Hello all:
I gotten myself into a corner.
My "intermediate" plan to make a 5TiB "technician's" drive that has, maybe
5 flavors of Linux,
a Windows Installer system (with all the "chocloately?" goodies, plus other "sweets") from XP to 10-2004(20H1?)
and 5 different kinds of PE enviros.
Plus.... a "daily driver" of Win 10 pro on a VHD(X?) (or 2Tib IMG,(or 50GiB IMG w/ some other IMG's) IF, I can get that on an EXT4 or BTRFS(partitionless?)),
Plus... a portableapps (and/or competitor's) platform that serves up all the programs portable-style, to all the different PE's, and the "daily driver" (most importantly OFFICE and VMWARE, VIRTBOX, and QEMU)
That most importantly, can be booted from BIOS or UEFI, on any computer I want....32 or 64 (maybe MAYBE SBC's like PI's or competitiors...)
...that I was going to call "Augie's SUPERDUPERBOOTDISK...." (ok. so it's not that original of a name....but...)
...has hit the proverbial WALL (OF KRYPTONITE) .....and got stuck.
...and I need somebody with a magic SPATULA....to scrape me off the wall....because I'm STUCK, man....
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Ok,
1st issue:
this 5 TB WD Easy Store. I got from Amazon. (Best Buy, through eBay...)
It's basically a "Made for Best Buy" retread of a WD MyPassport, with on the fly Encryption chip,
and instead of a usb3 Micro B to Sata, like normal....it's USB3 Micro B interface the whole way, on the drive's board. (maybe that's not necessarily a problem....but with the controversial SMR, instead of standard CMR? ehhh..........ugh!)
Ok, next issue:
Legacy BIOS (be it "lazy" detect or "Strict", (32, or even 64 bit)) and 4Kn Sectors.... don't mix.(that's what I've read, should I believe it?)
512e sectors might work, at the cost of WRITE speeds. But there's gotta be a better way than that....f'real!
Going hand in hand with that that issue, ISSUE 3....
Legacy and GPT....I have COMBED OVER at least three threads on here, concerning the different ways to boot GRUB or even G4D on a GPT Drive, from Legacy Boot.
I have read multiple mentions about Wonko's "Underfloppy" method, but I'm stumped on the DFSO/DFSI actions, and the procedures (BTW, why isn't the DFSO/DFSI files hosted HERE, in the downloads section?)
(Hey! It took me over 20 YEARS to get the hang of designing crude VBA Class Objects....it was just GREEK to me, and that was from a self taught C++ background...but I digress...)
I even went over to Rod's GPT FDISK site concerning Hybrid MBR's and even though he (and maybe all of you) don't recommend using them.... he did say a "Printf 'o/o/o....o" | dd of=dev=sdx...." maneuver can put a SECOND entry into the protective MBR, that can be seen from Legacy Bios as "Active" that wouldn't break UEFI/GPT specs, but it does cause trouble with LBA counts, and GDISK doesn't like it. (I can get the exact link up there if you like, if you haven't already seen it!)
And I was also reading about GPT partition type EF01 the MBR partition....and I can't find anything concrete on that.... what kind of partition IS that...and....would THAT work???
Also....of certain note.... Even if I configured this disk MBR style (with 512e) and put an active fat 32 boot partition onto it....My HP Pavillion 11 X360 (yeah....it was an ebay special, its what I'm working with....) with secure boot turned OFF and legacy boot turned ON ....
doesn't detect the drive when it's connected to the only USB3 port this computer has....
it only detects it when it's connected to USB2
(works....but such a bummer....could it be a POWER ISSUE 5v versus 12 V because of the size of the drive, that's the problem, HERE? or could it be because of "lazy" vs "strict" bios detection rules in this particular computer's Legacy Bios? Maybe "strict" when it's USB3 and "Lazy" when it's USB2?)
Anyway....I'm still trying to comb through the forum pages....If I can overcome THESE 3 or 4 main problems then I think I can overcome the rest, such as....
How to marry Steve6375's E2B Menu's and Screens with Ty Nguyen's AIO Boot Grub 2 Booting system, together...
maybe A1ive's UEFI boot system, or even Ventoy's (how long has Ventoy's page been down?)
if any of you need a blow-by-blow sequence of what I did...(with logs and hex outputs) and other things.... I'll be more than happy to provide it...
Anyway, looking forward to reaction from you guys....
(not necessarily looking forward to reactions of
'EGADS MAN! What horrors have you Brought our humble board?! Kill that abomination! Kill it with FIRE, NOW!'....
but would be accepted as the humor as I hope it would be (intended?) to be...on what's turning out to be quite an abomination....)
(BTW. if I should decide to kill this damnable abomination with fire....what should I cook over the roaring flame? S'mores? Steak? Turkey? Venison? Hot Dogs? Marinated Salmon? Shishkabob?? And what kind of Beer should I serve? Or maybe Wine....Chianti? Pinot? PORT? MD2020? (Hey! With this Crazy Year... MAD DOG 2020 is probably the most prudent drink to serve with this potential BBQ I'm considering doing with this.......THING....)
I await your response.
Sincerely,
KAPT BLASTO.
Edited by Kapt Blasto, 01 July 2020 - 05:16 PM.