Large Hard Drive Support - Debian 3.1

[tcroteau]

Good Evening,
I have scoured the web looking for a clear understanding of how to utilize all 250GB of my new WD HD on my Debian installation. Of course, without 48-bit LBA support (my Biostar M5ALA isn't capable), I realize the BIOS's inability to suppport large hard drives means I can only use 137GB of my new drive. Also, a BIOS update is not available via Biostar.

I've been working with Debian for a few months and am getting comfortable with the command prompt but I have a ways to go. My end objective is to pitch Windows altogether.

I have seen snippets of information stating that I can somehow configure my Linux box to use all 250GB but I cannot piece it together. I've read the "Large Hard Drive HOW-TO" but it's a bit over my head. I've also seen posts stating that a small /boot partition will do the trick but I can't get it to work.

I have Debian installed on a Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 40 Ultra 100 (20GB) and what I want to do is add my new WD 250GB drive to store files. This box is to serve primarily as a (Samba) file server with clients using Windows XP, Mac OSX and Mac OS9. The server configuration works very well but the issue is to gain access to all of the WD's space.

Can someone assist me in achieving this, or point me to a resource a newbie can understand? Would it be easier for me to purchase a PCI IDE controller card instead?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

TC

[iwanabeguru]

are you using the default kernel?
post your kernel version , the command which tell you the version of current kernel : uname -r

maybe you need compile a new kernel

[tcroteau]

Debian 3.1 (Sarge)
Kernel 2.4.27-3-386 (default kernel)

[iwanabeguru]

upgrade to 2.6 kernel it maybe help
apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.8-3-i386

[kiwbis3]

what are you saying

[kiwbis3]

can any one e-mail me and tell me why my 3'4 drive will read but wont let me write need help bad i'm useing 2000 pro. thanks plus i'm new here trying to learn