Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 01:14:04 +1000 (EST) From: DONALD PEDDER To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Subject: partitions - for those who are interested In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Errors-To: nobody AT delorie DOT com X-Mailing-List: opendos AT delorie DOT com X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com Precedence: bulk I was asked about controlling my partitions,so here's my setup for those who are interested..... First,I downloaded "BootIt" from www.terabyteunlimited.com. It is shareware,and is $US30 for a registered version. It would also be advisble to download the mbrwork.exe utility (which is free) in case of any difficulties (and your boot floppy would be a handy place to keep it). BootIt allows up to 255 partitions (the only partition manager to allow more than 4),though only 4 are visible in one session. Note that this is the full-blown "BootIt",not "BootIt Lite" or one of the other stripped-down versions. In your "Boot Menu Configuration",you specify which partitions to have active with which boots. It then loads those 4 partitions into the MBR. Most OS's MUST have their boot-code in the first 2Gb of the drive,so that complicates it a little,but since we can have 255 partitions,it's not really a problem. :-) My partitions are as follows.... (SYSx=bootable) SYSWIN95 (512Mb) SYSDRDOS (150Mb) SYSLINUX (root) (150Mb) LINHOME (150Mb) LINSWAP (60Mb) SYSWIN98 (512Mb) SYS98LITE (512Mb) www.98lite.net (98 without I.E. and "webification") ----------------------2Gb boot-code boundary LINUSR (600Mb) LAPTOP (1.4Gb) (to backup my laptop) DATA (2Gb) (text files and DOS programs) PROGRAMS (2Gb) (Windows programs and graphical files) EMBR (11Mb) (BootIt lives here) The only partition that needs backing up is "DATA",plus any personal stuff on my Linux partitions. I then also use the DOS "label" command to label the volumes according to the name I've given them in BootIt - makes for easier navigation (I also make use of the $x variable in the DR-DOS prompt,and "set PEXEC=vol" - every time the DOS prompt returns,I get told which VOLUME I am currently on. For MS-DOS,I had to make a batch-file to SIMULATE that). :-) My boot configurations are..... c: d: e: f: DR-DOS - SYSDRDOS,DATA,SYSWIN95,SYSWIN98 (last 2 visible for copying stuff from Windows to "DATA" under the control of DR-DOS - my OS of choice :-) ) Win95 - SYSWIN95,DATA,PROGRAMS,SYSDRDOS Win98 - SYSWIN98,DATA,PROGRAMS,SYSDRDOS 98lite - SYS98LITE,DATA,PROGRAMS,SYSDRDOS ...in these 3,DR-DOS commands (f:\drdos\....) and stuff on "DATA" (my stuff) is accessible whilst in Windows. No need to ever use those weak MS-DOS commands. :-) Linux - SYSLINUX,LINSWAP,LINHOME,LINUSR My problem with Linux is that I'm already at 4 partitions,and can't include one of the other common partitions to facilitate transfer. I actually don't NEED the swap volume (since I have 64Mb RAM),but the install program wouldn't let me NOT have a swap volume. :-( Note that if you DO run a common partition for Windows programs,you still need to install the program in EACH instance of Windows. i.e. (horrible browser ;-) ),if you install an App to "PROGRAMS" in Win95,then you STILL need to install it again in Win98 (registry stuff). Still install it to the same place - "PROGRAMS" - so that you're overwriting the same part,but you need to do it again ANYWAY (and,what a SURPRISE that something that could be so simple could be so awkward in Windows! ;-) ). I only need one copy of Netscape to go around my 3 versions of Windows,but I need to install it 3 times to that one place. regards, DONALD - Left-Brain Extraordinaire,Right-Brain in Rehab. E-mail - donaldp AT au DOT mensa DOT org BIG DON's Home-page - http://jedi.apana.org.au/~jims_son (Pedder Passer(Quarterback) Rating,Kirlian photo's,the best of The Beast) "What I always wanted is to be accepted,not understood" - MAN RAY