Very Computer

> I have a system with a Samsung 40 GIG HD and it no
> longer works. Before sending it out for repair, I
> want to copy the data from it. The problem is, my
> two other (and older) machines are limited to 32 GB.
> The first is an old Gateway 486 upgraded to a
> Pentium 83 MHz while the second has a Biostar M6TLC
> motherboard and a Pentium II 300 MHz.

> Gateway does not provide BIOS updates for a machine
> this old (in fact, back when I got a 1.2 GIG HD for
> it, I had to purchase the BIOS from Micro Firmware)
> while Biostar insists that it is a Motherboard limit
> and they can't do anything about it.

> I've often heard that Linux bypasses the BIOS for
> most hardware access. Can I get LINUX to see the
> entire drive on either of these machines? (I have
> Slackware installed on both)

> > I have a system with a Samsung 40 GIG HD and it no
> > longer works. Before sending it out for repair, I
> > want to copy the data from it. The problem is, my
> > two other (and older) machines are limited to 32 GB.
> > The first is an old Gateway 486 upgraded to a
> > Pentium 83 MHz while the second has a Biostar M6TLC
> > motherboard and a Pentium II 300 MHz.

> > Gateway does not provide BIOS updates for a machine
> > this old (in fact, back when I got a 1.2 GIG HD for
> > it, I had to purchase the BIOS from Micro Firmware)
> > while Biostar insists that it is a Motherboard limit
> > and they can't do anything about it.

> > I've often heard that Linux bypasses the BIOS for
> > most hardware access. Can I get LINUX to see the
> > entire drive on either of these machines? (I have
> > Slackware installed on both)

> If you can boot Linux off of another hard drive, don't even
> tell the BIOS about the 40GB drive.  Then mount the
> partitions manually.  Linux only needs the BIOS for the
> bootloader stage.  (Assuming that the Linux kernel itself on
> the old machines understands 40GB drives.)

> Have you tried anything yet with the 40GB drive?  You don't
> say if you've tried and failed or you haven't even tried
> yet.  If you tried and failed, what was the exact
> error/problem?

> I did not try yet as I am obviously concerned
> with data loss. Both systems already have two
> drives, so I would have to replace the slave
> drive with the one I am trying to access. It
> was originally a master, but would need to be
> set up as a slave (this is non-destructive,
> right?)

> Thanks for the help. It worked perfectly.
> Didn't even have to make it a slave, just
> a secondary master. I can't wait for a
> Linux-based BIOS to be released.