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A while back I reported that when I made an extended partition hdb4 in 
which to make logical linux partitions hdb5 hdb5 etc., on all but one 
computer the extended partition became D:, and on my DOS drive hda I now 
had partitions C: E: F:  (G: being the CD-ROM drive).  The fourth DOS 
partition is no longer accessible so I can have only three primary 
partitions on hda.

We were recently given 6 DFI computers/motherboards with 3 expansion 
slots, top of the line for 1999, for which we rounded up enough 500-500MHz 
cpus.  (In theory they went to 8x133MHz but the voltages were wrong for 
even a 733MHz cpu).  ISA slots allow internal hardware modem, SB16 sound, 
and MGA cards.  Like earlier DFI computers Xvesa only works if you bypass 
config.sys (same on some Compaq and Emachines).  I need to learn lilo.

We were also given a few large hard drives 8-15GB which I partitioned as
three primary, one extended and one or more logical for linux, and copied 
all my linuxes too (BL2, BL3.40, BL3.50, a partition with tgz and source 
code and photos, and a spare or two).

If I put in a DOS drive with four partitions and one of these linux 
drives, I no longer have C:  E: F: partitions on hda, I have only C:

Unplugging the linux drive restores D: E: F:.

Both the drives had partition problems so I redid them both.  hda had 72MB 
bad at the end.  I replaced both drives.  The problem persisted - I had 
the choice of C: D: E: F: on hda and no hdb, or C: on hda and all of hdb.

I was getting hardware error message at boot time so removed the AWE64 
sound card.  The error turned out to be AWE32 was dead.  FM synthesis too. 
The sound works otherwise.  Not related.

We did a test by partitioning a different small drive (hdb) with one 
extended partition and one logical ext2 partition.  hda now has C: E: F: 
again (but not D: - D: is the extended partition on hdb.)

We did not check what happens if hdb has one primary and one extended 
partition.

I am told you need a primary partition to boot DOS from.

The solutions are:

1.  On most computers (where files in D: disappear when you make any 
extended partition on hdb) do not put any files in hda2 (which becomes 
inaccessible from DOS).  Make a very small partition, format it, but don't 
use it.

2.  On DFIs and similar nuisances where having three primary and one 
extended partition on hdb (or maybe even one primary and an extended) 
causes all but C: to disappear from the master drive hda, format the 
second drive without any primary partitions, just one extended partition 
with logical partitions, and DOS will find three of the four primary 
partitions on the first drive.  (Proceed as in 1. to deal with D:).

Other possibilities (choose one or more).

1.  Don't make any extended partitions on hdb - put BL3.50 into 5GB and 
wait longer for it to boot.

2.  Make only one primary partition on hda so there is nothing to get 
lost.  Delete all those old DOS programs you no longer use.  (And wish you 
hadn't, when ppmtolj prints a pgm file solid black, but printgif prints it 
correctly).

3.  Use only one hard drive.  Make one primary DOS partition, one extended 
partition, and as many logical DOS and linux partitions as you want on the 
8GB drive.  Four 300MB DOS partitions, a couple 200MB partitions for BL3 
versions, 2GB for BL2, 2GB for photos and stuff....

Someone else suggested this already.

Would it also work to have three primary and one extended partition on one 
drive hda?

What on earth do people do with 120GB drives?

Sindi

keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org