|
Ray2047
|
 |
« on: August 27, 2011, 07:03:26 AM » |
|
My main computer went out last night. I'm on my backup computer and want to put the SATA drive from the main computer into the backup computer. I have to use a PCI card for the SATA drive because the MB has no SATA connections. The backup computer only recognizes PATA drives as boot devices. I know from past experience if I put the MBR on a PATA I can boot to a SATA drive.
In the pst I have only did this as a new install and that is easy. This time though I want to just put in a PATA drive and move the MBR on my SATA drive to it. Is that even possible? If so how?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Old-Polack
Administrator
Hero Member
 Offline
Posts: 9695
----IOFLU----
|
|
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2011, 09:36:24 AM » |
|
My main computer went out last night. I'm on my backup computer and want to put the SATA drive from the main computer into the backup computer. I have to use a PCI card for the SATA drive because the MB has no SATA connections. The backup computer only recognizes PATA drives as boot devices. I know from past experience if I put the MBR on a PATA I can boot to a SATA drive.
In the pst I have only did this as a new install and that is easy. This time though I want to just put in a PATA drive and move the MBR on my SATA drive to it. Is that even possible? If so how?
The MBR is a physical location on a hard drive, the first sector of the first cylinder. You cant move the MBR. You can however install grub to the MBR of your PATA boot drive. Instructions here; http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,62786.msg508062.html#msg508062 |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Old-Polack Of what use be there for joy, if not for the sharing thereof?  Lest we forget...  |
|
|
|
Ray2047
|
|
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2011, 09:50:13 AM » |
|
I wrote that at 4 in the morning after awaking to a blank monitor at 3am. Had spent an hour running checks including swaping out video card. I was not really thinkking clearly.
I have had a bit more sleep now and realize I only need to add it to the boot menu already on the working HD on the machine. Thank you though for the response.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Ray2047
|
|
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2011, 04:40:04 PM » |
|
Ok my idea didn't work. I just get drive not found because the bios doesn't see SATA drives. The SATA's boot sector needs to be written to a PATA drive. I don't want to mess with the working PATA drive so I will install a second PATA drive for the SATAs boot sector. I have read your link but I don't think it does what I want to do. I don't want to repair the boot sector on the SATA. I want to write it on a PATA drive. Or to put it another way on this computer the SATA drive's boot sector must be written to a PATA drive so the bios sees it.
Yes, I have done this on this computer but only from a full install. This time I want to keep the install on the SATA.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
AS
Global Moderator
Hero Member
Offline
Posts: 4139
Have a nice ... night!
|
|
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2011, 04:47:13 PM » |
|
Ok my idea didn't work. I just get drive not found because the bios doesn't see SATA drives. The SATA's boot sector needs to be written to a PATA drive. I don't want to mess with the working PATA drive so I will install a second PATA drive for the SATAs boot sector. I have read your link but I don't think it does what I want to do. I don't want to repair the boot sector on the SATA. I want to write it on a PATA drive. Or to put it another way on this computer the SATA drive's boot sector must be written to a PATA drive so the bios sees it.
Yes, I have done this on this computer but only from a full install. This time I want to keep the install on the SATA.
I think you are misunderstanding old-polack's suggestion, that basically is: because you already have a working boot loader on the pata drive, just add an entry (a stanza) for the SATA installation. You only need to edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst on you PATA drive and add a new stanza. AS |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Ray2047
|
|
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2011, 05:55:22 PM » |
|
because you already have a working boot loader on the pata drive, just add an entry (a stanza) for the SATA installation Yes that is what I tried but that didn't work aparently because the entry refers to a boot entry on a drive the bios doesn't see. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
AS
Global Moderator
Hero Member
Offline
Posts: 4139
Have a nice ... night!
|
|
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2011, 05:59:45 PM » |
|
because you already have a working boot loader on the pata drive, just add an entry (a stanza) for the SATA installation But that didn't work because the entry refers to a boot entry on a drive the bios doesn't see. who said that can't work ? The BIOS direct the boot process to the MBR of the PATA drive, in the MBR there is a pointer to Grub bootloader which therefore start from the PATA drive and then Grub will read the configuration file (/boot/grub/menu.lst), depending on the user selection will boot the corresponding OS kernel, no matter if it's on PATA or on SATA. It will be the Grub bootloader to chose the hard drive to boot from, not the BIOS. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Old-Polack
Administrator
Hero Member
Offline
Posts: 9695
----IOFLU----
|
|
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2011, 06:02:22 PM » |
|
Ok my idea didn't work. I just get drive not found because the bios doesn't see SATA drives. The SATA's boot sector needs to be written to a PATA drive. I don't want to mess with the working PATA drive so I will install a second PATA drive for the SATAs boot sector. I have read your link but I don't think it does what I want to do. I don't want to repair the boot sector on the SATA. I want to write it on a PATA drive. Or to put it another way on this computer the SATA drive's boot sector must be written to a PATA drive so the bios sees it.
Yes, I have done this on this computer but only from a full install. This time I want to keep the install on the SATA.
