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Date:	Mon, 02 Jun 2003 06:10:50 -0700 (PDT)
From:	"Harry Motin" <hmotin@sbcglobal.net >
Reply-To:	"Harry Motin" <hmotin@sbcglobal.net >
To:
Subject:	Re: SCOUG-Help: HDD choice & settings with OS/2 !?

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Svobi,

I too had many problems setting up IDE hard drives. I had to go to the manufacturer
website and CAREFULLY read all the literature and recommendations before I felt
HALF-WAY comfortable (only half-way).

In the end I don't think it matters about setting your hard drive to LBA, or CHS, or Large,
etc. In my mind only 2 things matter:

1. Can you see and use all of your hard drive, using a particular setting?

2. Don't violate any NO-NO's from the manufacturer

I've used both CHS and LBA. I set my last 2 IDE drives to auto detect in the BIOS. The
BIOS auto detected and set them to LBA. On one of my motherboards I had to first
temporarily pull out the SCSI card before the BIOS would auto detect my IDE drive (a
trick I learned from the PC builder).

I would not change the BIOS settings from LBA to CHS. I was told that you cannot do it
successfully. At a minimum you will not be able to boot your system. At a maximum you
may get data corruption and lost

The MOST IMPORTANT think that I think you should do is write down or copy/print
your BIOS settings. I do this everytime I install new hardware and its really saved me.
I've been able to go back to a previous configuration without a problem (on several
occasions the new hardware just did not work out to my satisfaction). Fortunately for me
I can print my BIOS settings, using Print Screen. You may (or, may not) be able to use
Print Screen on your system for this. If you cannot, I would take the time to write them all
down.

I used the fastest DMA mode, when I used IDE hard drives. I did not use PIO mode.
However, if you write down the BIOS settings, you can easily experiment with some of
these settings and recover, if necessary.
HCM

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 02:59:08 PDT7, Info 4 SYNass wrote:

>If you are responding to someone asking for help who
>may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
>REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
>
>Hello everbody
>Since I had the same difficulties installing my new WDC
>early this like Wayne ...
>.... I would like to your your advice and suggestions regarding
>the settings in the BIOS:
>
>My present BIOS settings look like following
>
>BIOS - Standard CMOS Features:
>-> IDE Primary Slave: WSC400EB-00CPF0
>AUTO / LBA
>40018 MB
>CYL 4865
>HEAD 255
>PRECOMP 0
>LZ 19157
>SECTOR 63
>
>BIOS - Integrated Periphery:
>Slave Drive PIO Mode = AUTO
>
>What do I need to watch with these settings ?
>
>What are the must avoid ??
>What are the should / must do ??
>
>Can somebody of you exactly specify what and why
>to the respective settings parameters ???
>
>
>With my other question regarding the choice of
>HDD's with OS/2 I have gotten positive answers
>only with so many brands and types of HDD that
>I am sure that I DO make a mistake with some
>of my settings here !!!
>
>
>TWO more question:
>
>1) Can I just change the BIOS settings from LBA to CHS
>without risking the lost of my data !?
>
>BTW: On my experimantal system I just tried this !
>All HDD's were set from LBA to CHS with the result
>that the system does not boot anymore ;-(
>
>Setting only the boot disk back to LBA and the other
>2 HDD's still leaving on CHS, the system boots again
>with NO problems ;-)
>
>
>2) Does the cache size of 2MB or 8MB any negative
>affects to OS/2 ??? What must one watch reagarding
>this ???
>
>
>Your advice and suggestions are very appreciated
>and welcome !
>
>Kind regards, svobi
>
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