BIOS and Disk Imaging

[Bob Paddock]

I would like to use Parted to make a copy of my windoze
partition.

I've installed parted 1.4.6 on Mandrake 7.2, seems to run
fine.

My BIOS says I have 28064/15/63, but Parted told me
1650/255/63.

I followed the instructions in the Parted documentation to add

"append hda=28064,15,63" to lilo/grub then rebooted.

Parted is still not happy, this is what it shows:

fdisk /dev/hda -l

Disk /dev/hda: 15 heads, 63 sectors, 28064 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 945 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1     17340   8193118+   b  Win95 FAT32
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(1019, 254, 63) should be (1019, 14, 63)
/dev/hda2         17341     28050   5060475    f  Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(1022, 254, 63) should be (1022, 14, 63)
/dev/hda5         17341     18870    722893+   b  Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda6         18871     20400    722893+   b  Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda7         20401     21930    722893+   b  Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda8         21931     28050   2891668+   b  Win95 FAT32

fdisk /dev/hda

Command (m for help): 
Disk /dev/hda: 15 heads, 63 sectors, 28064 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 945 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *         1     17340   8193118+   b  Win95 FAT32
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(1019, 254, 63) should be (1019, 14, 63)
/dev/hda2         17341     28050   5060475    f  Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(1022, 254, 63) should be (1022, 14, 63)
/dev/hda5         17341     18870    722893+   b  Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda6         18871     20400    722893+   b  Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda7         20401     21930    722893+   b  Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda8         21931     28050   2891668+   b  Win95 FAT32

Command (m for help): 
Expert command (m for help): 
Disk /dev/hda: 15 heads, 63 sectors, 28064 cylinders

Nr AF  Hd Sec  Cyl  Hd Sec  Cyl    Start     Size ID
 1 80   1   1    0 254  63 1019       63 16386237 0b
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(1019, 254, 63) should be (1019, 14, 63)
 2 00   0   1 1020 254  63 1022 16386300 10120950 0f
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary:
     phys=(1022, 254, 63) should be (1022, 14, 63)
 3 00   0   0    0   0   0    0        0        0 00
 4 00   0   0    0   0   0    0        0        0 00
 5 00   1   1 1020 254  63   85       63  1445787 0b
 6 00   1   1   86 254  63  175       63  1445787 0b
 7 00   1   1  176 254  63  265       63  1445787 0b
 8 00   1   1  266 254  63  625       63  5783337 0b

Expert command (m for help): 

Error: The partition table on /dev/hda is inconsistent.  There are many reasons
why this might be the case.  However, the most likely reason is that Linux
detected the BIOS geometry for /dev/hda incorrectly.  GNU Parted suspects the
real geometry should be 1650/255/63 (not 28064/15/63).  You should check with
your BIOS first, as this may not be correct.  You can inform Linux by adding the
parameter hda=1650,255,63 to the command line.  See the LILO or GRUB
documentation for more information.  If you think Parted's suggested geometry is
correct, you may select Ignore to continue (and fix Linux later).  Otherwise,
select Cancel (and fix Linux and/or the BIOS now).
Ignore Cancel ? c

Where do I go from here?

Should I at least take the APPEND back out?


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