From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 7 14:36:53 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG 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 A6F8E16A416 for ; Tue, 7 Nov 2006 14:36:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org) Received: from mail4.sea5.speakeasy.net (mail4.sea5.speakeasy.net [69.17.117.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9C0F043D70 for ; Tue, 7 Nov 2006 14:36:50 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org) Received: (qmail 10717 invoked from network); 7 Nov 2006 14:36:50 -0000 Received: from dsl092-078-145.bos1.dsl.speakeasy.net (HELO be-well.ilk.org) ([66.92.78.145]) (envelope-sender ) by mail4.sea5.speakeasy.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 7 Nov 2006 14:36:50 -0000 Received: by be-well.ilk.org (Postfix, from userid 1147) id 6ECED28430; Tue, 7 Nov 2006 09:36:47 -0500 (EST) To: "Bob Schwartz" , FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG References: <000001c7021f$287ef880$0500a8c0@c1> <20061107075922.d7c44977.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> From: Lowell Gilbert Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 09:36:47 -0500 In-Reply-To: <20061107075922.d7c44977.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> (Bill Moran's message of "Tue, 7 Nov 2006 07:59:22 -0500") Message-ID: <44fycvmigw.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: Subject: Re: Questions on first-time installation (Re: (no subject)) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 14:36:53 -0000 Bill Moran writes: > In response to "Bob Schwartz" : >> this workstation has two intallations of XP and a windows boot manager for >> selecting them. Under no circumstances can we afford for this to be >> disturbed (at least until we can finally get rid of windows forever!). > > You should not install on that machine, then. Its not uncommon for first > time users to hose other installations. Based on your "under no > circumstances" statement, you need to ask yourself two questions: > 1) Do I have a complete and reliable backup of my Windows stuff? > 2) Can I afford the time to restore from backup if I do something wrong? > > If the answer to either of those questions is "no" then you should do one > of two things: > 1) Recruit a trusted friend who has done this before to help. > 2) Don't use that machine for your first install. Or, possibly, pull out the existing drives with the important "stuff" before attempting the install. But having a critical system without backups is foolhardy in any case. >> I've put in an adaptec 2940 and a 146 gig SCSI drive...and this is the drive >> I want to install bsd on and play with it to learn, but the installation >> process does not appear to tell me how to install on this drive only..and >> whether or not if I also install BSD's boot manager, I may disturb the one >> windows is offering already. > > The BSD boot manager _will_ displace any other boot manager, although it > works just as well in every instance I've done it. It is limited to four BIOS partitions, and no extended partitions. Not an issue in this case, it sounds like. I like the fact that it fits completely in the boot sector. That keeps it from being pretty, but it also means that a problem with one OS won't keep you from booting a different OS.