Hello Felix,
I'm terribly sorry that you've encountered this. This is exactly the
reason why I mess with FreeDOS' installer only in a backed up,
virtualized environment before I update it in a live, baremetal system.
What is exactly your use case for over 20 logical partitions? I see a
lot of Linux distro names. If my assumption is correct that you keep
just the root filesystems of those distros as separate partitions, then
I think you might find it more comfortable to use LVM to allocate
physical space from your drive, and then split it into logical volumes,
independent of the governing partition table on your drive or even lack
thereof.
Best regards,
Michał Dec
W dniu 15.10.2024 o 19:22, Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user pisze:
On Oct 14, 2024, at 9:47 PM, Felix Miata via Freedos-user
<freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
Felix Miata composed on 2024-10-14 20:47 (UTC-0400):
After at least 3 decades, one might think a DOS disk partitioner, or the FreeDOS
installer, might have acquired an ability to not disturb anything that is part
of
the target partition. No such was or is apparent. Now that FreeDOS is installed,
only it can be booted, because it presumed it OK to move the boot flag off the
partition on which I placed it. Fdisk remains of the errant notion that the boot
flag can only be valid on a DOS partition, which is wholly untrue. Now I must
locate some bootable Linux CD to boot for the singular purpose of changing two
bytes in the partition table in order to make my other 20+ operating systems
bootable again.
What other damage is awaiting my discovery once the boot flag is back where it
was?
Turns out, lots of damage: about 29 logical partitions deleted. The following
is how I
found it after FreeDOS installation:
DFSee Linux 17.0 : executing: fdisk -r- -w-
Command timestamp : Monday 2024-10-14 17:06:43
+---+--+--+-----------------+--------+--------+-----------+----------------------------------------+-----------+
|ID |ux|Dr|Type, description|Format |Related |VolumeLabel|OS2-LVM/BM / GPT /
Crypt / additional in| Size MiB |
+--[/dev/sda MBR disk 1]--------+--------+-----------[ST160 PATA
9RX4RLF0]--------------------+-----------+
|01*| 1| |Hide 16 FAT16 |FAT16 |MSWIN4.1|P01WINDOS |P01 WinDOS
P01 WinDOS | 39.2|
|02*| 2| |Prim 0b FAT32 |FAT32 |FRDOS5.1|P02FREEDOS |P02 FreeDOS
P02 FreeDOS | 243.2|
|03>| 3| |Prim 83 LinuxNatv|EXT2 |GRUB |03boot |P03 Real /boot
P03 Real /boot | 400.1|
|04 | 5| |Log 82 SunS/SWAP|SWAP |LinuxV1 |SWAPSPACE2 |P05 swapper
P05 swapper | 188.2|
|08 | | |FreeSpace Logical|-- -- --|-- -- --|- - - - - -|
| 151757.1|
Because the partitioner I use logs, I only needed to view the previous log
to recreate that which was deleted, with result identical to the state in
which FreeDOS found it:
DFSee Linux 17.0 : executing: part
Command timestamp : Monday 2024-10-14 17:19:05
+---+--+--+-----------------+--------+--------+-----------+----------------------------------------+-----------+
|ID |ux|Dr|Type, description|Format |Related |VolumeLabel|OS2-LVM/BM / GPT /
Crypt / additional in| Size MiB |
+--[/dev/sda MBR disk 1]--------+--------+-----------[ST160 PATA
9RX4RLF0]--------------------+-----------+
|01*| 1| |Hide 16 FAT16 |FAT16 |MSWIN4.1|P01WINDOS |P01 WinDOS
P01 WinDOS | 39.2|
|02*| 2| |Prim 0b FAT32 |FAT32 |FRDOS5.1|P02FREEDOS |P02 FreeDOS
P02 FreeDOS | 243.2|
|03>| 3| |Prim 83 LinuxNatv|EXT2 |GRUB |03boot |P03 Real /boot
P03 Real /boot | 400.1|
|04 | 5| |Log 82 SunS/SWAP|SWAP |LinuxV1 |SWAPSPACE2 |P05 swapper
P05 swapper | 188.2|
|05 | 6| |Lhid 11 FAT12 |FAT12 |mkdosfs |DUMMY |P06 dummy
P06 dummy | 7.8|
|06 | 7| |Log 06 FAT16 |FAT16 |-DFSee- |P06 SS16A |P07 DOS data
P07 DOS data | 251.0|
|07*| 8| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |08stw |P08 TW Slowroll
P08 TW Slowroll | 5600.8|
|08*| 9| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |suse114 |P09 suse114
P09 suse114 | 4800.6|
|09*|10| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |suse121 |P10 suse121
P10 suse121 | 4800.6|
|10*|11| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |suse122 |P11 suse122
P11 suse122 | 4800.6|
|11*|12| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |suse123 |P12 suse123
P12 suse123 | 4800.6|
|12 |13| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |Linux |13home |P13 /home
P13 /home | 7201.0|
|13 |14| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |Linux |14usrlcl |P14 /usr/local
P14 /usr/local | 2047.3|
|14 |15| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |Linux |15pub |P15 /pub
P15 /pub | 8589.4|
|15*|16| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |suse131 |P16 suse131
P16 suse131 | 4800.6|
|16*|17| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |f21p17 |P17 Fedora 21
P17 Fedora 21 | 4800.6|
|17*|18| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |f24p18 |P18 Fedora 24
P18 Fedora 24 | 4800.6|
|18*|19| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |19sslo |P19 TW Slowroll
P19 TW Slowroll | 5600.8|
|19*|20| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |20mga09 |P20 Mageia 9
P20 Mageia 9 | 5600.8|
|20*|21| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |f28p21 |P21 Fedora 28
P21 Fedora 28 | 4800.6|
|21*|22| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |suse132 |P22 suse132
P22 suse132 | 4800.6|
|22*|23| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |debian13 |Debian 13 Trixie
Debian 13 Trixie | 5600.8|
|23 |24| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|unknown |Linux | |-
| 5600.8|
|24 |25| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|unknown |Linux | |-
| 5600.8|
|25 |26| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|unknown |Linux | |-
| 5600.8|
|26 |27| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|unknown |Linux | |
| 5600.8|
|27 | | |FreeSpace Logical|-- -- --|-- -- --|- - - - - -|
| 2651.4|
|27*|28| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |mageia8 |Mageia 8
Mageia 8 | 4800.6|
|28*|29| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |debian10 |Debian 10 Buster
Debian 10 Buster | 4800.6|
|29*|30| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |f30p30 |P30 Fedora 30
P30 Fedora 30 | 4800.6|
|30*|31| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |debian11 |Debian 11 Bullseye
Debian 11 Bullseye | 4800.6|
|31*|32| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |debian12 |Debian 12 Bookworm
Debian 12 Bookworm | 5600.8|
|32*|33| |Log 83 LinuxNatv|EXT3 |GRUB |fedor29 |Fedora 29
Fedora 29 | 4800.6|
|36 | | |FreeSpace Logical|-- -- --|-- -- --|- - - - - -|
| 13392.6|
All good now, but disappointed in FreeDOS.
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata
The Installer uses FDISK for partitioning and changing the Boot Flag. When
possible, it will automatically partition the drive behind scenes in Normal
mode. If that is not possible or advanced mode is being used, it will launch
FDISK form manual partitioning.
Like nearly all other operating systems, it will also make the installation the
active partition by default. See all other DOS or Windows versions. This is a
common practice and should be assumed to occur. However, the Installer may
possibly be updated at some point to prompt for this action when run in
advanced mode.
Unfortunately, there were a number of serious bugs in the version of FDISK that
was available for FreeDOS 1.3. Some, bugs involve incorrect values being
generated for partition sizes. And if I recall correctly, there was also a bug
that would cause FDISK to modify the partition table just by accessing it.
Even if the Installer provided the option to not update the Boot Flag, it
absolutely needs to check for what partitions exist. Once again, if I recall
correctly, simply checking the partition table with that version of FDISK would
most likely damage such a complex partition table.
There have been numerous fixes to FDISK and other programs since the release of
1.3 that are included on the monthly FreeDOS Interim Test Builds ( available at
https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/ ).
However, I would still back up the boot code and partition table using a
utility like MBRtool.
Jerome
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