From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1S4JcF-0002TX-SV for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:09:20 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 16C1BE08A4; Sun, 4 Mar 2012 22:09:06 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ww0-f53.google.com (mail-ww0-f53.google.com [74.125.82.53]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 54AECE079E for ; Sun, 4 Mar 2012 22:08:08 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wgbfm10 with SMTP id fm10so1832509wgb.10 for ; Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:08:07 -0800 (PST) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of alan.mckinnon@gmail.com designates 10.180.80.35 as permitted sender) client-ip=10.180.80.35; Authentication-Results: mr.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of alan.mckinnon@gmail.com designates 10.180.80.35 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=alan.mckinnon@gmail.com; dkim=pass header.i=alan.mckinnon@gmail.com Received: from mr.google.com ([10.180.80.35]) by 10.180.80.35 with SMTP id o3mr11084451wix.5.1330898887615 (num_hops = 1); Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:08:07 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:organization :x-mailer:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=1IMkjkvmJpI6p7X4CtMll8LNkAiTdlkJvaPtFBSzUpI=; b=lusQMCWYIWJGi+jXQA62ekFl/5as4oh/GXK+BSaeuyLZg15N4Uf1/9SJM9OYLHq0Ma SLK/UyCNcJ6D9expDY4b7EdnyTmzmfv39z0WmUx6fPYeM+VvEbpSB8jZPz7p0L4QeqQz sPI1HOAEjSPdh5YWz3MZgI9kI3LB/fEDA+twhiLhSe4hxxoJQp08jxs5VXVamHiTg8Uz ypkMAW6TQMX5zZVKQqXbsDmiUvp0ty5eQcIPUbEYjTIa7EeTIaZW+WopzoTloTtbUsjF H8fqkaoCWq4KTmkQOtgC8etcwgnthmwez3QckJ6YKPlBJivnDypqV/dPd/vtoLTwBlFm yNWw== Received: by 10.180.80.35 with SMTP id o3mr8872355wix.5.1330898887580; Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:08:07 -0800 (PST) Received: from khamul.example.com (196-215-57-8.dynamic.isadsl.co.za. [196.215.57.8]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id k6sm17112173wiy.7.2012.03.04.14.08.05 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:08:06 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2012 00:07:36 +0200 From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo on a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Message-ID: <20120305000736.245b9497@khamul.example.com> In-Reply-To: References: Organization: Internet Solutions X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.8.0 (GTK+ 2.24.10; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: dcf263ab-03e5-49a8-bb51-9eb075bae150 X-Archives-Hash: d8eab1ad8a9a1f1f724468b1a9e16627 On Sun, 4 Mar 2012 13:56:23 -0800 Grant wrote: > >> [snip] > >>>> 1. fdisk won't let me specify a start block before 2048 even > >>>> though I deleted all partitions. > >>>> > >>> > >>> That's normal. It's a long story, but Windows Vista and Windows 7 > >>> expects the first partition to start at sector 2048. > >>> > >>> You can force a lower number by toggling "DOS compatibility"; > >>> this should let you start the first partition as low as sector 63. > >>> > >>> HOWEVER, make sure that all partitions begin at multiples of 8 > >>> (e.g., 64, 72, 80, and so on); this will save you a lot of grief > >>> if it happens that the hard disk you're using has 4KiB-sectors. > >> > >> I just looked up the start block for my other systems and they're > >> all on 63. =A0Is performance impacted on all of these systems since > >> they aren't started on 64? > >> > >> - Grant > >> > > > > The performance is only impacted if the sector size is something > > other than 512 bytes. The newer 4K sector size used by some higher > > density drives requires that you start partitions on a sector > > boundary or they will perform badly. There isn't an actually > > performance need to actually start on 2048 but the fdisk-type > > developer folks are doing that to be more compatible with newer > > Windows installations. >=20 > All my drives says this from fdisk: >=20 > Units =3D sectors of 1 * 512 =3D 512 bytes > Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes > I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes >=20 > So it doesn't matter where the first partition starts? Correct. Those drives are all the same style as you've=20 been using for years. If partitions start at 63, that's just an msdos convention. For reasons I've never understood, Windows liked to reserve the first 32k for some purpose or other. --=20 Alan McKinnnon alan.mckinnon@gmail.com