I think you are misunderstanding old-polack's suggestion, that basically is: because you already have a working boot loader on the pata drive, just add an entry (a stanza) for the SATA installation. You only need to edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst on you PATA drive and add a new stanza. AS Not quite. If the add in SATA card does not have a secondary BIOS that allows the SATA drive to be seen by BIOS, it gets a bit more complicated. Ray2047:Do you have a Linux installation on the PATA drive? It doesn't matter what distro, just that there is a Linux installation somewhere on the drive. If so, what is the distribution, and what partition is the / partition? |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Old-Polack Of what use be there for joy, if not for the sharing thereof? Lest we forget... |
|
|
|
|
|
Ray2047
|
|
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2011, 06:22:16 PM » |
|
Not quite. If the add in SATA card does not have a secondary BIOS that allows the SATA drive to be seen by BIOS, it gets a bit more complicated. Bingo! PCLOS on both drives. Not sure where root is on the PATA. It's size is 4Gb. Home is 7.7 GB. The 20GB drive is the PATA. fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38792 cylinders, total 39102336 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe16a688b
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 20408975 10204456+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 20408976 39102335 9346680 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 20409039 22649759 1120360+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 22649823 39102335 8226256+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 7791524 3895731 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 52420095 312576704 130078305 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 52420158 52452224 16033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 148729833 312576704 81923436 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 148456728 148729769 136521 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb8 52452288 148456664 48002188+ 83 Linux
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Old-Polack
Administrator
Hero Member
Offline
Posts: 9695
----IOFLU----
|
|
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2011, 06:45:43 PM » |
|
Not quite. If the add in SATA card does not have a secondary BIOS that allows the SATA drive to be seen by BIOS, it gets a bit more complicated. Bingo! PCLOS on both drives. Not sure where root is on the PATA. It's size is 4Gb. Home is 7.7 GB fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38792 cylinders, total 39102336 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe16a688b
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 20408975 10204456+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 20408976 39102335 9346680 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 20409039 22649759 1120360+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 22649823 39102335 8226256+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 7791524 3895731 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 52420095 312576704 130078305 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 52420158 52452224 16033+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 148729833 312576704 81923436 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 148456728 148729769 136521 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb8 52452288 148456664 48002188+ 83 Linux
Assuming the 160 GB drive is the SATA drive, you have two swap partitions where only one is needed, and your partitions are numbered out of order as they actually exist on the drive. This can become a problem, so really should get corrected. For the booting problem, are the two PCLinuxOS installations the same, using the same kernel, or is one an older version, no longer supported? Bear with me and my questions. Your answers will determine the easiest way to get your SATA installation up and running, and each answer may generate some new questions, so have a bit of patience.  |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Old-Polack Of what use be there for joy, if not for the sharing thereof? Lest we forget... |
|
|
|
Ray2047
|
|
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2011, 07:02:30 PM » |
|
And bear with me as I explore virgin territory. Thank you for helping. Yes the small drive is PATA. PATA is 2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs What is the easiest way to determine the Kernel for the SATA?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Old-Polack
Administrator
Hero Member
Offline
Posts: 9695
----IOFLU----
|
|
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2011, 07:20:53 PM » |
|
And bear with me as I explore virgin territory. Thank you for helping. Yes the small drive is PATA. PATA is 2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs What is the easiest way to determine the Kernel for the SATA?
If you know the release version you installed, that would tell us what kernel is present, if you didn't install a newer kernel. If you have more than one kernel on the SATA installation, you need to mount the SATA drive's PCLinuxOS / partition and list the contents of the /boot directory. To do that, you must first know which partition on the SATA drive is the PCLinuxOS / partition. Do you know? If so, pray tell us which it is. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Old-Polack Of what use be there for joy, if not for the sharing thereof? Lest we forget... |
|
|
|
Ray2047
|
|
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2011, 07:53:21 PM » |
|
Seems to be 2.633.7 Which makes sense because they were done at the same time now that I think about it. file:///boot/System.map
file:///boot/System.map-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
file:///boot/boot.backup.sda
file:///boot/boot.backup.sdb
file:///boot/config
file:///boot/config-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
file:///boot/gfxmenu
file:///boot/grub
file:///boot/initrd-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs.img
file:///boot/initrd.img
file:///boot/kernel.h
file:///boot/kernel.h-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
file:///boot/message-graphic
file:///boot/us.klt
file:///boot/vmlinuz
file:///boot/vmlinuz-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Old-Polack
Administrator
Hero Member
Offline
Posts: 9695
----IOFLU----
|
|
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2011, 08:34:17 PM » |
|
Seems to be 2.633.7 Which makes sense because they were done at the same time now that I think about it. file:///boot/System.map
file:///boot/System.map-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
file:///boot/boot.backup.sda
file:///boot/boot.backup.sdb
file:///boot/config
file:///boot/config-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
file:///boot/gfxmenu
file:///boot/grub
file:///boot/initrd-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs.img
file:///boot/initrd.img
file:///boot/kernel.h
file:///boot/kernel.h-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
file:///boot/message-graphic
file:///boot/us.klt
file:///boot/vmlinuz
file:///boot/vmlinuz-2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs
And the actual partition? |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Old-Polack Of what use be there for joy, if not for the sharing thereof? Lest we forget... |
|
|
|
Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM