Re: [SLE] grub can't load windows - error 12: Invalid Device Requested (hd0,9)

On 31/01/06 12:09, Adagilson Batista Bispo da Silva wrote:
Thanks for replying, brother!

Felix Miata escreveu:

Adagilson Batista Bispo da Silva wrote:



I have windows 98se at /dev/hda9 (it is called unit F: by Windows). As
we know windows 98 put its initialization files on C: (IO.SYS,
MSDOS.SYS, etc.), but I formated C: to NTFS in order to install
Windows XP.


Big mistake. Until your C: is restored to FAT12/FAT16/FAT32, your
/dev/hda9 system cannot be started from that HD. There's no need for
NTFS on C: when you're putting XP on a logical partition, or even if
putting it directly on C: for that matter. When you use NTFS, you
complicate your access to doze data while booted to Linux.
i) I understand your point of view, but I prefer NTFS. C: is bigger
than F:, and XP requers more space to run than 98. In fact, I am just
using Windows for video editing (NTFS can handle large files better)
ii) Windows 98se is compatible with all my softwares;
iii) XP x64 is making the transition -- yet couldn't leave 98 'cos I
can install Nero InCD and burn DVD very well win XP;
iv)SuSE can access all my ntfs files and I have FAT partitions to
share documents.
What you want and what you can do are not the same things here. Felix
told you what you can do, as well as why you cannot do what you are
trying to do now. Win98 is DOS, and DOS is braindead. So what you have
is like giving a lobotomy to something that is already braindead. DOS
cannot handle more than one primary partition on a single drive, and it
can only boot from a floppy or from drive C: -- what is more, DOS cannot
boot from a hard drive partition unless it is in the first 1024
cylinders of the drive. You therefore cannot simply put a bunch of
"hide/unhide" commands into your grub/menu.lst and expect it to work.

One of my friends uses the same justification to keep Win98 around, then
complains about all the problems it has, and all the new software he
cannot use -- just so he can keep using FoxPro2. Duh, learn a new
database, dude.

XP is not completely braindead, only XP's concept of security is
braindead. Well, a few other things are too, but on the whole, it is not
so bad -- XP certainly isn't Linux, but it is sure a lot closer to a
real operating system than 98. At least it can boot from anywhere in
your system, and I think it even understands the modern concept (that
all *nix systems have known about since about 1984) that you can
actually have more than one primary partition on a hard drive.

Linux is not DOS, it is not braindead. Linux happily ignores things like
braindead BIOS limitations, and reports (and uses) all the hard drive
space the hardware is capable of handling. Linux will also work with all
the primary partitions (4) that can be put onto a hard drive, and boots
from anything your computer recognizes as a boot device -- and if your
computer doesn't recognize it as a boot device, you can still boot from
it by chaining to it in grub.

So, save all your data, then reinstall every OS you will want to be able
to use, in the following order:

98 first, and it _must_ be installed onto C: (ie. the very first primary
partition on the first hard drive). However, there is probably much
better software available that can replace what you are using right now,
so you should consider dumping 98 completely.

XP second, install it anywhere you want it (except C:, should you
actually decide you need to keep 98 around).

SuSE last, and it too can go anywhere.

You will of course need to format enough drivespace as FAT32 to
accommodate any data you might want to share between the 3. Everything
else that XP uses exclusively should be NTFS, because you don't need XP
to be slowed down by a braindead file system. Everything that SuSE uses
exclusively should be ext3 or Reiser (preferably, IMO, because it has
better recovery capabilities).

<snip>
If I can't boot win98 from D: or F: I will try to back up my data with
SuSE (it was never done before with DVD-R device).
Could you tell me if formating C: and D: to ext2 (using cfdisk on
linux) and reinstalling win98 on F: (as first partition recognized by
win98) it will work or not?
So I could reformat C: (on linux) and reinstall XP.
As it was said I'm afraid of repartition because I can lost my photos
and movies from 2004, 2005 and 2006--more than 25GB.
Don't even think of doing surgery on your current partition structure;
you might wind up losing everything anyway. You will certainly have to
reinstall every OS you have if you reinstall 98 and XP, because they
will wipe out the MBR, which is where grub's bootloader is. You could
avoid having to reinstall Linux, but that would require using a rescue
system and reinstalling grub into the MBR -- after doing some major
surgery to grub/menu.lst, of course.

K3b will do a nice job of burning the DVD disks you will need; all you
need to do is keep the burn speed down to what the blank disks can
accept (setting k3b to autodetect the optimum burn rate is easiest),
because some of those cheap (inexpensive) disks are really cheap
(quality). You do get what you pay for.

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