FreeBSD install corrupts neighboring partitions

[Andrew L. Gould]

On Sunday 07 September 2003 10:25 pm, Dan Harrison wrote:
> >I'm attempting to install FreeBSD 4.8 on a system which will boot it
> >and also Windows 2000 Server. I've done this with two multiboot
> >utilities: the simple boot manager that comes with FreeBSD and V
> >Communications' System Commander.
> >
> >In both cases, I have found that when I install FreeBSD it corrupts
> >neighboring NTFS and FAT partitions. After the install, the OSes in
> >these partitions fail to boot or the partitions become entirely
> >unreadable. Whether I tell FreeBSD not to install an MBR or whether
> >I tell it to install its boot manager, the result is the same:
> >Neighboring partitions are being corrupted to the point where one
> >can not get to data on them.

During that partitioning stage of FreeBSD installation, did you mark the NTFS 
partition as bootable? (I don't **know** that this should matter.)

> >
> >I realize that dual booting is not common, but I need to do it on
> >this laptop. Has anyone else on the lists encountered this problem?

I am dual booting Win2K Pro and FreeBSD 4.8 Stable on a Compaq Presario 910 
and a generic desktop without any problems.  The laptop has Win2K on FAT32 
and the desktop has Win2K on NTFS.  On the laptop, the Windows partition is 
adjacent to the FreeBSD partition.  In both cases I marked both the Windows 
and FreeBSD partitions as bootable and installed the FreeBSD bootloader to 
the MBR.

>
> Yes. I had it corrupt a copy of Win XP on a desktop I installed it
> on. My solution, I'm sorry to say, was to get another hard drive and
> re-install Windows on that. If I wanted to use windows, switch the
> hard drives in the OS detect order in the BOIS. :\
>
> I don't know how practical it is on a laptop, but I wanted to tell
> you that you are not alone.
>
> Good luck.