[vox-tech] Problems with dual boot system (Win 98/RH 7.2)

[Mark K. Kim]

Keywords: Grub, fdisk, MBR, LILO, boot, booting, sys c:, dualboot, dual boot

The recommendation was *for* putting the OSes on different hard drives.
It certainly helps with stability.  Windows may have problems if you
put it on the slave drive, though.

Anyway, for better performance, it'd actually better to span the OSes
across multiple drives.  It's okay as long as you keep both of your OSes
on a short leash.

BTW, there was some slight misinformation from someone earlier about `SYS
C:` vs. `FDISK /MBR`.  I don't recall what it was, exactly, but `FDISK
/MBR` creates master boot record appropriate for DOS/Windows.  `SYS C:`
installs the DOS kernel+ (msdos.sys, io.sys, and command.com) on the C:
drive.  SYS does not do anything on the MBR, AFAIK.

Also, I don't recommend overwriting the MBR with zeros.  You should never
need to do that.  `FDISK /MBR` should work fine, unless FDISK is infected
by virus.

AND!, I always recommend putting the boot loader on the partition boot
sector, not MBR.  Windows will mess with MBR everytime you reinstall it,
but it won't touch the partition boot sector of unrecognized (ie - Linux)
partitions.

-Mark

On Tue, 15 Jan 2002, Joey Karalius wrote:

> UPDATE: I made a fresh boot disk and ran fdisk /mbr, then sys c:,
> and.......
> Everything's just peachy on the Windows front, for now.  I guess it's
> all downhill from here...@B-)
>
> However, I'm a bit confused about Peter's comments (below) regarding
> running a dual boot on separate hard drives.  Was the recommendation
> against two OS's on separate hard drives, or against using a boot disk
> instead of LILO/GRUB?  Please elaborate.
>
> I was gonna reinstall RH 7.2 on the slave drive and now a cloud of
> uncertainty looms above...
>
>
> Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> >
> > begin jwkaralius@ucdavis.edu <jwkaralius@ucdavis.edu>
> > >
> > > Thanks for the advice..
> > >
> > > Both OS's seemd to be unstable when Windows crashed so I could not mount
> > > the Windows partitions to backup files (that was one of the first things I
> > > tried, and kernel panic came up)
> > >
> > > I do have two large HDD (40G for win98 and 30G for RH7.2) and thought that
> > > would suffice to keep the two lovebirds away from each other, but I'll try
> > > the fdisk /mbr and boot linux with a floppy instead of grub.
> >
> > i *highly* recommend against that route.  i'm trying to think of any
> > linux guru or guru in training among us who has, at some point or
> > another, said that if you must have a dual boot, keep the OS's on
> > different hard drives.  i remember jeff saying this.  i think i remember
> > steve peck saying this.  i've certainly said this.
> >
> > you've got two big hard drives.  what's the problem?
> >
> > while it's possible for people like rod roark or jeff newmiller to be
> > wrong about something, to not pay attention to everything they say is,
> > well, just plain nuts.
> >
> _______________________________________________
> vox-tech mailing list
> vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
> http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
>

--
Mark K. Kim
http://www.cbreak.org/mark/
PGP key available upon request.