From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 20 12:05:59 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7BC6E16A4CE for ; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 12:05:59 -0800 (PST) Received: from typhoon.enabled.com (typhoon.enabled.com [216.218.220.21]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4AFD843D39 for ; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 12:05:55 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from admin2@enabled.com) Received: from enabled.com (localhost.enabled.com [127.0.0.1]) by typhoon.enabled.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id hBKK2edD096591; Sat, 20 Dec 2003 12:02:40 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from admin2@enabled.com) From: "Noah" To: Matthew Seaman , Noah Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 12:02:40 -0800 Message-Id: <20031220195808.M66917@enabled.com> In-Reply-To: <20031126152833.GA7575@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> References: <20031112154647.M33110@enabled.com> <3FB25926.2000109@rtl.org> <20031112171905.M63476@enabled.com> <20031112182055.GC24384@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> <20031112223108.M65151@enabled.com> <20031113100504.GB33477@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> <20031126143823.M26427@enabled.com> <20031126152833.GA7575@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> X-Mailer: Open WebMail 2.01 20030425 X-OriginatingIP: 64.121.33.4 (admin2) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: backup drive bootabel X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 20:05:59 -0000 > > To deal with a standard MBR, you have to use fdisk(8). Try: > > # fdisk -B -b /boot/mbr -i da1 > > This will walk you through the current settings interactively, > letting you generate a slice table, change the active slice and > rewrite the boot code. > > Of course, just to confuse you, fdisk(8) will talk all about > "partitions", but be assured it actually means "slices" in *BSD speak. > (partitions are generated within each slice using disklabel(8) which > is a BSD specific thing. slices are generic for practically all > OSes that can run on the IA32 architecture from DOS onwards.) OKay Matthew, I am still a little inclear here. do I need to chnage what BIOS thinks. this is the first interactive prompt that I receive when running the fdisk command: so I said no: ---- snip --- # fdisk -B -b /boot/mbr -i da fdisk: cannot open disk /dev/da: No such file or directory typhoon# fdisk -B -b /boot/mbr -i da1 ******* Working on device /dev/da1 ******* parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are: cylinders=8924 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl) Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1 parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are: cylinders=8924 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl) Do you want to change our idea of what BIOS thinks ? [n] --- snip ---- **** then do I say yes here? -- snip --- Media sector size is 512 Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1 Information from DOS bootblock is: The data for partition 1 is: sysid 165,(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD) start 63, size 143363997 (70001 Meg), flag 80 (active) beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1; end: cyl 1023/ head 254/ sector 63 Do you want to change it? [n] --- snip ---- and no to the rest of the partitions/slices prompts? Thanks in advance, Noah > > > the disk is a little bit of a different size with different partition sizes. > > woudl that Make a difference. what esle can I check here? > > The disk geometry won't make any difference to the boot block. > fdisk(8) will read in the current partition table and give you the > opportunity to modify things, but don't do that unless you really do > intend to wipe the disk contents. > > Cheers, > > Matthew > > -- > Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks > Savill Way > PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Marlow > Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 > 1TH UK