Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 17:58:53 -0500 (EST)
From: "Mike A. Harris" <mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca>
To: Weiqi Gao <weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com>
cc: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Opendos,win95 and NT in one HDD
In-Reply-To: <345FD238.36CDD591@a.crl.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971105175125.9383F-100000@capslock.com>
Organization: Capslock Computer Consulting
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Precedence: bulk

On Tue, 4 Nov 1997, Weiqi Gao wrote:

> > Win95 will boot from d: (at least if c: and d: are partitions on one HD.
> > I don't know if it works if they're 2 different physical disks).
> 
> Windows 95 does not boot from the second hard drive(?).

For what it's worth, I have MSDOS 6.22, Windows '95,
Slackware 3.1, RedHat 4.2, and NT4 all installed on my system
across 3 physical disks.  There are countless partitions.

DOS/Slackware are on the first 2 physical disks.  (1.4G total)

Windows '95 is on the first partition of the THIRD HARD DISK.
NT is on the second partition of the THIRD HARD DISK
and RedHat is on the third disk as well.

I boot all OS's just fine.  NT only see's my NTFS partition, DOS
only see's my FAT-16 partitions, Windows '95 only see's FAT-32
partitions, Linux see's them all.

All of this works without a hitch.  The only problem is that only
Linux see's all, so if I want to access files from one OS in
another I'm SOL.

I could ALLOW '95/NT to see my FAT16 drives too, but then my
drive letters would be all screwed and I'd have to reinstall
tonnes of apps.  No thanks.

Multibooting different OS's is really quite simple once you
understand each OS's boot sequence, what they expect, and have
good software to bring it all together.

All of the booting limitations I've read about have all been myth
AFAIC - as I can easily boot anything from any partition.
Granted, I had to set it up myself, and jump through a couple
small hoops, but it works.  It's much better than multiple OS's
on the same drive messing with each other too.  Much better than
'95's "boot previous OS" too - to which there is no return to
'95.

Well, that is my rambling for the day!
Take care.


Mike A. Harris        |  Homepage:  http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris
Computer Consultant   |  Am I online? -  finger or ping capslock.dyn.ml.org
My dynamic address: http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris/ip-address.html
PROCMAIL: A very flexible mail filter program