Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 23:45:36 -0500 From: John Clark <jrclark@felix.iupui.edu> To: docs@freebsd.org Subject: FAQ Contribution: "How do I create emergency boot diskettes?" Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960528235238.002fea00@felix.iupui.edu>
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How do I create emergency boot diskettes?
-----------------------------------------
Currently, for FreeBSD version 2.1, emergency recovery is as simple as two
floppy disk images.
To create an Emergency Boot Diskette Set (EBDS), obtain the floppy disk
images from your favorite FreeBSD FTP mirror site, or directly from the
primary FTP site: "ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD"
Boot disks for the current version 2.1 are available from the primary site
in the "ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.0-RELEASE/floppies" directory.
Two floppy images are needed for a complete (you hope) recovery kit:
boot.flp and fixit.flp. The images will fit on 1.2 MB floppies, but I must
suggest that if you are using a 5.25" floppy disk drive, that you convert to
a 1.44" HD disk drive, and discard your 5.25" disk drive (the year 2000 is ~
3 years from now!).
To make the disks while running MS-DOS, download rawrite.exe
(ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/2.1.0-RELEASE/tools/rawrite.exe), then run it:
C:\> rawrite
You will be then prompted for the floppy drive letter that contains the disk
you want to write (A: or B:), and the name of the image file to write
(boot.flp).
To make the disks while running a UNIX system:
% dd if=boot.flp of=disk_device
where disk_device is the /dev entry for the floppy drive. On FreeBSD
systems, this is /dev/fd0 for the A: drive and /dev/fd1 for the B: drive.
Similarly, create another floppy disk for the "fixit.flp" image file.
When needed, the system can be booted using the "boot" floppy. When booted,
a menu will be displayed; insert the fixit floppy, and select "Fixit" from
the menu. You will then be in a maintenance shell with a reasonable
compliment of commands. The floppy is mounted as "/mnt2" and "/mnt" is
available for mounting your hard drive volumes.
Just two words: "en" "joy."
--John
[jrclark@indy.net]
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