Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 21:02:54 -0800 (PST) From: Doug White <dwhite@riley-net170-164.uoregon.edu> To: John Fenwick <fenwick@hposl03.cup.hp.com> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Install/Configuration questions Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960201202647.1443A-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu> In-Reply-To: <9602011710.AA06525@hposl03.cup.hp.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, 1 Feb 1996, John Fenwick wrote: > * Is the boot manager - either booteasy or osbs - typically installed > in the first 60-odd sectors of a boot disk, and if so is it installed > on top of what existing DOS boot manager may have already been there? Yes and yes. Booteasy or osbs are loaded into the MBR over what is currently there. This is not good if you need an eide translator, but since you are on SCSI that should not be a problem. > * Using one particular install configuration results in only the first > 17 sectors of the disk being used to install the boot manager. > What has been installed in this case, and why is it different > from the 62 or 63 sectors noted above? The MBR is a specific section of the disk set aside for that purpose. The size of what's on it isn't exactly relevant, IMHO. > * If I overwrite my current Win95-installed boot manager by installing > one from BSD, would I be able to recover the original Win95-installed > boot manager by running the DOS "fdisk /mbr" command? Yes, at least the DOS mbr :) I don't have win95 so I couldn't say. Terry? > * Are the install tools for boot managers available under UNIX, > or are they only available under the DOS tools on the CDROM? Ooh. I think they're all DOS tools, but it shouldn't be difficult to make up a quickie DOS disk and keep it laying around, considering we're still blessed with it's presence :) (Somebody check me on that) > If I wanted to migrate my BSD installation to a different disk, > would I be able to copy the boot sectors also? Would "dd" be able > to do the copy in this case? Don't know enough about dd to say. I wouldn't put stock in it, but installing new bootmanagers is so easy, I don't think it'd be worthwhile. > * Can you recommend some documentation that would describe where such > things as the locations and sizes of partition tables, disk labels, > and boot managers, are typically found on boot disks? Some DOS disk technical specs would be a good place to start. Or some DOS hardware programming books. > Much thanks for any pointers. Hope this helps. Doug White | University of Oregon Internet: dwhite@gladstone.uoregon.edu | Residence Networking Assistant http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | Computer Science Major
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.91.960201202647.1443A-100000>