Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 10:58:52 -0600 (CST) From: "David Kelly" <dkelly@hiwaay.net> To: <jbronson@wixb.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: convert from scsi to IDE Message-ID: <1304.207.111.173.106.1101920332.squirrel@webmail.dogbark.com> In-Reply-To: <6.2.0.14.2.20041201101511.00abf138@localhost> References: <6.2.0.14.2.20041201101511.00abf138@localhost>
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> umm..I have a freebsd install on a SCSI drive > and I need to convert this to IDE. > > I have an issue with the fact that no matter what I do, if I install and > IDE drive - the BIOS will always try to boot off of the IDE drive. Ah! The "wonders" of the committee-designed PC architecture. You say nothing of your motherboard BIOS or SCSI interface. The key as to which drive is booted lies there. Then again there are ways around it. Boot a FreeBSD Install CD and prepare the IDE drive. Most importantly partition and install the bootmanager. Flush the work out to the drive. Then on reboot item F5 should transfer the boot to the next drive. If the next drive has the same FreeBSD boot manager it too will have an F5, and so on until one gets back to the first where the loop continues. Each drive remembers the prior use so after 5 or 10 seconds the first will transfer to the next on your next reboot. I suggest that you take this opportunity to clean up your system, document, and update. Install a fresh 4.10 or 5.3 on the IDE drive. Take notes while you do so. Once the FreeBSD things have been dealt with on the IDE drive, mount the SCSI (if not already) and start copying your known important stuff. Use the old drive as a reference for which ports need to be installed. Take notes. The old drive is always there for things you missed, and you *will* miss some things. Thats why you are taking notes. At some point in the future you may have to rebuild the machine and not have the original drive as a reference. With the FreeBSD boot manager on the IDE drive you can painlessly reboot to either your new IDE or old SCSI installation. At most /etc/fstab needs touchup on each.
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