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From: John Smith on 6 Oct 2009 06:20

> Yes, XOSL puts its own code into the Master Boot Record so that it knows
> where to find the loader. Restoring the MBR is child's play. Here is one
> method:
> - Boot the machine with a DOS boot diskette, e.g. from www.bootdisk.com.
> - Type this command: fdisk /mbr
>
> That's all! And contrary to popular opinion, this works regardless of the
> type of partitions you have (FAT/NTFS) because the MBR is independent of
> the file systems.

Thanks for the reply.

I had a hell of a time trying to fix the MBR on a previous set up. I
installed Win7 whilst in an XP session. Then deciding to uninstall Win7
which was a bit of a pain as Win7 wrote boot files to the XP partition. Then
installed Ubuntu with its GRUB. Tried to get rid of Ubuntu by booting the XP
CD and going to recovery console and typing FIXMBR. But since my
motherboard's sata isnt recognised by the XP CD had to load the driver from
floppy. FIXMBR didnt work. This and that happend. It turned into a mess. Had
to restore XP from a backup as I couldn't get in.

You mentioned that you use 'fdisk /mbr'. I was using 'fixmbr'. Is there any
difference between the two? There is also a 'fixboot' command. Actually, i
should google search this :)

Will read further into XOSL. Thanks again!

JS



From: Pegasus [MVP] on 6 Oct 2009 07:25

"John Smith" <someone(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%23YLTU3mRKHA.1876(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
>> Yes, XOSL puts its own code into the Master Boot Record so that it knows
>> where to find the loader. Restoring the MBR is child's play. Here is one
>> method:
>> - Boot the machine with a DOS boot diskette, e.g. from www.bootdisk.com.
>> - Type this command: fdisk /mbr
>>
>> That's all! And contrary to popular opinion, this works regardless of the
>> type of partitions you have (FAT/NTFS) because the MBR is independent of
>> the file systems.
>
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> I had a hell of a time trying to fix the MBR on a previous set up. I
> installed Win7 whilst in an XP session. Then deciding to uninstall Win7
> which was a bit of a pain as Win7 wrote boot files to the XP partition.
> Then installed Ubuntu with its GRUB. Tried to get rid of Ubuntu by booting
> the XP CD and going to recovery console and typing FIXMBR. But since my
> motherboard's sata isnt recognised by the XP CD had to load the driver
> from floppy. FIXMBR didnt work. This and that happend. It turned into a
> mess. Had to restore XP from a backup as I couldn't get in.
>
> You mentioned that you use 'fdisk /mbr'. I was using 'fixmbr'. Is there
> any difference between the two? There is also a 'fixboot' command.
> Actually, i should google search this :)
>
> Will read further into XOSL. Thanks again!
>
> JS

Fdisk.exe is a DOS command. Fixmbr and fixboot are Recovery Console
commands. Unfortunately you cannot use fdisk.exe for a SATA disk unless you
have a SATA driver for DOS (which is unlikely). Furthermore, unless the
author of XOSL has updated his boot loader, you can probably not use it on a
SATA disk.


From: John Smith on 6 Oct 2009 11:27
>> You mentioned that you use 'fdisk /mbr'. I was using 'fixmbr'. Is there
>> any difference between the two? There is also a 'fixboot' command.
>> Actually, i should google search this :)
>>
>> Will read further into XOSL. Thanks again!
>>
> Fdisk.exe is a DOS command. Fixmbr and fixboot are Recovery Console
> commands. Unfortunately you cannot use fdisk.exe for a SATA disk unless
> you have a SATA driver for DOS (which is unlikely). Furthermore, unless
> the author of XOSL has updated his boot loader, you can probably not use
> it on a SATA disk.

Ok thanks for the clarification. Ever since going SATA its been one pain
after another. PATA was simple and easy. I'll just continue using boot-us
from my floppy drive until I can find and alternative solution.Thanks again
:)


From: BillW50 on 6 Oct 2009 12:15
In news:eguuEjpRKHA.1792(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl,
John Smith typed on Wed, 7 Oct 2009 01:27:46 +1000:
>>> You mentioned that you use 'fdisk /mbr'. I was using 'fixmbr'. Is
>>> there any difference between the two? There is also a 'fixboot'
>>> command. Actually, i should google search this :)
>>>
>>> Will read further into XOSL. Thanks again!
>>>
>> Fdisk.exe is a DOS command. Fixmbr and fixboot are Recovery Console
>> commands. Unfortunately you cannot use fdisk.exe for a SATA disk
>> unless you have a SATA driver for DOS (which is unlikely).
>> Furthermore, unless the author of XOSL has updated his boot loader,
>> you can probably not use it on a SATA disk.
>
> Ok thanks for the clarification. Ever since going SATA its been one
> pain after another. PATA was simple and easy. I'll just continue
> using boot-us from my floppy drive until I can find and alternative
> solution.Thanks again :)

I bought 7 computers in the last three years and not one of them uses
SATA drives. I avoid them like the plague. I do have one SATA drive. But
it is in an enclosure and plugged in by USB. And so far I don't have any
issues with them connected up this way.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2


From: Paul Randall on 7 Oct 2009 18:15

"Pegasus [MVP]" <news(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:OwnaYafRKHA.4004(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> "John Smith" <someone(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:OIe8veeRKHA.764(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi, I was hoping someone could suggest a good boot manager for a dual
>> boot system comprising XP and Win 7 (and possible Solaris / Linux in the
>> future)
>>
>> I previously installed Win 7 whilst in my XP session. This polluted my XP
>> system as it wrote Win 7 boot files to my XP partition. I don't want any
>> of that funny business. So this time I decided to placed each OS on a
>> separate SATA drive.
>>
>> Configuration is as follows:
>>
>> Motherboard: Abit NF7-S 2.0
>> SATA1: XP Pro SP3
>> SATA2: Windows 7 (Build 7600)
>>
>> At this stage I have just been physically unplugging/booting the
>> respective HDD's.
>>
>> I think my motherboard/bios is too old for that F12 boot trick I've read
>> on the forums. I also might be interested in installing Solaris (or some
>> flavour of Linux) in the future on another partition I'll create on
>> SATA2.
>>
>> I heard that the preference is a boot manager that sits in the first
>> track of the hard drive. I also want something that executes FAST and is
>> simple to configure.
>>
>> I've heard about Acronis (which I read is somewhat slow) and GAG. Does
>> anyone have any recommendations/config advice?
>>
>> Any help most appreciated.
>>
>> JS
>
> I have used XOSL for several years. It will work with any OS and each OS
> can reside on any disk and on any partition (primary or logical). It's
> free but it requires a 15 MByte partition for itself, which can be on any
> disk. Note that XOSL does *not* modify the boot environment of your
> various OSs in any way. It simply lets you select an OS, then passes
> control to the chosen OS.

Hi, Pegasus

I've been meaning to play with XOSL for a while, and have read a lot of
stuff about it; one thing that concerns me is that development stopped in
about 2001. Hard drives back then were tiny compared to today's drives, and
I haven't seen anything that says what, if any, hard drive size limits there
are. I did read something about its being able to exceed an 8-GB
limitation, but I'm wondering if it can handle 1.5 TB drives? I have a
Compaq machine whose BIOS makes SATA drives look like IDE, and I'd like to
know how much success people have had using XOSL with large drives.

-Paul Randall


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