Re: tlug: "boot partition too big" while installing RH6.1j - part 2

[Selva Nair <selva@example.com>]

On Sat, 4 Mar 2000, Jonathan Q wrote:

>  On Sat, 4 Mar 2000, Selva Nair wrote:
>  
>  > You can't install lilo as your first linux partition starts at cylinder
>  > 1352 (> 1024). As others have suggested you can load linux from dos. 
>  
>  Another approach (and this one might be the most overall hassle-free) is
>  to get Partition Magic and use it to move your Windows install second 10
>  GB of the disk, then install Linux in the first 10 GB.  This will get
>  you booting from the first 1024 cylinders, solving your boot problems.

I think this will not work as then the windows boot sector will be
beyond 1024 cylinders and LILO will fail to boot windows. 

Quoting from LILO documentation:

-----
LILO depends on the BIOS to load the follwoing items:

 /boot/boot.b
 /boot/map
 all kernels
 the boot sectors of all other operating systems it boots
 the start up message, if one has been defined
----

The 1024 cylinder limitation comes from LILO's dependence on BIOS
to access the disk. 

So if one is moving the Windows partitions it will be better to create
only a small boot partition within 1024 cylinders, and keep the rest of
the linux wherever one wishes to, making sure that all boot sectors are
within 1024 cylinders. 

As the boot partition need not be ext2 (can be fat32), keeping all the
boot files in a dos/windows folder as I wrote in my previous mail
appears an easy way out. But one should make sure that the boot files so
stored all fall within 1024 cylinders and that the windows disk manager
(defragment ?) does n't move the boot files around.

Selva

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