PartitionMagic Question

I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically
"fix" the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it resides
during the rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the third
partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical partitions.
Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP partition
the first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically rewrite the
boot.ini file to make it point to the first partition so as to make
subsequent boot-ups possible?

Thanks,
Harvey

Harvey Gratt wrote:
I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically
"fix" the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it resides
during the rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the third
partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical partitions.
Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP partition
the first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically rewrite the
boot.ini file to make it point to the first partition so as to make
subsequent boot-ups possible?

Thanks,
Harvey

I wouldn't have thought so. You are in fact delting the boot.ini file
when you delete the first 2 partitions, so where will the boot.ini file
be? Deleted as well, I say.
You will have to create another boot.ini file on the same partition you
want to boot from.


--
Bob H
Leeds UK

Bob H wrote:

Harvey Gratt wrote:

I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically
"fix" the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it resides
during the rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the third
partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical partitions.
Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP
partition the first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically
rewrite the boot.ini file to make it point to the first partition so
as to make subsequent boot-ups possible?

Thanks,
Harvey


I wouldn't have thought so. You are in fact delting the boot.ini file
when you delete the first 2 partitions, so where will the boot.ini file
be? Deleted as well, I say.
You will have to create another boot.ini file on the same partition you
want to boot from.



I appear to be mis-understanding something. I thought the boot.ini file
resided in the "partition boot sector" which, in the original setup,
would have been located in the third partition (active, primary).

If not where does it reside? Are the "partition boot sector (PBS)",
boot.ini file always located at a specific location on the HDD - I
thought this was true only of the MBR, which in turn pointed to the PBS
(which is located at an arbitrary location). Is my understanding
incorrect - it would appear so.

Thanks,
Harvey

"Harvey Gratt" wrote in message
news
Bob H wrote:

Harvey Gratt wrote:

I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically "fix"
the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it resides during the
rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the third
partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical partitions.
Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP partition the
first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically rewrite the boot.ini file
to make it point to the first partition so as to make subsequent boot-ups
possible?

Thanks,
Harvey


I wouldn't have thought so. You are in fact delting the boot.ini file when
you delete the first 2 partitions, so where will the boot.ini file be?
Deleted as well, I say.
You will have to create another boot.ini file on the same partition you want
to boot from.



I appear to be mis-understanding something. I thought the boot.ini file
resided in the "partition boot sector" which, in the original setup, would
have been located in the third partition (active, primary).

If not where does it reside? Are the "partition boot sector (PBS)", boot.ini
file always located at a specific location on the HDD - I thought this was
true only of the MBR, which in turn pointed to the PBS (which is located at an
arbitrary location). Is my understanding incorrect - it would appear so.

Sounds comprehensively mangled to me.

The boot.ini file is a file in a particular partition, it wont even fit in a
PBS.

More likely something works out which is the bootable partition
on a particular physical drive and something works out where the
boot.ini is from that and reads it from the appropriate partition.

Dont know the answer to your original question, I'd personally
ghost the entire physical drive so you can recover gracefully
of PM didnt handle the deletion of the logical drives properly.
Cant see why it shouldnt.

Rod Speed wrote:

"Harvey Gratt" wrote in message
news
Bob H wrote:


Harvey Gratt wrote:


I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically "fix"
the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it resides during the
rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the third
partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical partitions.
Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP partition the
first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically rewrite the boot.ini file
to make it point to the first partition so as to make subsequent boot-ups
possible?

Thanks,
Harvey


I wouldn't have thought so. You are in fact delting the boot.ini file when
you delete the first 2 partitions, so where will the boot.ini file be?
Deleted as well, I say.
You will have to create another boot.ini file on the same partition you want
to boot from.



I appear to be mis-understanding something. I thought the boot.ini file
resided in the "partition boot sector" which, in the original setup, would
have been located in the third partition (active, primary).

If not where does it reside? Are the "partition boot sector (PBS)", boot.ini
file always located at a specific location on the HDD - I thought this was
true only of the MBR, which in turn pointed to the PBS (which is located at an
arbitrary location). Is my understanding incorrect - it would appear so.


Sounds comprehensively mangled to me.

The boot.ini file is a file in a particular partition, it wont even fit in a
PBS.

More likely something works out which is the bootable partition
on a particular physical drive and something works out where the
boot.ini is from that and reads it from the appropriate partition.

Dont know the answer to your original question, I'd personally
ghost the entire physical drive so you can recover gracefully
of PM didnt handle the deletion of the logical drives properly.
Cant see why it shouldnt.


I guess this gets down to understanding the boot process. My current
state of confusion is:

1. The MBR is read from a fixed location on the HDD.

2. The code in the MBR eventually points to a bootable partition (there
may be more than one, but I guess only one is active at a time) and
jumps to the PBS of the active partition.

3. Code in the PBS then starts to load the OS, eventually reading the
boot.ini file located in that partition's root directory (as you indicated)

4. Now, if the boot.ini file contains lines for mutiple OS's, a menu
appears. A selection here would then cause a jump to the approriate
partition for the loading of the selected OS.

