Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo on a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook

[Grant]

>> >> [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.  Is 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.
>>
>> All my drives says this from fdisk:
>>
>> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
>> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
>> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
>>
>> So it doesn't matter where the first partition starts?
>
> Correct. Those drives are all the same style as you've
> 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.

So fdisk used to enforce a block 63 start point and now it enforces a
2048 start point?  fdisk is the one doing this?

- Grant