 40 GB HDD.

The BIOS of the Motherboard does not recognize the correct size of the hard disk (LBA mode).
I wondered if it is really necessary that the BIOS recognizes the correct size of the HDD?

Please, no bashing, but: With Windows 2000, I experienced that even with the HDD not set up in the BIOS
("none" instead of "auto"), the hard disk gets recognized and mounted and is accessible without any problem (i.e. data loss, etc.)

Can I expect the same behavior with linux?
Can it read/write to a HDD that's not recognized by the BIOS without data loss?

Thanks,

Ingo.

acid_kewpie · 09-24-2003, 05:13 PM

yes shouldn't be an issue, in my experience (with no bias at all.. oh no way..) linux always does a much better job of this. win98 always required an additional bios manager for my old p200 to recognise large disks, but linux never batted an eyelid as it goes to a much lower level than windows.