Upgrading my hard drive

Ryan Williams <breath@xxxxxxx> · Sat, 21 Aug 2004 21:44:30 -0400

I'm trying to move my server from two old hard drives onto a single new 
one, and I've not been able to accomplish it.  I'm assuming that there's 
something obvious that I've missed.  I notice that LILO gives me some 
heat as it's being run, but I'm at a loss for how to cure it.
The failure mode is the LILO 07 error on boot, which I've learned means 
"Invalid initialization: The BIOS failed to properly initialize the disk 
controller."  I'm not sure whether this is related to LILO's 
installation or the BIOS parameters I've set up.  Clearly the drive can 
be recognized and used by the BIOS since I can access it as a 
non-bootable drive with this machine.
The new hard disk is a Hitachi DeskStar HDS722580VLAT20 80GB.  The BIOS 
correctly reads the geometry 16383/16/63 but incorrectly calculates that 
out to 8455 MB.  This seems to be the right capacity for those CHS, 
perhaps Hitachi does something different with this drive.  Also, fdisk 
has a completely different idea of the drive's geometry.
In any case, here's the transcript, I'd appreciate any suggestions as to 
what I should try.
/# fdisk /dev/hdc
The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 10011.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
Command (m for help): m
Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hdc: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-10011, default 1): 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-10011, default 10011): +50M
Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (8-10011, default 8):
Using default value 8
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (8-10011, default 10011): +512M
Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 3
First cylinder (74-10011, default 74):
Using default value 74
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (74-10011, default 10011):
Using default value 10011
Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 1
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hdc: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1   *         1         7     56196   83  Linux
/dev/hdc2             8        73    530145   82  Linux swap
/dev/hdc3            74     10011  79826985   83  Linux
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
/# mkfs.ext3 /dev/hdc1
mke2fs 1.27 (8-Mar-2002)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
14056 inodes, 56196 blocks
2809 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
7 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
2008 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        8193, 24577, 40961
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (4096 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 33 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
/# mkfs.jfs /dev/hdc3
mkfs.jfs version 1.0.14, 28-Jan-2002
Warning!  All data on device /dev/hdc3 will be lost!
Continue? (Y/N) Y
   \
Format completed successfully.
79826985 kilobytes total disk space.
/# mkswap /dev/hdc2
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 542863360 bytes
/# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1             1.0G  862M  118M  88% /
/dev/hdb1             984M  814M  120M  88% /usr/src
/dev/hdb2              11G  9.2G  1.1G  90% /home
/# mkdir /mnt/newd
/# mkdir /mnt/newboot
/# mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt/newboot/
/# cp -a boot/* /mnt/newboot/
/# mount /dev/hdc3 /mnt/newd/
/# ls
bin    command  floppy  lib         package  sbin     usr      vmlinuz.old
boot   dev      home    lost+found  proc     service  var
cdrom  etc      initrd  mnt         root     tmp      vmlinuz
/# cp -a bin cdrom command dev etc /mnt/newd/
/# cp -a floppy/ initrd/ lib/ lost+found/ /mnt/newd/
/# cp -a package root sbin /mnt/newd/
/# cp -a service tmp usr /mnt/newd
/# cp -a var vmlinuz vmlinuz.old /mnt/newd/
/# cp -a home/ /mnt/newd/
/# mkdir /mnt/newd/mnt
/# mkdir /mnt/newd/proc
/# chmod u-w /mnt/newd/proc
/# mkdir /mnt/newd/boot
/# ls /mnt/newd
bin    command  floppy  lib         package  sbin     usr      vmlinuz.old
boot   dev      home    lost+found  proc     service  var
cdrom  etc      initrd  mnt         root     tmp      vmlinuz
/# umount /mnt/newboot
/# mount /dev/hdc1 /mnt/newd/boot
/# emacs -nw /mnt/newd/etc/lilo.conf
/# cat /mnt/newd/etc/lilo.conf
lba32
boot=/dev/hda
root=/dev/hda3
install=/boot/boot.b
map=/boot/map
delay=50
vga=normal
default=2427
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27
        label=2427
        read-only
        optional
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.25
        label=2425
        read-only
        optional
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.23
        label=2423
        read-only
        optional
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18d
        label=2418d
        read-only
        optional
image=/vmlinuz.old
        label=LinuxOLD
        read-only
/# lilo -b /dev/hdc -r /mnt/newd -v 3
LILO version 22.2, Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger
Development beyond version 21 Copyright (C) 1999-2001 John Coffman
Released 05-Feb-2002 and compiled at 20:57:26 on Apr 13 2002.
MAX_IMAGES = 27
Ignoring entry 'boot'
raid_setup returns offset = 00000000
Reading boot sector from /dev/hdc
Warning: /dev/hdc is not on the first disk
Merging with /boot/boot.b
bios_dev:  device 1601
Warning: Int 0x13 function 8 and function 0x48 return different
head/sector geometries for BIOS drive 0x80
Warning: Int 0x13 function 8 and function 0x48 return different
head/sector geometries for BIOS drive 0x81
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Secondary loader: 15 sectors.
bios_dev:  device 1601
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27
bios_dev:  device 1601
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Setup length is 5 sectors.
Mapped 2053 sectors.
Added 2427 *
    <dev=0xe2,hd=0,cyl=105,sct=203>
    "ro root=303"
Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.25
bios_dev:  device 1601
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Setup length is 5 sectors.
Mapped 1901 sectors.
Added 2425
    <dev=0xe2,hd=0,cyl=105,sct=228>
    "ro root=303"
Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.23
bios_dev:  device 1601
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Setup length is 5 sectors.
Mapped 1897 sectors.
Added 2423
    <dev=0xe2,hd=0,cyl=105,sct=249>
    "ro root=303"
Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18d
bios_dev:  device 1601
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Setup length is 5 sectors.
Mapped 1757 sectors.
Added 2418d
    <dev=0xe2,hd=0,cyl=106,sct=14>
    "ro root=303"
Boot image: /vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-2.2.18pre21
bios_dev:  device 1601
bios_dev:  masked device 1600, which is /dev/hdc
bios_dev: geometry check found 0 matches
bios_dev: PT match found 0 matches (0xFFFFFFFF)
Warning: BIOS drive 0x82 may not be accessible
Device 0x1601: BIOS drive 0x82, 255 heads, 10011 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 63 sectors.
Setup length is 5 sectors.
Mapped 1441 sectors.
Added LinuxOLD
    <dev=0xe2,hd=0,cyl=106,sct=34>
    "ro root=303"
Backup copy of boot sector in /boot/boot.1600
Map file size: 55808 bytes.
Writing boot sector.
/# poweroff

(here I mess with the cables in order to put the new drive as the master 
on the first IDE bus and disconnect the other drives, then boot)

L 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 ....

(Previously I've been able to move between hard disks by utilizing the 
Debian installer to make things correctly bootable, but that's no longer 
possible by my choice of JFS.  Plus, that way was lame.)

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