Can't boot second harddrive

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Can't boot second harddrive
started by: glue

Posted by glue on Nov. 08 2006,15:41

I just added an old HD to my linux box. It has 2 partitions on it with win95 and NTWS. cfdisk says the partitions exist as hdb1 and hdb2 but I can't read, write or boot to either. I've added...

other=/dev/hdb1
label=win95

...to lilo.conf and run lilo and win95 is added to the boot menu but will not boot when selected.

How do I get my other partitions to boot? Is it possible to read and write from one partition to another?

Thanks.

Posted by qbo on Nov. 08 2006,17:52

I`m booting DSL with win98 without any problems. The win98 partition, which is fat32, is readable, writable and bootable.

I used grub to do this, but I think, you can get it done with lilo too.
I have only one disk - hda, but I think it should work with two disks as well.

Here is, how I have set my primary partitions:

Name Flags Part Type FS Type [Label] Size (MB)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hda1 Boot Primary Win95 FAT32 7962.08
hda2 Boot Primary Linux ext2 57.58

I`ve got no experience using lilo.conf.
In fact, when I ran frugal install script, I had grub installed automatically and it`s working perfectly with only minor changes to menu.lst.

Posted by qbo on Nov. 08 2006,17:54

And how did you mount hdb?

Posted by glue on Nov. 08 2006,18:00

Quote (qbo @ Nov. 08 2006,12:54)

And how did you mount hdb?

With a screwdriver.

Posted by qbo on Nov. 08 2006,18:06

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Nov. 08 2006,18:17

Quick google:
other = /dev/hdb1
label = dos
table = /dev/hdb

To mount it in DSL, use the mount tool app in the bottom right corner.

Posted by glue on Nov. 08 2006,19:03

It seems now that I can see the new partitons when they are mounted but DSL auto unmounts hdb1 and hdb2 on shutdown.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Nov. 08 2006,22:14

The unmounting upon shutdown is standard for distros.

Posted by glue on Nov. 08 2006,22:42

Quote (^thehatsrule^ @ Nov. 08 2006,17:14)

The unmounting upon shutdown is standard for distros.

That seems to be the case. I don't think the mount state of the partitions is the problem. I'm starting to think there's something wrong with the OS installations. I don't remember having any problems booting the OSs when the drive was in the old machine but maybe just pulling the drive out of one machine and sticking in another and expecting it to work is just asking for too much.

Posted by Ramik on Nov. 10 2006,05:37

maybe its a logical partition, or something like that...