31 replies to this topic

[Sha0]

Now, I made first partition NTFS and second FAT32.

Did anyone suggest that you put the NTFS first and the FAT32 second? Did anyone suggest that you put the FAT32 first and the NTFS second?

The disc boot directly to my menu.lst
and give me all my menu choices. All apps works as they supposed to.
Now I put new title in menu.lst like this (my goal is to boot the grub4dos from FAT32 partition):

If you are already using GRUB4DOS, you don't need to boot another GRUB4DOS.

title Boot FAT32 USB

rootnoverify (hd0,1)

# makeactive

chainloader +1

If you are already running GRUB4DOS, you can simply load a different MENU.LST. How about:

title FAT32 Menu

  root (hd0,1)

  configfile /menu.lst

makeactive is commented because I'm not sure do I need it because in this way I got menu.lst
from FAT32 partition.

I don't think you need to particularly worry about changing the active partition. Since you are using GRUB4DOS, you can boot whatever you want on whatever partition you want.

My first question is: is this right way to do it?

Well... I don't understand why you'd want to do GRUB4DOS -> GRUB4DOS. I also don't understand why you put the NTFS partition first.

Second question is: my apps from menu.lst (it's the same one as on the NTFS partition) execute even if .iso files are on the NTFS partition and none on FAT32. Is that how it's supposed to be or not? I thought that I'll need to have the .iso files on the FAT32 partition if I wan't to start them from there.

It doesn't matter which partition they are on. GRUB4DOS can access them from the NTFS or from the FAT32 partition.

On my FAT32 partition I made similar menu.lst entry (the goal is to return to grub4dos on NTFS partition):

title Boot NTFS USB

rootnoverify (hd0,0)

# makeactive

chainloader +1

Or you could do:

title NTFS Menu

  root (hd0,0)

  configfile /menu.lst

And when executed I'm not going directly to menu.lst from NTFS partition but first
I'm given choices from boot.ini. Why I didn't have this when I executed it to boot to FAT32 partition?

You have to understand what these commands do. chainloader +1 will load the boot sector from whatever partition you set as the root partition.

Power on -> USB HDD MBR -> NTFS partition boot sector -> NTLDR -> BOOT.INI -> GRUB4DOS

From there, when you choose the FAT32, you are doing: GRUB4DOS -> FAT32 partition boot sector -> whatever

When you are going back to the NTFS, you are doing: GRUB4DOS -> NTFS partition boot sector -> NTLDR -> BOOT.INI

That is part of why I suggest not doing so much chaining. If you're running GRUB4DOS already, why not:

Power on -> USB HDD MBR -> NTFS partition boot sector -> NTLDR -> BOOT.INI -> GRUB4DOS

GRUB4DOS -> FAT32 menu

GRUB4DOS -> NTFS menu

[tonyzg]

Did anyone suggest that you put the NTFS first and the FAT32 second? Did anyone suggest that you put the FAT32 first and the NTFS second?


If you are already using GRUB4DOS, you don't need to boot another GRUB4DOS.

I know all of you suggested the contrary and your reply made many thing much clearer to me now. I thought that when you change partition you loose Grub4dos and have to boot to it again. So I choose NTFS as first partition because I'm using my NTFS menu.lst apps 95% of time. But since you expleined everything now I know where my main error was so I'm gonna do as you masters all said.

Thanks for all your help I'm feeling that I made one big step in understanding Grub4dos with all your help guys
(especially Wonko and Sha0). Reading manual can't replace a good teacher

So back to work. I'll let you know did I made it work as I wanted to.

Edited by tonyzg, 22 March 2011 - 01:45 PM.

[Wonko the Sane]

Reading manual can't replace a good teacher

Sure , but was the actual manual READ before?


Wonko

[tonyzg]

Sure , but was the actual manual READ before?


Wonko

I knew someone will ask that I did read it but not completely. I jumped
through it in search of answer so I probably confused myself in that way. It is realy
much easier to learn if someone just point you in right direction.

Edited by tonyzg, 22 March 2011 - 03:26 PM.

[Greg Zeng]

The last one Wonko suggested

1.Connect your USB hard disk.



2.Open Disk Management and delete each and every partition now on it.



3.Create a new partition SMALLER that 8 Gb and format it as either FAT32 or NTFS.



4.Make it Active



5.Give it a senceful name, like "BOOT"



6.Leave the rest of the disk EMPTY.



7.Exit disk management.



8.Copy to the newly created partition ONLY:



•NTLDR



•NTDETECT.COM



•BOOT.INI

What version of BIOS you have on that PC?

Agree ... but ...

Win7 partition should not be formatted as NTFS-COMPRESSED. The above 3 files will destroy the partition if compressed. However, other than the 3 files, you can NTFS every other folder and file. Do this in SAFE mode is better, cos more files are in this faster reading, smaller disk space format.

[Greg Zeng]

Not yet mentioned - not all the USB sockets on my netbooks & notebooks are the same. Often I use a USB-port expander (into 2, 4 or 6 USB ports, with or without external power supply).

Even if I have just one USB plug into one USB socket, I find the USB sockets different. Some work all thee time, others seem to not work with a particular device.

This is not mentioned in the docs. All the USB sockets look the same, but they do not behave the same.

[Wonko the Sane]

Not yet mentioned - not all the USB sockets on my netbooks & notebooks are the same. Often I use a USB-port expander (into 2, 4 or 6 USB ports, with or without external power supply).

Even if I have just one USB plug into one USB socket, I find the USB sockets different. Some work all thee time, others seem to not work with a particular device.

This is not mentioned in the docs. All the USB sockets look the same, but they do not behave the same.

Correct.
Basically the experience (on desktops) is that "back" sockets (the ones directly soldered to the motherboard) do work whilst "front" ones or those connected to the motherboard through a cable often do not.
It seems like on a USB multi-hub motherboard there is in some cases a "good" hub and a "bad" one.

I never thought that the same could happen on netbook/notebooks, good to know.

Using external hubs when booting has traditionally been a no-no.


Wonko