[submix8c]

@TheStarman -

Excellent info on your pages! Also found this -
http://www.goodells....iboot/index.htm
which acknowledges and links to your work.

Between you and them (among others), I have finally figured out how to transfer my old PC to my new PC ( multi-booting, of course ). Still a work-in-progress, but well on the way now, with your help!

And Welcome to the Fray!!!!

[jaclaz]

cannie, on Jan 12 2009, 05:50 PM, said:

If you make active partition 2 instead of partition 1 the letter is reversed, that is, partition 1 is renamed with the last letter and partition 2 takes the letter C.

HTH

Unless you use Letter Assigner :
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System...-Assigner.shtml

Homepage is no more:
http://www.v72735.f2...ssig/index.html

but can still be found on the Wayback Machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.v7...ssig/index.html

jaclaz

[MDGx]

If any1 cares:

In 98SE2ME options 1 + 2:
http://www.mdgx.com/9s2m/
To backup Windows 98 SE I use a DOS style batch file [CLONE98.BAT] and the DOS based tool XCLONE.EXE [free] which backs up the entire %windir% [usually C:\WINDOWS] folder + all subfolders + all files to any destination [requires editing the BAT] with 1 click.
Details here [the "BACKUP + RESTORE WINDOWS 98 SE" + "TESTING... CLONE98.PIF + 98RESTOR.BAT" sections]:
http://www.mdgx.com/9s2m/read1st.php
To restore Windows 98 SE from the backup [created by CLONE98.BAT] I use 98RESTOR.BAT which uses Win98SE's own MOVE.EXE native DOS mode tool.
These 2 BAT files must be executed from within Windows.
Some of these backup/restore operations require re-booting to native DOS mode.

HTH

[cannie]

Moved to the first post of this thread.

This post has been edited by cannie: 29 March 2009 - 01:42 AM

[cannie]

Moved to the first post of this thread.

This post has been edited by cannie: 29 March 2009 - 01:42 AM

[jaclaz]

cannie, on Feb 7 2009, 01:12 AM, said:

[- The program Bootpart.exe, freeware, into a DOS boot floppy. You may download it from here:
http://www.brotherso...load-13101.html

Why not on it's homepage?
http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm

A few (needed in my view) corrections you may want to consider:

cannie, on Feb 7 2009, 01:12 AM, said:

- Delete the old mbr:
BOOTPART WIN98 BOOT:C:

This WON'T affect the MBR, it will only replace the CODE of the bootsector, previously set to the XP one that invokes NTLDR, to the Win98/DOS one that invokes IO.SYS.

cannie, on Feb 7 2009, 01:12 AM, said:

BOOTPART WINXP BOOT:C:
....
BOOTPART WINNT BOOT:C:
....
BOOTPART WINNT BOOT:C:

Though in this specific context it doesn't make a difference, you should "make your mind" about using WINNT or WINXP parameter.

Just for the record, and this is not at all a critic to your post , the method you describe is a bit "old-style" .

BOOTPART.EXE was born more than 15 years ago, and while at the time there were no alternatives, today using grub4dos and it's feature of directly chainloading system files, it is not necessary to fiddle with bootsectors.

jaclaz

[cannie]

The mentions to WINNT instead of WINXP were transcription errors with no consequences at all. I wrote it direct from my mind. I have edited the post and rectified it, and also substituted the mention to "delete" by "change the XP mbr", to make it easier the understanding of it to any reader.
I've also rectified the download adress.
This is the way I knew and so is how I did it. Well, in fact the essential thing is that it works perfect. But it is always good to know that there are better ways for doing things. I like learning.
Thank you for your help, jaclaz!

This post has been edited by cannie: 07 February 2009 - 11:49 AM

[jaclaz]

cannie, on Feb 7 2009, 06:15 PM, said:

I have edited the post and rectified it, and also substituted the mention to "delete" by "change the XP mbr", to make it easier the understanding of it to any reader.

The point was that bootpart does NOT touch the MBR (Master Boot Record), it changes the PBR (Partition Boot Record) or bootsector.
The MBR is first sector of the whole hard disk or PHYSICAL DRIVE, CHS 0/0/1, LBA 1
The PBR is first sector of the active partition, usually first one, first sector of LOGICAL DRIVE, usually CHS 0/1/1, LBA 64.

cannie, on Feb 7 2009, 06:15 PM, said:

Thank you for your help, jaclaz!

You are welcome, just trying to avoid possible misunderstandings of less experienced users.

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Although I've been messing with bootsectors for more years than I can remember, I confess I'd never seen them referred to as PBRs (Partition Boot Records), although it makes perfect sense, and creates a nice symmetry with MBRs.
Thanks, jaclaz! I always learn something new by reading your posts!

[jaclaz]

dencorso, on Feb 8 2009, 02:52 AM, said:

Thanks, jaclaz! I always learn something new by reading your posts!

I'll surprise you with yet a new notion :
EMBR:
(Extended Master Boot Record)
http://www.ranish.com/part/primer.htm
or
EPBR:
(Extended Partition Boot Record):
http://www.goodells....boot/ptedit.htm



jaclaz

[Ponch]

jaclaz, on Feb 7 2009, 08:55 PM, said:

just trying to avoid possible misunderstandings of less experienced users.

