Hi Eric, > On Nov 8, 2021, at 4:42 PM, E. Auer <e.a...@jpberlin.de> wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, > >> Here is the NEW general logic used by the installer in NORMAL mode. >> if the MBR for the target hard disk DOES NOT CONTAIN any boot code in >> the MBR, then ASSUME YES and overwrite it. >> if the MBR for the target hard disk has ANY KIND of boot code in the >> MBR, then PROMPT USER to overwrite it. > > I assume by "it" you mean the boot code? How about the partition table? > As far as the boot code is concerned, the new logics sound nice :-)
Yes I mean the MBR boot code. Although there are numerous tests and check performed on disks and drives by utilities in V8Power Tools. There are also tests done using FDISK regarding disks and partitions. Testing for the existence of MBR code is done by V8Power tools. Testing for the existence of partitions is done using FDISK. Modification of the MBR is performed by FDISK. > >> I’m thinking of also adding >> Or, if there is ONLY a single DOS partition on the drive, then ASSUME >> YES. > > You mean if there IS boot code and a partition, you want to overwrite > the boot code and/or partition table nevertheless? Why that? And why > not ask the user, possibly with a prompt telling them that they are > "only" going to overwrite a single FAT partition, just to be sure? First... I decided not to implement the "only one partition, just update it” feature. Mostly, because I just didn’t feel like doing it. So, unless there is an overwhelming reason and request for it. I’m not going to add it. > > A single prompt definitely is not too much to prevent data loss or > "bootability loss". > > Imagine the scenario where there is only 1 FAT partition and you > keep the partition (which I recommend) but overwrite the MBR boot > code without asking. The boot code may have contained something > specific to the hardware, such as a LBA helper for old BIOSes and > replacing it may render the system unbootable. The case where no > boot code at all can be found in the MBR is much lower risk :-) > > You could backup the previous MBR contents and provide a way to > restore either boot code or partition table or both, for example > in the form of a readme file explaining how to use FDISK or DEBUG > and a backup file created by the installer before modifying MBRs. > > Of course if there is a security prompt, this will be needed much > less often, but having a backup file would not hurt either way :-) > FDISK has command line calls for some of this, as far as I remember. I understand what you mean and your not wrong. But, I think it is one of those very extreme edge cases. One of which, a user should really know how there system works. They should also be very wary when installing any operating system and leary of any installers behavior. I think it is much more likely to have a drive being reused strictly for FreeDOS that contains a MBR for Linux making it need updated. But, it’s all mute. I didn’t implement that. So, the installer will see there is boot code in either case and prompt to overwrite it. > Thanks! Regards, Eric > > PS: Do not forget to update and promote UHDD instead of UIDE :-) > I figure looking into the UHDD update is probably going to happen tomorrow. Thats when I plan to update some packages. :-) Jerome _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
