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HOWTO: Format a MBR Partition as Super Floppy (f)or emulate a Multiboot-USB-Stick ?

tweak partition emulate usb drive

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#1 @thehop

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Posted 05 December 2018 - 01:33 PM

Hello (sorry for my googletranslate-english) -_-

WISH: I would like to copy/clone a multi-boot USB stick created with YUMI to a primary partition and start directly from it.

STATUS QUO: I have the USB stick cloned on the partition (with DiskGenius) and set to Active,
But then get only a "Boot error" when booting the system. Create directly would also work,
but YUMI deletes the MBR of the hard disk and it does not work then either.

QUESTION: Is it possible (on Windows 7) format ONLY ONE primary partition

in a kind of removable disk or to convert super floppy to boot from it (via boot manager)?

Thanks in advance :)



#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 05 December 2018 - 02:47 PM

About the WISH and STATUS QUO, maybe you haven't it "cloned" but "deployed".

 

I don't know how the terms would convert back to German, but essentially a clone is an EXACT copy, a deployed image is a copy ADAPTED to the destination.

 

If the  latter is the case, then you will have to "refresh" or "recreate" the ldlinux.sys, see the YUMI FAQ, I just posted yesterday this info:

http://reboot.pro/to...izing/?p=208446

 

I am not understanding the question, however, can you try to expand on it?

 

:duff:

Wonko



#3 @thehop

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Posted 05 December 2018 - 03:27 PM

Hi, thanks for the informative Link!

 

PRACTICAL: I would like to bring the finished multiboot stick to the faster hard disk partition (SSD).

 

AS: a rescue and simple test partition for Linux Live ISOs. Easily remove and add ISOs with YUMI.

NOW: I will "clone" the whole USB stick again, I think I did not copy the MBR (?), Just the PBR from the stick.

I'll go on ...

 

ciao meanwhile


Edited by @thehop, 05 December 2018 - 03:34 PM.


#4 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 05 December 2018 - 04:00 PM

NOW: I will "clone" the whole USB stick again, I think I did not copy the MBR (?), Just the PBR from the stick.

You cannot copy the MBR too (or you will effectively re-partition the target).

You need to copy (not "clone", "deploy" - provided that the tool you are using allows that) the volume, then adapt the data in the MBR, PBR to the new location on target and finally rebuild the ldlinux.sys.

Folow me for a moment.

Imagine that the USB stick is only 1,000,000 sectors in size.
When you use YUMI on it, it will make a MBR with a partition entry for a FAT32 filesystem starting on sector LBA 63 and size 995967 sectors (or whatever below 1,000,000 that respects CHS boundaries).
The PBR of the filesystem will have as data 63 sectors before and 995967 sectors in size.
The ldlinux.sys will contain similar data.

Now if you "clone" the "whole stick", it will overwrite everything (up to 1,000,000 sectors) on the target.
The "target" will likely work but will have only one partition (and any partition that was there before will be lost).

If you instead "clone" the "volume" only, the area on target might be EITHER:
1) exactly the same addresses (which implies that among the other partitions you already created one starting on LBA 63 and 995967 sectors in size)
2) different addresses, let's say starting at LBA 2,134,598 (and possibly enlarging it to 3,148,875 sectors)

If #1 everything should be OK, BUT the Disk Signature will be different (cannot say if this is relevant to the booting), possibly you will need to recreate/refresh the ldlinux.sys anyway
If #2 you need to:
a. have the different target addresses as a valid partition entry in the MBR
b. correct the start address (and the size if you changed it during the "clone"/"deploy") in the PBR to reflect the new, different address to which you wrote the "volume" or "superfloppy"
c. recreate/refresh the ldlinux.sys

It is entirely possible that the software that you are using is capable of doing a. and b. above automagically, but surely it won't do c. that has anyway to be done manually.

In the worst case you will need to do all the steps a., b. and c. manually.

I hope I made the matter a little bit clearer. :unsure:

:duff:
Wonko

#5 @thehop

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Posted 05 December 2018 - 10:26 PM

Wow, so much of the ''real hard stuff'' - thanks a lot!  :blink:

 

hmm, maybe i'm try it ... later on ...  I'm old, but i'm still a basic computer user

- and so I'm looking for automated things, like YUMI ... ;o]

 

FIRST ATTEMPT: I rebuild the PBR of the SSD Partition with BOOTICE to an BootMgr Boot Record ...

 

dz9t5xg5mn7ai3ux2.gif

 

And then, I copied the BOOT folder of my W7 System Partition to this Partition

and only the Hirens W10PE64 Folders from the YUMI-Stick - and adapted the BCD with BootICE ... and IT WORKS :)

 

PS: Additionally I use the BOOTUS Bootmanager.

 

That's enough, first off.

 

 

ciao


Edited by @thehop, 05 December 2018 - 10:35 PM.






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