USB hard drive partitioning layout difficulty

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03-04-2008
FragerZ

USB hard drive partitioning layout difficulty

So, I have a new 500GB external hard drive, and I was posting to clarify that the things I was about to do to it weren't going to cause me any pain. The hard drive, as it is now, has the following in it:

50MB - BootMagic, 5GB - Fedora, 6GB - Linux (I havn't decided)
460GB - Data, 6GB - Windows in that order.

Data is the only partition that has anything on it *edit

It's only after formatting it as such, that I realized that:
- My data must be in the first 2GB, as that is the only way my Xbox 360 can detect the movies on it.
- Windows must be in the first 2GB, or else it won't allow me to install (I believe this is true, as I tried installing it and it wouldn't let me.)

So, I was considering the following, and me, not knowing much about MBR's and such, need your help to determine if it will work.
1. Delete "Windows"
2. Make "Fedora" and "Linux" become "Windows"
3. Install Windows
4. Make empty space at the back, and create "Fedora" and "Linux" back there.
5. Move "Windows" to the back. - as per my knowledge, this should screw up the MBR, making it unbootable at this point.
6. Install Fedora and Linux - This should fix MBR, as GRUB will replace it, and it should be bootable, but only to the version of linux I install last. (right?)
7. Install Boot Magic on Boot Magic, through the version of Linux that GRUB lets me boot to.

Will this work? Can I make it so that I can use just GRUB to boot to all OS's, and not have boot magic? If you know anything else related to the MBR and what I'm trying to do that I've forgotten to ask, post that, too.
Thanks...
03-04-2008
CornedBee

Quote:

My data must be in the first 2GB, as that is the only way my Xbox 360 can detect the movies on it.

I am baffled by Microsoft's idiocy.

I don't think Windows will boot if you move it to the back.
03-04-2008
brewbuck

I am currently struggling with this myself, but with Mac OS X instead of Windows.

I believe that GRUB is capable of chainloading the NTLDR even if it is not within the first 2 gig. The standard Windows MBR is incapable of that, but that's why GRUB is nice. NTLDR itself has no such limitations, so if you can get NTLDR into memory, it should be able to boot, provided it can FIND the installation partition.

All you would need is a tool to dump the LBA numbers of the NTLDR file so you can plug them into GRUB's chainloader command.

I think it is a highly "unsupported" sort of thing to do. I'd hack around on it tonight and try to give you some answers but I don't have any space, nor do I have a Windows install disc.
03-05-2008
zacs7

I've done this before, pretty much the exact same setup. It's since however changed, by coincidence I still have the drive layout :)

Code:

[root@neux zac]# fdisk -l /dev/sdc Disk /dev/sdc: 200.0 GB, 200048565760 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0f54dfdf Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 * 1 14701 118085751 7 HPFS/NTFS media /dev/sdc2 14702 24320 77264617+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA) extended /dev/sdc5 14702 19800 40957686 7 HPFS/NTFS Windows /dev/sdc6 19801 19994 1558273+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sdc7 19995 24320 34748563+ 83 Linux Linux

I installed grub to the mbr, and chain loaded /dev/sdc5. In fact here is my grub.conf

Code:

default 0 timeout 8 title openSUSE 9.2 root (hd0,6) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7 resume=/dev/sda6 splash=silent showopts initrd /boot/initrd title Windows XP SP1 Build 2600 rootnoverify (hd0,4) chainloader +1 title Failsafe -- openSUSE 9.2 root (hd0,6) kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3 initrd /boot/initrd

You can remap Windows before you boot it so it thinks it's the root partition (as such) and will be mapped as C: otherwise it's mapped as E: or something.

Now however, I have a /boot partition with the boot flag (with grub installed there) and use grub to chainload NTLDR.

You can probably see, it *used* to be a mess :)
03-05-2008
Elysia

Quote:

Originally Posted by CornedBee

I am baffled by Microsoft's idiocy.

I agree with that.
Anyway, Windows needs its boot files on the primary partition where you boot from. Then you can install it wherever. This works with XP and, indeed, I have done it more than once I think.
03-08-2008
Bajanine

As Elysia says you can create a primary partition up front and then extended logical partitions for your windows/linux partitions. Windows will install the necessary files it needs to boot in the primary partition and the rest of the os files into the extended partitions. I can confirm this works for Windows 2000, XP and Vista.

Take a look at how disk 0 is laid out.

Maybe a picture is better:
03-11-2008
guitarscn

I had a similar issue, tri-booting BSD, Linux, and Windows. Because BSD does not use MBR partitions to boot since it uses disklabel as well as wanting to be within the first 8 GB of the hard drive, Linux uses GRUB/LILO and MBR to boot, and Windows expected to be the first OS on the hard drive.

I had to do a bunch of incredibly complex hard drive editing with blocks and geometry and stuff, carefully following this tutorial which took me about a few hours to get. I will never do such thing again; I would rather just put them on 3 separate boxes. I'd suggest that if you have the parts or the money to build some decent ones
03-12-2008
zacs7

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitarscn

I had a similar issue, tri-booting BSD, Linux, and Windows. Because BSD does not use MBR partitions to boot since it uses disklabel as well as wanting to be within the first 8 GB of the hard drive, Linux uses GRUB/LILO and MBR to boot, and Windows expected to be the first OS on the hard drive.

I had to do a bunch of incredibly complex hard drive editing with blocks and geometry and stuff, carefully following this tutorial which took me about a few hours to get. I will never do such thing again; I would rather just put them on 3 separate boxes. I'd suggest that if you have the parts or the money to build some decent ones

Hehe, that can be solved with the power of grub.

* Install BSD to the first 8gb to partition 0
* Install Linux to partition 1
* Install Windows to partition 2
* Install grub to the MBR or Linux partition
* Use grub to chainload Windows NTLDR (Windows bootloader) off the Windows partition, using grub to 'remap' (using grub map) the partitions so Window's thinks it's first
* Use grub to also chainload the BSD bootloader if required.

Problem solved ;), BTW grub doesn't have to be installed on the MBR. Install it to whatever partition you want and give that partition the boot flag.