Disk partitions ..Dos & XP

TekNoir · Sep 22, 2005

The correct syntax should be, by the way --

Code:

d:\="MS-DOS"

This should be added just after where it says

Code:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP"

Joel Rainville · Sep 22, 2005

TekNoir said:
The correct syntax should be, by the way --

Code:

d:\="MS-DOS"

This should be added just after where it says

Code:

[boot loader] timeout=3 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP"

Are you sure about that? Since williB's primary partition on the first disk will be unreadable NTFS/FAT32, DOS will only see its own partition as C:\, and there'll be no D:\ under DOS. Me thinks D:\="" will fail. But I might be wrong.

Edit : Nah, you're right. The Oreilly instructions clearly say D:\.

williB · Sep 22, 2005

Joel Rainville said:
williB said:

Joel Rainville said:

TekNoir said:

I have a very cheap secondary harddrive loaded with DOS 6.22 and run a bootloader to accomplish this.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that would work, even with XP's bootloader. But you need a second drive

Click to expand...

i've got oodles of drives floating around here...

Click to expand...

There you go then!

Don't wipe XP! Disconnect your current hard drive from the IDE controller, and put in a new drive as a master on the first IDE controller. Boot from the DOS disk, partition, install, reboot to make sure DOS works and when you're finished, put the XP disk back in as master, and the DOS disk as slave on the same controller. Boot XP, you will then need to add an entry to your c:\boot.ini file to tell XP's bootloader how to boot DOS. I'll check for the correct syntax, I don't know it by heart, and I'll post it in a few minutes...

too late :lol: its almost done reinstalling third time..ok i've used the entire 10G drive for windows this will be C:\ drive..
i just have to find a working 2nd drive

williB · Sep 22, 2005

found one ...its formatting under DOS6.22

williB · Sep 22, 2005

TekNoir said:
The correct syntax should be, by the way --

Code:

d:\="MS-DOS"

This should be added just after where it says

Code:

[boot loader] timeout=3 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP"

many thanks to the both of you !!
you both have been a big help..
where it says what?? :lol:

Styx · Sep 22, 2005

LINUX!!!!

TekNoir · Sep 22, 2005

Joel Rainville said:
TekNoir said:

The correct syntax should be, by the way --

Code:

d:\="MS-DOS"

This should be added just after where it says

Code:

[boot loader] timeout=3 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP"

Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? Since williB's primary partition on the first disk will be unreadable NTFS/FAT32, DOS will only see its own partition as C:\, and there'll be no D:\ under DOS. Me thinks D:\="" will fail. But I might be wrong.

Edit : Nah, you're right. The Oreilly instructions clearly say D:\.

The hardware BIOS handles drive letters (logical and virtual disks) and partitions and knows nothing about what filesystem they are formatted under. The operating system has to know the format in order to determine which form of table-of-contents system to use to access files.

Joel Rainville · Sep 22, 2005

Styx said:
LINUX!!!!

Yeah, Linux on a 3rd partition would be a nice toy

Just pulling your leg, I am a Linux advocate too, just not a Windows hater

Joel Rainville · Sep 22, 2005

TekNoir said:
Joel Rainville said:

TekNoir said:

The correct syntax should be, by the way --

Code:

d:\="MS-DOS"

This should be added just after where it says

Code:

[boot loader] timeout=3 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP"

Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? Since williB's primary partition on the first disk will be unreadable NTFS/FAT32, DOS will only see its own partition as C:\, and there'll be no D:\ under DOS. Me thinks D:\="" will fail. But I might be wrong.

Edit : Nah, you're right. The Oreilly instructions clearly say D:\.

Click to expand...

The hardware BIOS handles drive letters (logical and virtual disks) and partitions and knows nothing about what filesystem they are formatted under. The operating system has to know the format in order to determine which form of table-of-contents system to use to access files.

Thanks for the lesson, but that's not true. The BIOS knows nothing about partitions. It only knows how to access the master boot record, which in turn points to each partitions' boot sectors and/or the bootloader.

The BIOS has nothing to do with williB's problem anyway. The bootloader is where eveything's happening, and WinXP's bootloader might just as well be using the "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)" syntax instead of drive letters... That's why I wasn't sure about the "D:\"

Styx · Sep 22, 2005

Joel Rainville said:
Styx said:

LINUX!!!!

Click to expand...

Yeah, Linux on a 3rd partition would be a nice toy

Just pulling your leg, I am a Linux advocate too, just not a Windows hater

on a thrid parition!!

Code:

Fluid jrb # df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hdb3              75G   22G   50G  30% /
udev                  506M  284K  505M   1% /dev
none                  506M     0  506M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda1              15G  3.8G   11G  26% /mnt/w2k
/dev/hda5              59G   16G   43G  28% /mnt/progs
/dev/hda6             3.1G  356M  2.8G  12% /mnt/xport
/dev/hdb1              38M  8.9M   28M  25% /boot

Fluid jrb # cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.14-rc1-vivid2 (root@Fluid) (gcc version 3.4.4 (Gentoo 3.4.4-r1, ssp-3.4.4-1.0, pie-8.7.8)) #1 PREEMPT Mon Sep 19 22:17:24 BST 2005

sod that 2 harddrives

TekNoir · Sep 22, 2005

Joel Rainville said:
Thanks for the lesson, but that's not true. The BIOS knows nothing about partitions. It only knows how to access the master boot record, which in turn points to each partitions' boot sectors and/or the bootloader.

The BIOS has nothing to do with williB's problem anyway. The bootloader is where eveything's happening, and WinXP's bootloader might just as well be using the "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)" syntax instead of drive letters... That's why I wasn't sure about the "D:\"

You are correct, of course, about the BIOS and drive letters and partitions. I admit that I was distracted by outside forces when I typed the erroneous portion of my response.

There are Master Boot Records and then there are Volume Boot Sectors. The MBR controls the entire disk and contains the master partition table as well as the master boot code. The Volume Boot Sector controls each partition (aka a logical DOS volume in the DOS/Windows world) and contains the disk parameter block and the volume boot code. The BIOS handles physical disk addressing and provides access to the MBR of each disk.

You could use the ARC convention instead of the much simpler drive letter approach and it should work correctly. The correct syntax would be: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\="MS_DOS" if DOS is installed on the first partition on the second hard drive located on the primary drive controller.

I only made the statement about the BIOS because you had said, "Since williB's primary partition on the first disk will be unreadable NTFS/FAT32," by which I meant that the BIOS will load the MBR no matter what format the drive is in. To be honest, the bootloader/bootmanager doesn't care what it's formatted in either...

For everyone who is interested, here is a most excellent link to information about the BIOS, MBR, multi-booting, and much much more -- http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/index.html

Joel Rainville · Sep 22, 2005

TekNoir said:
To be honest, the bootloader/bootmanager doesn't care what it's formatted in either...

That's where I disagree. You could say *most* bootloaders don't care about file systems. But a bootloader is just code written by humans, and they're gonna care about file systems if they want to...

Some of the content of your post still sounds weird, but let's leave it at that please... :lol: I'm sure we're the only 2 still reading and adding to that thread Fell free to PM to continue the debate though Others who might be a bit confused should visit the excellent links you posted.

Disk partitions ..Dos & XP

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