Re: /dev/null > /dev/sdb1 !

[Mark Allums <mark@allums.com>]

paragasu wrote:
>     So, I think that the command 'cat /dev/null > /dev/hdd' did nothing
>     to your system. Maybe something else?
>
>
> i also don't know, it happen after i run that command. There is a lot of 
> error message displayed
> in the screen. But i am not surprise if it is because of something else 
> - coincident thing happen right?.
>
> Or simply because the hard disk it quite old. I buy it second hand 
> because my bios only
> support 2GB. That hard disk is quite rare nowadays. And if it dies, now 
> might be the right
> time for the hard disk but not the right time for me though. =p
>
> but i think, Bob McGowan give the best explanation for me. I am 
> satisfied with his reasoning,
> enough for me not to mess up with any simple and innocent look.
>
>  >The issue is not with cat or /dev/null, it's what the shell does when 
> it sees '>':  open the file, >for writing, start at offset 0 (or, 
> truncate the file).
>
>  >But, the system has opened the destination "file", in this case a 
> device, and done >whatever the device driver is coded to do for this case.
>
> Thanks everyone..


Most manufacturers of hard disks allow for newer models to be used in 
even fairly old machines.  They want to sell as many drives as possible, 
right?  Visit the web sites of the various drive makers, and see whether 
perhaps someone's lowest end model can be used with your computer. 
Sometimes, there is a jumper on the drive that you can set to limit the 
drive geometry (fake it) to something an old BIOS can understand.  It 
may be that your computer can use a 250 GB drive.  It will just see only 
the first 2 GB of the drive.  The rest of the capacity will be unused, 
but it will work.

Also, look around you.  You may already have a drive you can use this way.

And, there might even exist a BIOS mod for your motherboard.  I found 
one for an old machine that was limited to 32 GB, and after flashing the 
hacked BIOS, was able to use the full capacity of a 120 GB drive.


--
Mark Allums