Mail Archives: opendos/2000/07/05/20:05:28
On Wed, 5 Jul 2000 19:25:39 +0200, Barbara Nitz wrote:
> Are you saying that DOS will only recognize a FAT partition if it is the
> first on the hard disk?
DOS recognizes the first "active partition" as being Drive C:
I have created 2 DOS primary partitions on my 5.7gig HDD
(using OpenLinux v2.1 Fdisk)
Partition #1 has OpenDos v7.01
Partition #2 is the extended partition which contains 8 logical drives.
(D: through K:)
Partition #3 has W95
To switch OSs...
I run OpenDos Fdisk and choose Partition #3 as being "active".
Here's the output from OpenDos v7.01 Fdisk both before and after switching
the active (bootable) partition.
___________________________________________________________
FDISK R1.75 Fixed Disk Maintenance Utility
Copyright (c) 1986,1996 Caldera, Inc. All rights reserved.
Partitions on 1st hard disk (5483.1 Mb, 699 cylinders):
No Drive Start End MB Status Type
1 C: 0 33 266.6 A PRI DOS
2 -- 34 528 3882.8 N EXT DOS
3 -- 529 699 1341.3 N Unknown type 0B
Select options:
1) Create DOS partition
2) Delete DOS partition
3) Select bootable partition
4) Display logical drives in extended partition
5) Select alternate fixed disk
6) Restore original Master Boot Record
Enter desired option: (ESC = exit) [?]
________________________________________
FDISK R1.75 Fixed Disk Maintenance Utility
Copyright (c) 1986,1996 Caldera, Inc. All rights reserved.
Partitions on 1st hard disk (5483.1 Mb, 699 cylinders):
No Drive Start End MB Status Type
1 C: 0 33 266.6 N PRI DOS
2 -- 34 528 3882.8 N EXT DOS
3 -- 529 699 1341.3 A Unknown type 0B
Select options:
1) Create DOS partition
2) Delete DOS partition
3) Select bootable partition
4) Display logical drives in extended partition
5) Select alternate fixed disk
6) Restore original Master Boot Record
Enter desired option: (ESC = exit) [?]
_______________________________________________
When I reboot, Partition #3 is now C: and Partition #1 is now L:
(as seen by either MSdos v7.x or by W95 itself)
To switch back to OpenDos, do the same in reverse....
Run MSdos 7.x Fdisk and choose partition #1 as the active partition.
Here's the Fdisk screen while in MSdos 7.x both before and after switching
the active partition.
_________________________________________________________
Set Active Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
L: 1 PRI DOS MCCORKLE_01 267 FAT16 5%
2 EXT DOS 3883 71%
C: 3 A PRI DOS W95 1341 FAT32 24%
Total disk space is 5483 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)
Enter the number of the partition you want to make active...........: [ ]
Press Esc to return to FDISK Options
_____________________________________________________
Set Active Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS MCCORKLE_01 267 FAT16 5%
2 EXT DOS 3883 71%
L: 3 PRI DOS MCCORKLE_01 1341 FAT16 24%
Total disk space is 5483 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)
Partition 1 made active
Press Esc to continue
_________________________________________
In addition to all of this... I can boot to 2 other OSs.
OpenLinux v2.1 is on my second HDD. All I do is restore it's MBR which
contains LILO. (LInux boot LOader)
(_______________^^_________^^____)
When I reboot, the Linux kernel on the second HDD is booted.
If I restore the MBR for PTS-DOS 2000.... Drive J: (the 7th logical drive
in the OpenDos extended partition), is booted.
Yes, a "logical drive" in an "extended partition" *can* be booted.
Check this out.....
___________________________
Fixed Disk Setup Utility v2.70 for PTS-DOS v6.70
Copyright (C) PhysTechSoft, Ltd. 1995-99. All rights reserved.
Partition Drv Status Type MBytes Notes
1 Primary -
2 Primary C Active DOS (FAT-16 Big) 266.6
3 Primary Extended
4 Primary FAT-32 1333.5
5 D DOS (FAT-16 Big) 258.7
6 Extended
7 E DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
8 Extended
9 F DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
10 Extended
11 G DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
12 Extended
13 H DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
14 Extended
15 I DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
16 Extended
17 J Advanc DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
18 Extended
19 K DOS (FAT-16 Big) 517.6
__________________________________
So, then next time someone tells you....
"this must be done" or "that must be done"
Don't you believe it.
The truth is.... with DOS, all things are possible. :-)
_____________________________________
Glenn McCorkle glennmcc AT cisnet DOT com North Jackson, Ohio, USA
DOS prog. for QV cameras http://www.angelfire.com/id/glenndoom/qvplay.html
Other stuff http://public.webbox.com/glennmcc1974 AT webbox DOT com/
--
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Open the 'DOOR' to the WWW. Keep the 'windows' closed.
Download Arachne for DOS http://browser.arachne.cz/dos/
Visit the Arachne home page http://arachne.cz/
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