From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jul 28 20:04:33 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48905ACC for ; Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:04:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ataraxi@telia.com) Received: from smtp-out11.han.skanova.net (smtp-out11.han.skanova.net [195.67.226.200]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D10062841 for ; Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:04:32 +0000 (UTC) Received: from alice.nodomain.nowhere (95.199.151.241) by smtp-out11.han.skanova.net (8.5.133) (authenticated as u51204108) id 51B4CBC400F3E3AD; Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:04:24 +0200 Received: by alice.nodomain.nowhere (Postfix, from userid 1002) id 852261F4BDE; Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:07:02 +0200 (CEST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by alice.nodomain.nowhere (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83EEE1F4A8D; Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:07:02 +0200 (CEST) Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 18:07:02 +0200 (CEST) From: Conny Andersson To: Peter Andreev Subject: Re: FreeBSD slices and the Boot Manager In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:04:33 -0000 Hi Peter, I need much more disk space for the FreeBSD 8.4-RELEASE, so I will need the space of the two 'old' slices. Thanks, Conny > On Sun, 28 Jul 2013, Peter Andreev wrote: > Why wouldn't you simply update your 8.1 to 8.4? > > > 2013/7/27 Conny Andersson > >> Hi, >> >> I have a workstation with two factory installed hard disks. The first >> disk, ada0, is occupied by a Windows 7 Pro OS (mainly kept for the three >> year warranty of the workstation as Dell techs mostly speak the Microsoft >> language). >> >> Instead I have configured the BIOS to boot from the MBR on the second disk >> as I most of the time (99%) use FreeBSD. The MBR on ada1 was installed with >> sysinstall's option "Install the FreeBSD Boot Manager", when I installed >> the FreeBSD 8.3-RELEASE. >> >> (The latest BIOS version 2.4.0 for Dell T1500 does not support >> UEFI/GPT/GUID.) >> >> The second disk ada1, now has three FreeBSD slices: >> >> 1) ada1s1 with FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE >> >> 2) ada1s2 with FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE >> >> 3) ada1s3 with FreeBSD 8.3-RELEASE >> >> I want to install the new FreeBSD 8.4-RELEASE on ada1s1 by overwriting the >> now existing two first slices. This means that ada1s3, must become ada1s2 >> instead. Is this possible to do? >> >> A very important question is if sysinstall's option "Install the FreeBSD >> Boot Manager" detects that I have a FreeBSD 8.3 and detect it as slice 2 on >> disk 1? So it becomes a boot option when I am rebooting? (Maybe the slice >> may come up as ad6s2, because AHCI in FreeBSD 8.4 isn't enabled at the time >> of the install.) >> >> If the answer to these questions is yes, then the next two questions arise. >> >> Can I mount ada1s2a (FreeBSD 8.3) from the newly installed FreeBSD 8.4 and >> edit my FreeBSD's 8.3-R /etc/fstab according to the new disk layout, and >> occasionally run FreeBSD 8.3 without problems? Or do I have to do more to >> get it to work? >> >> The idea behind this kind of 'reverse' disk layout of mine is to have >> FreeBSD 8.4 as my new default OS. And have FreeBSD 8.3 untouched for >> configuring FreeBSD 8.4 and booting into it when ever needed. If I can do >> this as described above, I will have plenty of space on the disk for the >> future and a new FreeBSD release. >> >> >> Thanks for your interest in my questions, >> >> Conny Andersson >> >> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Conny Andersson >> >> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=