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Date:      Tue, 07 Nov 2006 09:36:47 -0500
From:      Lowell Gilbert <freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org>
To:        "Bob Schwartz" <bob@bschwartz.com>,  FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Questions on first-time installation (Re: (no subject))
Message-ID:  <44fycvmigw.fsf@be-well.ilk.org>
In-Reply-To: <20061107075922.d7c44977.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> (Bill Moran's message of "Tue, 7 Nov 2006 07:59:22 -0500")
References:  <000001c7021f$287ef880$0500a8c0@c1> <20061107075922.d7c44977.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com>

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Bill Moran <wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> writes:

> In response to "Bob Schwartz" <bob@bschwartz.com>:

>> this workstation has two intallations of XP and a windows boot manager for
>> selecting them. Under no circumstances can we afford for this to be
>> disturbed (at least until we can finally get rid of windows forever!<g>).
>
> You should not install on that machine, then.  Its not uncommon for first
> time users to hose other installations.  Based on your "under no
> circumstances" statement, you need to ask yourself two questions:
> 1) Do I have a complete and reliable backup of my Windows stuff?
> 2) Can I afford the time to restore from backup if I do something wrong?
>
> If the answer to either of those questions is "no" then you should do one
> of two things:
> 1) Recruit a trusted friend who has done this before to help.
> 2) Don't use that machine for your first install.

Or, possibly, pull out the existing drives with the important "stuff"
before attempting the install.  But having a critical system without
backups is foolhardy in any case.

>> I've put in an adaptec 2940 and a 146 gig SCSI drive...and this is the drive
>> I want to install bsd on and play with it to learn, but the installation
>> process does not appear to tell me how to install on this drive only..and
>> whether or not if I also install BSD's boot manager, I may disturb the one
>> windows is offering already.
>
> The BSD boot manager _will_ displace any other boot manager, although it
> works just as well in every instance I've done it.

It is limited to four BIOS partitions, and no extended partitions.
Not an issue in this case, it sounds like.

I like the fact that it fits completely in the boot sector.  That
keeps it from being pretty, but it also means that a problem with one
OS won't keep you from booting a different OS.




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