Boot Manager-- Install on either end of partition?

Started by klipp, 2010.03.01, 23:05:09

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klipp

Back in the days of a world with only OS2 (Before eCS) when you installed IBM's boot manager you had the option of installing it either at the front of the partition or at the end of the partition. My question is: Do we still have that option with eCS? The reason I ask being, I have need of eliminating the boot manager at the begining of a partition on one of my client boxes and moving it to the end of the same partition. Is this possible, and if so How?  An explanation of why I have to do this is rather embarassing, so please dont't ask! --- trust me , "I need to do this!"

Thanks,  klipp
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Windoz Free! eCS 2.0 serving Linux, Windoz & OS2
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DougB

I think you have some misconception about where the OS/2 Boot Manager used to be allowed. Partitions have nothing to do with it. Boot Manager itself is a partition.

In the old days, Boot Manager needed to be completely within the first 1024 logical cylinders (the same rule applied to every bootable partition). With new hardware (with the I13 extensions), you no longer have that restriction. Boot Manager can be anywhere on the disk, as long as the I13 extensions will support it (any system that is less than 10 years old should have no trouble, anywhere on the disk). After experimenting for a while, I have decided that the best place for Boot Manager is right at the very end of the disk. If it is there, it will not interfere with rearranging other partitions, should you wish to do so, and it doesn't interfere with certain things that demand that the very first partition needs to be a primary partition, formatted as FAT, FAT32, or NTFS.. There is also a pretty good chance, that there will already be a small, empty, space at the end, simply because it is less than a full cylinder. Almost always, Boot Manger will slip into that otherwise wasted space. To get it there, Uninstall Boot Manager (use LVM, or MinILVM), then fill up all but that small, empty, space at the end of the disk, with other partitions. Then install Boot Manager. If it refuses to install, you will need to expand that last partition, somehow (try DFSEE to shrink the previous partition by one cylinder, which should add on cylinder to the empty space), then install Boot Manager. Then, add the partitions that you wish to be managed by Boot Manager to the Boot Manager menu. After that, you can do what you want with the other partitions, being aware, that fooling around with partitions can result in permanent data loss.

klipp

No misconception Doug, my mind was saying "Disk" but my fingers typed "partition". Anyways I now understand whats going on and how to fix it --- thanks much!

klipp
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Windoz Free! eCS 2.0 serving Linux, Windoz & OS2
rklipp@megared.net.mx
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ModZilla

...there was another boot MGR offered on CD by IBM in '96 for WIN(95)...
don't know if it would work well beyond the NT4 Server Days, kinda gave up on TWINDOZE
cohabitating on an OS2 machine - anyway...anyone know what IBM DB2 Server for OS/2 Warp
would do for me having been a devout WebSphere user for a good while now...oh, that boot thingy was on
a demo I think, uh....'just add warp' or something...homey :-\
someday os2 will be ruled by the young and famous-at least in the open-source world!

RobertM

With some SCSI setups, you will need to install in the first 1024 cylinders. And of course, if you are not sure ("does the INT13h support work on my SCSI card/SATA setup/etc with OS/2 or eCS?") then it never hurts to install it in the first 1024.


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