Re: [Freedos-user] FDISK MBR and FORMAT questions
On Mon, 2005-07-25 at 13:01, Bernd Blaauw any valid MBR starts with AA55, so if no AA55, FDISK /MBR might be done automatically. Am I correct, Eric? Any 'dump MBR to file' programs available so we could verify what the contents of MBR is on an empty (unpartitioned probably?) harddisk? You need a device copy program which allows direct access. I only know of one in linux called dd. IMHO it should be ported to Freedos also with dd_rescue for damaged disks. You can try it under knoppix.com or get a copy with book from Oreilly. Otherwise your stuck with payware AFAIK from Symmantec akd Norton Utilities. -- +-CWSIV+ || || \ /|\ || |\ / |~~\ /~~\ /~~| //~~\| || \ / | \ || | X |__/||| |( `--.| ||__ | | \| \_/ / \ | \ \__/ \__| \\__/| || ++ --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects Teams * Testing QA Security * Process Improvement Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] FDISK MBR and FORMAT questions
Hi, I have been testing FreeDOS FDISK and FORMAT today. I'm impressed by these programs - they offer more than the MS-DOS versions. FDISK allows command line processing and FORMAT has a secret /z switch to align on 4k boundaries. However, I'm confused by some things: My FDISK says that it's version 1.3.0 ?? If I go to this site: http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/ it says FDISK 1.2.1, and if I go to freedos.org and click software|base|fdisk it says 1.2.1 as well, so why does mine say 1.3.0? Anyway, here's some notes with this version. - DELL GX270, Intel board, Pentium, IDE hard-drive controller with 40 pin connector, DMA enabled in BIOS. - Brand new sealed Segate 40GB hard drive (totally empty). I checked it with FreeDOS FDISK, MS-DOS FDISK, PQMAGIC, and they all said it was blank. As far as I know there was no MBR on this drive. I created, formatted and deleted various FAT16 and FAT32 partitions. Everything in FDISK worked as expected. I copied dozens of files from my CD-ROM to the various partitions, checked readings in PQMAGIC and then later deleted them. Again everything looked normal. I ran Win2000 real-mode setup program over a network and it copied hundreds of files to the Primary 2GB FAT32 partition, then rebooted, but nothing happened (cursor on black screen) - I don't think there was an MBR at this point, all other bootsector and loader files looked normal. I ran Win2000 real-mode setup program again over a network and it copied hundreds of files to a new Primary 2GB _FAT16_ partition, then rebooted, but again nothing happened (cursor on black screen) - Again I don't think there was an MBR at this point, all other bootsector and loader files looked normal. I then run MS-DOS FDISK /MBR and suddenly the disk booted as normal. S, I'm a bit surprised. 1. What happened to the automatic creation of an MBR discussed in the other thread? It didn't seem to happen? 2. Why did no programs (FDISK and PQMAGIC) warn me at any point that the MBR was missing? They all indicated Active and Bootable and no errors! 3. Why does Win2k setup program not warn about missing MBR or try to create one? 4. How is the MBR supposed to get there in the first place. Is it the job of the partitioning program, the system builder, the o/s setup program... -- Gerry Hickman (London UK) --- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Discover Easy Linux Migration Strategies from IBM. Find simple to follow Roadmaps, straightforward articles, informative Webcasts and more! Get everything you need to get up to speed, fast. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7477alloc_id=16492op=click ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FDISK MBR and FORMAT questions
Gerry Hickman schreef: Hi, My FDISK says that it's version 1.3.0 ?? If I go to this site: http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/ check fdisk130.zip at http://www.23cc.com/programs/ 1. What happened to the automatic creation of an MBR discussed in the other thread? It didn't seem to happen? any valid MBR starts with AA55, so if no AA55, FDISK /MBR might be done automatically. Am I correct, Eric? Any 'dump MBR to file' programs available so we could verify what the contents of MBR is on an empty (unpartitioned probably?) harddisk? 2. Why did no programs (FDISK and PQMAGIC) warn me at any point that the MBR was missing? They all indicated Active and Bootable and no errors! which info is for the partitions. 3. Why does Win2k setup program not warn about missing MBR or try to create one? no idea, ask MS. Also experienced this a few times. 4. How is the MBR supposed to get there in the first place. Is it the job of the partitioning program, the system builder, the o/s setup program... don't know, you might want to check what MS FDISK does :) same with partition bootsector: only by SYS, or also by FORMAT? Bernd --- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Discover Easy Linux Migration Strategies from IBM. Find simple to follow Roadmaps, straightforward articles, informative Webcasts and more! Get everything you need to get up to speed, fast. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7477alloc_id=16492op=click ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FDISK MBR and FORMAT questions
Hi Bernd, My FDISK says that it's version 1.3.0 ?? If I go to this site: http://www.23cc.com/free-fdisk/ check fdisk130.zip at http://www.23cc.com/programs/ Thanks for the link, but can anyone explain how ordinary users like me are supposed to find these updated files when there's no link provided on the websites? -- Gerry Hickman (London UK) --- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Discover Easy Linux Migration Strategies from IBM. Find simple to follow Roadmaps, straightforward articles, informative Webcasts and more! Get everything you need to get up to speed, fast. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7477alloc_id=16492op=click ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
