I have two hard drives...

First Drive:
C:\ (with win 98)

Second Drive: (into two partitions)
D:\ (no os)
E:\ (no os)

My question is, my second drive is set as the [primary slave]. If i installed lets say FreeBSD operating system. And set it to load from lets say the D:\ drive which holds the FreeBSD OS, from the bios set up. Would freebsd load up even though the second drive is set as primary slave???

Hi Vigor,


First, as you know, what you're looking to do is do is set up a multi-boot system.

What happens is this:

You tell your bios which drive to boot off of. Usually, this is the "C" drive -- i.e. your "master" HDD. On your "Master" or "C" drive, you have a MASTER BOOT RECORD area. Your computer looks here to see what to do. If it's empty, it will boot up the bootable OS on the "C" drive.

If it has a program like The FreeBSD boot loader program or GRUB in the master boot record area, it will either boot whatever drive you have the boot loader set to boot or give you a menu and ask you what to do.

If you choose the right options during a FreeBSD 4.5 install from CD-ROM, what you will have is this:

You will have the FreeBSD boot loader on your "C" drive that offers you the choice to boot FreeBSD off your second physical or "slave" "D" hard drive or DOS/Windows off your "C" drive. During install, you are essentially putting a boot loader in the master boot record (i.e. MBR) area of the "C" drive that knows about and gives you the option to boot FreeBSD on the second physical drive. At boot, on your screen will be an option/menu asking what you want to do -- such as "F1 for FreeBSD" or "F1 for DOS" or whatever. You pick the option for the OS you want and up boots the desired OS.

On the FreeBSD 4.5 install CD, there is a section that ask you about installing a boot loader. Read the help section at that point a couple of times. I don't recall the exact details of which screen/options to pick during setup/install to get the setup you're looking for. You may have to try it a few times -- sorry I don't recall the specific details.

Moreover, I don't recall if you put a FreeBSD boot loader ONLY on drive "C" or on both the master and slave HDD.

IIRC, pay particular attention to the screens when choosing options. IIRC, a screen will appear asking about partitions for the first hard drive, then a second screen will appear asking about the options for the second hard drive. You can easily get confused thinking the install program isn't allowing you to choose the options for the second hard drive....when it's just that you haven't gotten to that point yet. Pay attention to the top of the screen area that tells you the drive that the install options you are being offered apply to.

IIRC, FreeBSD sets up one "slice" that's equivelent to a primary partition in the DOS world -- then "partitions" that one "FREEBSD slice" into /, /usr /var, /whatever -- much like putting logical drives in an extended DOS partition.

Also, if you put FreeBSD or any other OS on the same drive as Windows, you usually want to install windows first -- since, IMO, Windows "doesn't play well with others" and assumes it's the only OS on a drive, and may over write your MBR area without asking permission and assorted arrogant type stuff.

I like to keep Windows on one HDD and other *nix OSs on the second or later HDD -- whichever HDD doesn't have Windows on it....I don't trust windows not to bork up a perfectly good drive with another OS upon it...it "assumes" it's the only OS in town, IMO. With the TRIOS you can have a different OS on each of three HDD if you like.

Go thru the FreeBSD install process a few times to see how to do it. When you're done, you will turn on your computer, get an option that ask you what OS you want and the Function key to hit to select the desired OS -- choose what you want and your desired OS will boot.

A few points. First, if you run into too much trouble, consider a physical hard drive selector like a Romtec Trios ($50).

I like to wipe the MBR area before I start. You do this with a Windows 98 start up floppy disk having the FDISK command on it. After booting from the floppy, at the "A:" promt, type the following command:

FDISK /MBR

or FDISK C: /MBR ...I forget which one -- I think it's FDISK /MBR

It's best to use the OS you are going to use to set up the partitions on the drive you are going to deploy the OS upon.

Use Windows/DOS FDISK for Windows HDD (or Windows partitions); use FreeBSD install program to set up FreeBSD partitions and "slices"; and Linux to set up Linux partitions. This may avoid some nasty problems. Especially if you partition with and install OpenBSD then try and repartition the drive with DOS FDISK. IIRC, you will need to wipe the drive clear of partitions with OpenBSD then repartition it with Windows or whatever, for instance.

The best aproach is to always create partitions/slices with the OS you are going to install -- and delete the partitions created using the same OS tools/utilities/programs -- not a utility/install program of a different OS.

The Multi-Boot Configuration Handbook explains all this stuff real well. I like the TRIOS device. That way, each drive is isolated from the other drives. It's a big time sink to set up lots of OSs on one hard drive, screw something up and lose everything and have to start all over. Plus, with the TRIOS, you can set up each drive partition wise more like a server -- and to the computer whichever drive you select on the TRIOS before turning on the power will be the only drive the computer knows about. Try a google seach on the Romtec TRIOS to read about it if you want.

VMware is another option -- but cost about $300. The advantage is you can have multiple OSs booted up at the same time; each OS runs in an independent virtual machine on the same physical computer.

The above is long. Hope it is helpful to you now and others in the future who may do a search on multiboot in the future -- and not confusing. Sometimes one needs to read a lot and experiment a little before one "gets it" and sees how the various install/boot options work.


Best wishes,

Louis

P.S.

I would delete the two partitions on the second HDD before you start and let the FreeBSD install program do the partitioning/slicing of the second drive you plan to install FreeBSD upon. The freebsd handbook, available online has a lot of info for you on this stuff, too.