[FreeBSD] 6.3-R diskhandling

[Manolis Kiagias]

Alphons "Fonz" van Werven wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a recent model Toshiba laptop here, dual-booting Windows Vista and
> Slackware Linux (not my call, so no flames please). When I got the 
> go-ahead to replace Linux with FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE, the following
> happened:
>
> The partitioner complained that the found geometry 232581/16/63 is 
> invalid
> and it's using a more likely geometry instead. Closer inspection reveals
> that this "more likely" geom (14593/255/63) is actually the real 
> geometry,
> so question 1 is: where did FreeBSD get this other weird-ass geometry
> from?
>
> When installing the boot manager, it hosed Windows' bootability. I could
> mount and access the Windows partition from within FreeBSD just fine so
> the partition itself seemed to be okay, but it just wouldn't boot. When I
> selected it in the bootmanager menu, it showed a screen saying Windows
> can't boot and I should use the recovery disk to repair Windows. Since
> everything on the machine that was even remotely important had just been
> backed up and Windows was due for a reinstall anyway, I just reinstalled
> it and no harm was done, but I still wonder what happened. How come
> FreeBSD's boot manager stopped Windows from booting?
>
> The reinstall of Windows wiped away everything else, so I can retry
> installing FreeBSD. But given the troubles described above, what's the
> best way to do it? Currently, I'm considering the following:
> 1. Boot this Live Linux CD I have lying around here and which finds the
>    correct geometry for the disk right away.
> 2. Make a backup of the MBR.
> 3. Create a partition (slice) for FreeBSD.
> 4. Boot the FreeBSD install disk and run through sysinstall (partitioning
>    the slice Linux just created) but don't let it install a boot loader.
> 5. Boot the Live Linux again and install LILO from there.
> But if you have any other suggestions I'm all ears of course.
>
> Oh, and a final question: the Windows installer creates a partition table
> in which partitions (slices) don't end on cylinder/track boundaries. Is
> this a big deal? Linux notices it but doesn't seem bothered much by it 
> and
> FreeBSD appears to act likewise. But I thought I'd better ask, just to be
> sure.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Alphons
>
When installing FreeBSD and you are asked what boot manager to install 
select to not install anything. In this way your Vista boot will not be 
affected.
If after this you find that at startup you are not given ANY choice but 
FreeBSD starts automatically, this is simply because it's partition is 
marked active.
Boot with a CD like Norton Partition Magic or GParted and mark the Vista 
partition active. Boot Vista, then download and install the EasyBCD from 
www.neowin.net
It is then trivial to add a stanza to Vista bootloader (!) to boot FreeBSD.