>> If you're that worried about efficiency, try changing the > to >=
>> (to make LBA48 kick in with sector 0xfffffff instead of 0x10000000)
>> and dropping the quirk.  See if it makes a measurable difference.
>> [...]  It might break a non-LBA48-capable disk that's exactly 128G
>> long, but I am inclined to doubt any such exists.
> Urm, how many non-LBA48 capable disks are there out there that have
> exactly 2^32 sectors?

(Well, 2^28 sectors, not 2^32 - count those digits.)  Probably none, as
I wrote.  However, I forgot about disks with a "clip to 128G" jumper;
those _do_ exist, and when so jumpered, they behave as having exactly
2^28 sectors.  When such a disk is behind a non-LBA48-compatible IDE
controller, we have the situation in question - while the disk proper
is LBA48-capable, the disk as seen by the host driver is not.

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