mbr and boot question

[Lee]

Tony Alfrey wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> Presently, I boot several partitions and several SCSI disks all from a 
> single disk that uses Boot Magic (a chain loader).  I assume that Boot 
> Magic resides in the MBR of the boot disk.  I then cut to windhose or 
> LILO on other partitions and other disks.  My assumption is that LILO 
> is installed in the boot sectors (not the MBR) of the "other" 
> partitions/disks. 
> Is it therefore possible that there is nothing at all in the MBR of the 
> "other" disks?
> (I ask because I want to experiment with an all LILO system starting 
> with a different disk as the boot disk.)
> Thanks in advance.

I've built as many as four Linux and one win 98 system on a single box. 
The mbr, as I understand it is THE MASTER BOOT REGISTRY. All boots sent 
to in are stored there and can be accessed by 1) Partition Magic/Boot 
Magic if it's run after the install or 2) using the dusl boot 
characterists of Linux and instll the boot in the mbr when asked. 
Usually the last system (linux) will end up as the default boot menu and 
you can pick from there. The success of this varies with the Linux 
system that is default. SuSE for example usuallt can't find anything but 
itself and win . Mandrake about half the time will find the other Linux 
systems in the distro in the mbr. But, for 100% success try installing 
something Caldera 2.4 or Redmond (Lycoris). The Csldera bootloader (also 
used by Redmond) is very very aggressive and will find everything in the 
mbr and list it on its default menu. It will even snap up boot loaders 
on Boot Magic and add them to its own boot menu. I installed the Redmond 
boot loader on hdb1 and it snapped up the mbr on hda and added its 
bootloaders to its own and set itself up as the default menu. So, if one 
of your expermintal Linux system is Redmond or Caldera install it last 
and all your boot problem will be solved. One word of caution. When the 
Linux installers ask if you want a boot disk answer yes. Also make up a 
backup boot disk for Boot Magic.

Lee
> 
>