Problems installing FreeBSD

[Jerry McAllister]

On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 04:30:43AM -0600, s.moyzis wrote:

> Hi,  I'm trying to install FreeBSD from
>  ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ISO-IMAGES-i386/6.2
> I downloaded all the files to a folder on my 2nd HD (Primary is C: 80 Gb Windows XP SP2, 2nd external 250 Gb HD has 2 partitons, G: which contains the entire C:drive for backup, and a partition H: for FreeBSD.  Anyway, The Boot CD doesn't boot (yes, I changed the BIOS sequence), and the Disk1 and Disk2 won't fit on a CD.  I'm new at this, but I do know Windows and DOS inside and out.  Question is, what do I do next?
> everytime I try to 'open' the file(s) Roxio CD Creator opens up.  Help!   Thanks,
> Steve

The first thought is:  did you burn the bood CD correctly.
It is already an ISO and should be burned as a plain data file
with no reforming or conversion to be bootable or etc.

That is the first thing I would verify.   If you can get your
hands on a different machine, then try booting that with the CD.
It won't hurt anything to just boot as long as you don't commit
to modifying the disk - for which there are lots of warnings and
'are you really sure you want to do this' messages.

You only need the disk1 for booting and installing or running a fixit.
The disk2 has additional things you might want to install - ports,
if you can't install them over the net.

As for where to put the FreeBSD installation, you cannot put it in 
an MS drive such as h:.   It has to go in to its own primary slice.   
MS does not know how to recognize, read or write a FreeBSD slice.  So
if it is something MS can see, then it is not a FreeBSD primary slice.

If MS uses the whole drive, you will need to either wipe out the MS stuff
or shrink those slices to make room for a FreeBSD slice.   You can look
at it with the FreeBSD fdisk routine in the fixit shell.   - But, of
course, you have to get it to boot to the CD first.

Then, since the existing slices are probably NTFS, you may need a
special utility to shrink them.   There are freeware utilities that
can handle FAT slices, but not NTFS.   I have been quite successful
using Partition Magic to manipulate disk slicing including NTFS.
It is generally available for about $70 the last I checked.

With that you create a "Primary Partition" of 'unknown' type in
empty space obtained by either shrinking or deleting currently
existing partitions.    NOTE here that the MS world calls these
primary partitions, but the BSD UNIX world calls them slices and
uses the term partition for a different kind of disk division - 
those that further subdivide slices.

So, do some more studying and check out that CD burn.

////jerry
> 
> 
> "The only secure computer is one that's unplugged,
> locked in a safe, and buried 20 feet under the ground
> in a secret location... and I'm not even too sure about
> that one"
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