So we could also replace all those "main" partitions used in this thread by "primary" partitions.

[jaclaz]

Ponch, on Feb 8 2009, 02:32 PM, said:

jaclaz, on Feb 7 2009, 08:55 PM, said:

just trying to avoid possible misunderstandings of less experienced users.

So we could also replace all those "main" partitions used in this thread by "primary" partitions.

Yes we could , it would be more accurate, though I have already seen the term "main" as used instead of "primary", as they are synonyms:
http://encarta.msn.c...00/primary.html
http://www.synonyms....synonym/primary

In any case it won't change the sense of the tutorial, the distinction between "main" (or "primary") and "logical unit of the extended partition" is clear enough , while exchanging MBR with bootsector appears as more confusing, and particularly on a topic where a lot of people appear to have not a deep enough knowledge.

FYI:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2007/bootsectexe-...or-not-the-mbr/

even the good MS guys sometimes happen to add to the confusion:

jaclaz said:

Just for the record, the misunderstanding could also be due to the fact that there is an article:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista...3.mspx?mfr=true
http://technet.micro...y/cc749177.aspx

that misrepresents at first sight what bootsect.exe does, using the terms "master boot code" for the bootsector code: Bootsect Command-Line Options

Bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR. You can use this tool to restore the boot sector on your computer. This tool replaces FixFAT and FixNTFS.

Though accurate in the sense that it makes the distinction between the "boot code part" (which is changed by bootsect.exe) and the "volume data" (which is left unchanged by bootsect.exe) using the "master" adjective to describe the "boot code" probably creates the misunderstanding.

jaclaz

[cannie]

jacklaz, ponch and dencorso: I have edited again the tutorial collecting your contributions.
It is commonly said "Four eyes see more than two". In this case there are more than four.
I also added something concerning disk maintenance at the end of the post.
IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.
Any other improvement will be welcome.
Thank you very much.

This post has been edited by cannie: 08 February 2009 - 10:09 AM

[jaclaz]

cannie, on Feb 8 2009, 04:44 PM, said:

IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.

Yes.

However my guess is that ponch won't like latest corrections :

he suggested to use "Primary" instead of "Main", which is correct, where does "Principal" come from?

jaclaz

[cannie]

jaclaz, on Feb 8 2009, 09:39 PM, said:

cannie, on Feb 8 2009, 04:44 PM, said:

IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.

Yes.

However my guess is that ponch won't like latest corrections :

he suggested to use "Primary" instead of "Main", which is correct, where does "Principal" come from?

jaclaz

It is clear that infalibility is not my strong point. I've rectified it.
Thanks again, jaclaz.

[cannie]

As I said IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.
To make it easier for newbies I decided to put all together in the first post.
If moderators believe it should be placed anywhere else, please post it here.
Thanks to you all.

[cannie]

cannie, on Feb 14 2009, 09:12 PM, said:

As I said IMHO the important thing is making the tutorial useful for anyone who needs it.

First post has been updated to include interesting new ideas.

HTH

This post has been edited by cannie: 04 March 2009 - 06:57 AM

[cannie]

The first post has been completed with a D paragraph to help those who suffer from damaged partition diseases.

Cheers.

[jaclaz]

A couple of notes related to "added" D paragraph :

cannie said:

After rebuilding the damaged partition it is convenient to regenerate the hard drive hidden bootparts. No risk at all and extremely easy: you only need to reboot using the DOS floppy and run one after the other the following commands in the command line:

FDISK/MBR

Please note that FDISK /MBR only replaces the MBR CODE (with the "default" Win9x one).
It does NOTHING if the Virus or whatever has corrupted the MBR DATA.

It is always a good idea to have (possibly on the same "emergency floppy" a backup of the complete MBR.

If you don't have it, your only way out (possibly) is the use of TESTDISK:
http://www.cgsecurit...g/wiki/TestDisk
to re-build the MBR DATA

It is unclear/undocumented if there is any advantage (or drawback) on a dual boot system to have the Win9x MBR CODE or the 2K/XP/2003 one.

cannie said:

SYS A: C:

BOOTPART WINXP BOOT:C:

BOOTPART WIN98 C:\BOOTSECT.W98 "Windows 98"

Later on, when the system is already operating normally, the created Msdos.sys must be replaced by the one at the Windows 98 boot floppy and the boot.ini must be edited because Windows 98 appears twice to eliminate the second one.

Not really. :whistling:

If you already have an entry for BOOTSECT.W98 in your BOOT.INI you can simply run:

BOOTPART WIN98 C:\BOOTSECT.W98

a new bootsector will be created, but NO entry will be added to BOOT.INI.

Of course you need to use the SAME "BOOTSECT.W98" name for the "old" and the "new" bootsector.

jaclaz

[cannie]

jaclaz, on Mar 14 2009, 09:49 PM, said:

A couple of notes related to "added" D paragraph :

"Four eyes see more than two".
Thanks, jaclaz!

This post has been edited by cannie: 14 March 2009 - 02:13 PM