[chromatic47]

I installed a new slave HDD and set it up as an extended partition (no primary) with 3 logical drives, in order to keep the existing drive letter sequence:

Master HDD:
C (primary partition with Win98)
D
E

Slave HDD:
F (identical clone of C including root sys files)
G
H

Currently I am using the C clone residing on F simply to occasionally run the Win98 clone using a boot floppy with sys files pointing to F:\Windows. It works fine and I am satisfied to have a backup OS.

My question is, if the master HDD suddenly fails, is there a way to directly boot the backup HDD? Since the cloned sys files and cloned Win98 are on a logical drive in an extended partition, I assume that in order to boot, the containing partition would need to be converted to primary. Is that possible, and if so can it be done without destroying the data?

[jaclaz]

chromatic47, on 04 June 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

My question is, if the master HDD suddenly fails, is there a way to directly boot the backup HDD? Since the cloned sys files and cloned Win98 are on a logical drive in an extended partition, I assume that in order to boot, the containing partition would need to be converted to primary. Is that possible, and if so can it be done without destroying the data?

Well, you can workaround that.
You can install grub4dos to the MBR and either correct the "sectors before" in the Logical Volume PBR/bootsector or - more easily, still with grub4dos installed to the MBR, use a DOS floppy image (as it will behave EXACTLY as your "real" floppy you are currently using).
Another possibility is to make a new map for the partition as Primary.
The "safer" and tested one is the floppy image, but there are quite a few reports about partition mapping working allright for 9x/Me.
The thing you will have to deal with is possibly drive letter assignment, but that should be solvable with Letter Assigner, and/or once you have tested the setting, running COA2 on this "second" Win9x install.
The good news are that you can test everything without needing to do permanent changes, by using a grub4dos floppy.
If you need directions, just ask.
Personally, in order to avoid those kind of problems, I traditionally make a small primary partition on all disks, even those targeted to "data only" of one cylinder (around 8 Mb on a standard 255/63 device), in your case most probably you will need to re-size and shift the Extended partition, but nowadays is not actually *needed* if uisng one of the mentioned approach.

jaclaz

[rloew]

chromatic47, on 04 June 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

I installed a new slave HDD and set it up as an extended partition (no primary) with 3 logical drives, in order to keep the existing drive letter sequence:

Master HDD:
C (primary partition with Win98)
D
E

Slave HDD:
F (identical clone of C including root sys files)
G
H

Currently I am using the C clone residing on F simply to occasionally run the Win98 clone using a boot floppy with sys files pointing to F:\Windows. It works fine and I am satisfied to have a backup OS.

The clone on F contains references to C:. If you run it using a boot floppy, you are probably still accessing a lot of things on the C: drive. Changes that you think are being made to the F clone may actually be made to the C Drive.

Quote

My question is, if the master HDD suddenly fails, is there a way to directly boot the backup HDD? Since the cloned sys files and cloned Win98 are on a logical drive in an extended partition, I assume that in order to boot, the containing partition would need to be converted to primary. Is that possible, and if so can it be done without destroying the data?

Yes. My RFDISK Advanced Partitioner can reconfigure the Partitions without losing data.

[chromatic47]

jaclaz and rloew thank you both for advice and offers of help. I did not expect to have options to think about.

rloew, on 04 June 2012 - 09:51 AM, said:

The clone on F contains references to C:. If you run it using a boot floppy, you are probably still accessing a lot of things on the C: drive. Changes that you think are being made to the F clone may actually be made to the C Drive.

In the Win98 clone I have replaced in SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT (and all relevant .INI and .LNK files) all occurrences of "C:\Windows" with "F:\Windows". So when I am running the Win98 clone it only does business on F drive. Of course I would stop doing that if I set up the HDD with one of the methods you guys suggested, and simply make another self-referencing Win98 clone elsewhere on the disk.

[rloew]

chromatic47, on 04 June 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:

jaclaz and rloew thank you both for advice and offers of help. I did not expect to have options to think about.

rloew, on 04 June 2012 - 09:51 AM, said:

The clone on F contains references to C:. If you run it using a boot floppy, you are probably still accessing a lot of things on the C: drive. Changes that you think are being made to the F clone may actually be made to the C Drive.

In the Win98 clone I have replaced in SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT (and all relevant .INI and .LNK files) all occurrences of "C:\Windows" with "F:\Windows". So when I am running the Win98 clone it only does business on F drive. Of course I would stop doing that if I set up the HDD with one of the methods you guys suggested, and simply make another self-referencing Win98 clone elsewhere on the disk.

There is also C:\Program Files and a few C:\ references in the Registry.

[jaclaz]

Guess WHY I mentioned COA2?
http://www.pcmag.com...17,21065,00.asp

jaclaz

[chromatic47]

rloew, on 04 June 2012 - 07:36 PM, said:

There is also C:\Program Files and a few C:\ references in the Registry.

Yes, sorry I neglected to say that I replace all occurrences of C:\ with F:\ as well. I stopped using C:\Program Files long ago. The only directory on C drive is C:\Windows, all other programs reside on D. That way I never have to change any links in a fresh Win98 clone, except the few that reference C.

jaclaz said:

Guess WHY I mentioned COA2?

I haven't tried COA2 yet. Do you mean use it to automate the substitution of "F:/" for "C:/"? The way I do it is easy -- clear their attributes, then open *.DAT, *.INI, *.LNK in Notepad++, hit replace, save all, and done. Takes a couple of minutes.

This post has been edited by chromatic47: 05 June 2012 - 03:51 PM

[jaclaz]

chromatic47, on 05 June 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

jaclaz said:

Guess WHY I mentioned COA2?

I haven't tried COA2 yet. Do you mean use it to automate the substitution of "F:/" for "C:/"? The way I do it is easy -- clear their attributes, then open *.DAT, *.INI, *.LNK in Notepad++, hit replace, save all, and done. Takes a couple of minutes.

Sure , you can also use gsar, or a hex editor, or *whatever*, COA2 is just a handy utility, designed specifically for this task.

Carpenter's comparison (if needed ):

Quote

I have always driven nails in wooden planks using a stone or my head , it is easy .

Quote

You may want to try a tool called "hammer", that has been designed specifically to drive nails and has been used in the last few thousand years to that effect .

jaclaz

[chromatic47]

jaclaz, on 06 June 2012 - 02:57 AM, said:

You may want to try a tool called "hammer", that has been designed specifically to drive nails and has been used in the last few thousand years to that effect .

Love the sarcasm, always useful.

Thanks, I'll give COA2 a try.

This post has been edited by chromatic47: 06 June 2012 - 02:37 PM