My head hurts. Does the above seem correct? If not, what does happen?

Thanks,
Harvey

Harvey Gratt wrote:
Rod Speed wrote:

"Harvey Gratt" wrote in message
news
Bob H wrote:


Harvey Gratt wrote:


I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically
"fix" the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it
resides during the rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the
third partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical
partitions. Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third
partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP
partition the first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically
rewrite the boot.ini file to make it point to the first partition
so as to make subsequent boot-ups possible?

Thanks,
Harvey



I wouldn't have thought so. You are in fact delting the boot.ini
file when you delete the first 2 partitions, so where will the
boot.ini file be? Deleted as well, I say.
You will have to create another boot.ini file on the same partition
you want to boot from.



I appear to be mis-understanding something. I thought the boot.ini
file resided in the "partition boot sector" which, in the original
setup, would have been located in the third partition (active, primary).

If not where does it reside? Are the "partition boot sector (PBS)",
boot.ini file always located at a specific location on the HDD - I
thought this was true only of the MBR, which in turn pointed to the
PBS (which is located at an arbitrary location). Is my understanding
incorrect - it would appear so.



Sounds comprehensively mangled to me.

The boot.ini file is a file in a particular partition, it wont even
fit in a PBS.

More likely something works out which is the bootable partition
on a particular physical drive and something works out where the
boot.ini is from that and reads it from the appropriate partition.

Dont know the answer to your original question, I'd personally
ghost the entire physical drive so you can recover gracefully
of PM didnt handle the deletion of the logical drives properly.
Cant see why it shouldnt.

I guess this gets down to understanding the boot process. My current
state of confusion is:

1. The MBR is read from a fixed location on the HDD.

2. The code in the MBR eventually points to a bootable partition (there
may be more than one, but I guess only one is active at a time) and
jumps to the PBS of the active partition.

3. Code in the PBS then starts to load the OS, eventually reading the
boot.ini file located in that partition's root directory (as you indicated)

4. Now, if the boot.ini file contains lines for mutiple OS's, a menu
appears. A selection here would then cause a jump to the approriate
partition for the loading of the selected OS.

My head hurts. Does the above seem correct? If not, what does happen?

Thanks,
Harvey

Where is NTLDR? Which partition is that on?

--
Bob H
Leeds UK

"Harvey Gratt" wrote in message
...
Rod Speed wrote:

"Harvey Gratt" wrote in message
news
Bob H wrote:


Harvey Gratt wrote:


I'm trying to verify whether PartitionMagic 8.01 will automatically "fix"
the boot.ini file and the partition boot sector where it resides during the
rearrangement of disk partitions.

Specifically, say I have an XP primary, active partition as the third
partition on my HDD. The first two partitions are logical partitions.
Initially, the boot.ini file would point to the third partition.

If I now delete the first two partitions so as to make the XP partition the
first partition, will PartitionMagic automatically rewrite the boot.ini
file to make it point to the first partition so as to make subsequent
boot-ups possible?

Thanks,
Harvey


I wouldn't have thought so. You are in fact delting the boot.ini file when
you delete the first 2 partitions, so where will the boot.ini file be?
Deleted as well, I say.
You will have to create another boot.ini file on the same partition you want
to boot from.



I appear to be mis-understanding something. I thought the boot.ini file
resided in the "partition boot sector" which, in the original setup, would
have been located in the third partition (active, primary).

If not where does it reside? Are the "partition boot sector (PBS)", boot.ini
file always located at a specific location on the HDD - I thought this was
true only of the MBR, which in turn pointed to the PBS (which is located at
an arbitrary location). Is my understanding incorrect - it would appear so.


Sounds comprehensively mangled to me.

The boot.ini file is a file in a particular partition, it wont even fit in a
PBS.

More likely something works out which is the bootable partition
on a particular physical drive and something works out where the
boot.ini is from that and reads it from the appropriate partition.

Dont know the answer to your original question, I'd personally
ghost the entire physical drive so you can recover gracefully
of PM didnt handle the deletion of the logical drives properly.
Cant see why it shouldnt.

I guess this gets down to understanding the boot process. My current state of
confusion is:

1. The MBR is read from a fixed location on the HDD.

Yes, the first physical sector on the drive.

2. The code in the MBR eventually points to a bootable partition

More strictly there is only one active primary dos partition.
Thats the one that is booted.

(there may be more than one, but I guess only one is active at a time)

Correct.

and jumps to the PBS of the active partition.

Correct.

3. Code in the PBS then starts to load the OS, eventually reading the boot.ini
file located in that partition's root directory (as you indicated)

Correct, tho it doesnt necessarily have to be in the root directory in theory.

4. Now, if the boot.ini file contains lines for mutiple OS's, a menu appears.
A selection here would then cause a jump to the approriate partition for the
loading of the selected OS.

Correct.

My head hurts.

You only need to worry if you are getting brown smelly stuff
dripping from your ears. Unfortunately if you are, its too late.

Does the above seem correct?

Yes.

If not, what does happen?