Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 17:28:39 -0600 From: D J Hawkey Jr <hawkeyd@visi.com> To: Mike Meyer <mwm-dated-1009398939.66df23@mired.org> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Two FreeBSD slices on one HDD? Message-ID: <20011221172839.A8809@sheol.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <15395.40219.395530.155752@guru.mired.org>; from mwm-dated-1009398939.66df23@mired.org on Fri, Dec 21, 2001 at 02:35:39PM -0600 References: <86914604@toto.iv> <15395.40219.395530.155752@guru.mired.org>
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On Dec 21, at 02:35 PM, Mike Meyer wrote:
>
> D J Hawkey Jr <hawkeyd@visi.com> types:
> >
> > From what I have read, go ahead with the install, and when in 'fdisk',
> > remove ad0s1 (the WinME slice), and replace it with a FreeBSD slice,
> > marking it bootable. The, in 'disklabel', proceed to set up partitions
> > within the new ad0s1 slice as usual.
> >
> > BUT, will the rest of the install correctly put everything in the new
> > ad0s1 slice, and not the existing ad0s2 slice?
>
> I can't answer that. I built my two-BSD hd from sources and installed
> that way.
Please elaborate. You had to 'newfs' the partitions, right? Then, what,
copy the sources into the /usr mountpoint, and build the OS? With what
development tools; it's a new slice??
Oh! Wait. You installed the second OS while running the existing OS,
right? I don't think I wanna go that route if I don't have to.
> > Then, will, bootEZ will see both FreeBSD partitions, and allow booting
> > either? This I haven't found an answer to.
>
> It should see them both, but it will label them both as "FreeBSD". I
> installed Grub so I could label them as "FreeBSD Current" and "FreeBSD
> Stable".
That's fine; vague is better. I plan on using this strategy to do major
upgrades into the future, so the labels would change again, and again...
But that raises another question: Do I keep the existing boot loader
in place, or do I add it [again] with the new OS? It pro'lly doesn't
matter either way, does it?
> > > Furthermore, can either then mount the other slices' partitions?
> > I cannot see why not, unless trying to write to ad0s1 from ad0s2 screws
> > up due to ad0s1 having DIRPREFS and ad0s2 not? Anyone?
>
> No problems at all. You can even have them both use the same swap
> partition to save a little space.
Can it be done retroactively? I plan to upgrade the RAM when I install
the new OS. The swap partition for the current OS will then be "too
small"; is it as simple as changing the swap device in the current OS's
/etc/fstab, ads02b, to the new OS's swap device, ad0s1b, and reboot?
Then, can I reclaim ad0s2b (the current swap) by simply changing it's
label to ad0s2SOMETHING with 'disklabel', and 'newfs' it?
> > Is it really this straight-forward, the "Just do it" Nike approach?
>
> Except for sysinstall, the answer is yes. I suspect the answer is yes
> for sysinstall as well.
I would think so, too. But I want to be safe in knowledge as well as
safe in backups!
Can anyone answer these last bits?
> <mike
Dave
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