From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 9 12:42:52 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8DE3716A4CE for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 12:42:52 -0800 (PST) Received: from arbornet.org (m-net.arbornet.org [209.142.209.161]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2C0CE43D2D for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 12:42:45 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from lei@m-net.arbornet.org) Received: from m-net.arbornet.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by arbornet.org (8.12.3p2/8.11.2) with ESMTP id hB9KkADr009264 for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 15:46:10 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from lei@m-net.arbornet.org) Received: from localhost (lei@localhost)hB9KkApf009261 for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 15:46:10 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 15:46:10 -0500 (EST) From: Lei Z To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20031209150801.H94358-100000@m-net.arbornet.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Subject: Has anyone tried this trick? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 20:42:52 -0000 Hi, A while ago, I read somewhere on the web that, with an adapter, it's possible to take out the laptop hard drive and put it into a desktop machine. After installing OS('s) on it, put the hard drive back to the laptop and generally things should work with some minor re-configurations such as X. I bought an Armada m300 (it came with no floppy or CD-ROM drive) from ebay a few days ago. I tried various possibilities to get this to work. When the laptop hard disk was in the desktop, it worked flawlessly just like a regular desktop hard disk with every OS I tested with including DOS, win 98, win2k (no chance to try FreeBSD yet). But after I put it back to the laptop with installed OS, the partition was recognized and bootable only when DOS was installed. When the primary partion was installed with win98, or win2k, the disk is simply not bootable. Also, DOS extended partition is not recognized in the laptop either. I created the primary partition under DOS, during Windows 2000 installation, or under desktop's Windows XP (laptop disk mounted as slave), but the results were mostly the same. Is this a BIOS incompatibility, or something else? Has anybody got successful experience with this trick? A quick search showed that Armada m300 doesn't seem to have a special reserved partition like some other laptops. Thanks for any hints, suggestions to get this work. Leo