Multiple boot partitions

[SteveF]

Does anyone know how to boot a DOS partition which is the last partition on a 5 gb drive? I use Boot Manager and have not been able to have a bootable partition past the first 2gb of the drive. I've upgraded the BIOS to the latest version. My mobo is a SOYO 6BB.

[Magnum]

I use "BootMagic" that comes with "Partition Magic 4.0". In order for DOS to work it has to be on a extended partition within the first 2 gigabites of the hard drive, using a FAT 16 partition. Hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by Magnum (edited 06-06-99).]

[toms111]

I have several multi-boot systems. The rules are a little screwy. I'm pretty sure that all bootable partitions must be primary partitions. In order for DOS or NT to work, the begining of the DOS or NT partion must reside in the first 2 gigabites of the hard drive. Win98 and/or Win95 do not need to be in the first 2 gig.

[BBA]

Well Toms11, a little off you are

You can use fdisk to set any partition as the active partition, and as long as it has system files on it, it will boot from that partition.

BBA

[toms111]

I did not know that. Is there any advantage? I use boot magic and make all my bootable partions, primary partitions. Does the first 2Gig rule still apply to extended partitions?

[BBA]

In your situation, using NT or old versions of DOS means your using FAT16. Fat16 has a limit on file size of 2.1G Maximum.

If Steve is using FAT32, with Win9X dos, there is no limit to boot partition size.

BBA

[This message has been edited by BBA (edited 06-09-99).]

[SteveF]

I have 4 partitions. NT4, Win95, and DOS then have the BootManager partion. This used to work when I had two smaller drives by using the first 1.6gb drive with the boot partitions on that and the second drive has the rest of the programs for Windows NT, the games, etc. Now with one drive, I would like to know what arrangement I could get these operating systems to still work in their own partitions. I have the 5.1 gb hard drive to divide up for these 4 partitions.

[BBA]

It doesn't matter. Make the C partition your boot partition and install Win9x on it. Then install NT4 on any other partition. Store files anywhere you want. Unless you convert to NTFS or FAT32, NT and 9X will be able to access everything.

BBA

[SteveF]

What I'm trying to do is have each OS in its own separate primary partition. I know NT and DOS won't boot if they are not within the first 2gbs of the hard drive. Will the 95 partition boot after that 2gb boundry, would converting to fat32 fix this issue?

[800XL]

You can only have one active partition without using some kind of boot manager. With NT and 9X living on the same drive, the active partition must be either FAT16 or NTFS. (At least I think you can make an NTFS booting partition and install Win9X in another partition) NT's boot loader cannot live on a FAT32 partition, so FAT32 can't be your active partition.

If anything, converting to FAT32 will give you more headaches in dealing with dual booting NT and Win9X

[toms111]

I know this is not exactly wat you want but for what its worth, I have a system that has 4 different OS on one 6 g HD. It is set up as follows:
DOS 560 Fat 16
NT4 2000 NTFS
W98 1700 Fat32
w95 1700 Fat 32

All partitions are primary. Boot magic, which comes with partition magic 4 selects the OS. I installed all the OS first, one at a time, using boot disk version of PM to hide other partitions and make one partition at a time active and visable. I don't remember the specifics, but i had trouble getting more than two OSs with boot manager. Hope this helps.