Dimitry Andric wrote:
> On 2010-07-13 23:09, Julian H. Stacey wrote:
> >> Were those partitions 'dangerously dedicated'
> >
> > Yes probably, I can't be certain though, as recent FreeBSD fudges /aliases
> > ad0s1a to ad0a if s1 is active fdisk slice.
>
> IIRC, in FreeBSD before 8 you got both ad0s1a and ad0a in /dev, when you
> had DD partitions, but since GEOM_BSD was replaced by GEOM_PART_BSD this
> is no longer the case.
OK, I havent read up on GEOM_PART_BSD beyond I think noticing config
inserts it in kernel, without needing to be in config file.
> As far as I have tried out, it is no longer possible to use sysinstall
> to actually install on a DD partition, neither with 8.1 nor with
> -current. Sysinstall simply does not allow you to directly label a
> 'raw' disk, you must make an MBR partition first.
>
> I usually just start a fixit shell from the DVD, run bsdlabel
> directly on the target device, newfs it, and unpack the distributions
> myself...
Yes, sounds reasonable, what I'd do for an external, (but as this
disk is for laptop internal, I'm happy to use fdisk to give me a
2nd rescue boot).
> > Yes definately. Most Probably on my 8.0-rel i386 laptop
> > Definately not on the laptop I was trying with 8.1-RC2.
>
> Did that latter laptop also show the same problem?
No , my Toshiba Satellite S5100-603 running i386 8.0-rel had no
problem labelling (via external USB enclosure) discs inc the disk
I then Installed inside the Novatech today to install with 8.1-RC2.
What was preventing FreeBSD-8.1-RC2 install on the Novatech Laptop
was a BIOS boot sector protect mechanism which seemed strangely labelled:
The BIOS ("Insyde Software SCU") had option "Security -> Hard Disk
Boot Sector" with 2 states available: not ticked, or underscore.
We had previously left it as Underscore,
wrongly assuming that meant no boot sector protection.
it actually means silently discard boot sector changes I think.
Now it's ticked,
(which we had wrongl assumed meant boot sector protect)
it allowed install & boot from disc of FreeBSD (after complaint on
first boot (but not on subsequent boots) of boot sector content change.
Thanks for your help :-)
Cheers,
Julian
--
Julian Stacey: BSD Unix Linux C Sys Eng Consultants Munich http://berklix.com
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