Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2017 01:28:33 +0000 From: "Thomas Mueller" <mueller6722@twc.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Is it possible to install FreeBSD on a single MBR slice with ZFS ? Message-ID: <96.0D.25473.6CB65F85@dnvrco-omsmta03> References: <VI1PR02MB12004B1D8A87B3E247FC1A66F6040@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> <e2f76fb0-05e0-5a53-1730-a5a64291c407@holgerdanske.com> <VI1PR02MB120024156110981D6A3B4C80F6060@VI1PR02MB1200.eurprd02.prod.outlook.com> <20170418014946.fa114b49.freebsd@edvax.de>
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(snip)
> > But following the migration, I have made a serious error. I used
> > Windows (ada0s1) to delete ada0s2 :
> > Windows has rearranged the MBR table to make ada0s3 -> ada0s2.
> Sounds like something OS/2 has done to me many years ago. :-)
> > I am now struggling to fix the MBR table.
> Of course.
> > If you have any tips, that shall be wonderful
> Do not and never use "Windows" to deal with lower level aspects of
> your disk. It will for sure mess things up, and in worst case, you
> need to reinstall everything from scratch. Of course you don't, as
> you have a working backup you can rely on. ;-)
> It's not as easy anymore to fix partition table entries with a simple
> handheld calculator and "Norton Disk Editor" started from a handy DOS
> boot floppy. :-)
> For the future: Bootable CDs like UBCD or PartEd Magic provice
> excellent tools to deal with re-partitioning. You can use FreeBSD's
> editor as well, especially if all you want to do is delete some
> MBR slices. It's the first thing you do in the installer, then
> follow to create new slices as you need them, and go on with the
> installation process.
> Polytropon
With either gpart or Rod Smith's gdisk, and I believe also NetBSD's gpt, you can save the GPT partition table data to a file, preferably on a different disk, such as a USB stick, and restore if the GPT partition table is damaged.
Backup partition-table data file would have to be restored from the same partitioning software.
This requires a USB-stick or other off-disk installation of FreeBSD that would include gpart or gdisk; gdisk also can be used under Linux.
This would be better than Norton Disk Editor + handheld calculator + DOS boot floppy.
Your mention of OS/2 reminds me that this month, or about 10 days ago, marks the sixteenth anniversary of the crash with OS/2 Warp 4. On rebooting, OS/2 CHKDSK ran automatically and ran amok, trashing all data on my second hard drive in addition to partition data on the smaller, first hard drive.
I was never able to boot OS/2 again, even from maintenance or installation floppies, result was Trap 000e or Trap 000c.
I believe OS/2 Warp 4 had better hardware support than FreeBSD or NetBSD back then, 16 years ago, but since then OS/2 and its successor, eComStation, have not kept up, and now FreeBSD and NetBSD seem to be far ahead of eComStation.
Tom
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