Re: off topic: Re: booting DOS

[ajx jxz@xxxxxxxx]

"jxz" wrote:

> > fdisk won't normally allow 2 primary
> > partitions on the same disk IIRC.

"J. R. Fox" wrote:

> No, the limit is 4 Primaries.

We're both right, I think. Every element in the mix has its limits.
The trouble in this subject is that there are so many elements, so
many OSes, so many generations of software, firmware and hardware, so
many sizes of disk .. , that finding a doc which treats all the various
combinations is almost impossible.

On the subject of the "extra" partition at the start of a disk, this
seems to be standard. It arises from the fact, it seems to me (tho'
I've never seen written confirmation of this), that partitions are like
files and folders - they consist of so many units of storage - not just
of the space their contents actually take up.

The boot partition needs only a few sectors but the next partition can't
start till head numbers or something restart at zero, one track or
cylinder further on.

Linux happens to be an OS which doesn't obey all this arcana. It and
its loaders may not even need its boot partition to be labelled as
active. (In certain cases, doing so can actually screw things up.)

And there's a partition manager available which will create upwards of
twenty partitions on a disk. 

Microsoft software doesn't so much respect the rules as lay down its
own. Pre NT-XP, it creates, maintains and insists on a one pebble on
the beach myth.

Which ends cutting both ways. While I haven't got the details at
my fingertips, I believe you can situate a Windows partition after
three others and Windows will still boot fine. It's enough that it
doesn't see or recognise the 3 partitions preceding it. The trouble is
that, to obtain this situation, you may have to: 1st instal Windows,
2nd move it to the back of the disk, 3rd, instal the non-M$ partitions
in front of it ..

John

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