Adding another OS using Grub4DOS

Bernard:

That's unexpected to have DD be able to view the 256-inode partition for you, and not for Paul. Maybe its an issue of shared dlls and files between TI and DD and the order in which they are installed.

This is from the Grub4DOS changelog:

Code:

2008-06-28 fixed ext3-inode-size issue in grldr boot sector and bootlace.inc.
2008-06-24 fixed "256-byte ext3 inode size" issue in fsys_ext2fs.c.

At least this confirms that the problem has been fixed in Grub4DOS. So in theory you could download the latest version from the link in post #21 and unzip it. You only need to copy the file grldr to your VistaPE partition and then Grub4DOS should be able to understand 256-inode ext3 partitions.

 

Mark and Paul:

As I've finally, and with your help managed to get this old laptop booting XP, Mandriva and VistaPE satisfactorily I shall now leave Grub in place, but I've downloaded the latest version of Grub4DOS in case I should need it on the desktop.

For the present though Vista remains the OS of choice on the desktop, with Grub4DOS as bootloader, and a VM (VirtualBox) to give me quick access to XP and Linux systems.

I don't have the need to come here that often, but each time I do I come away with a stack of understanding I didn't have before with which I can impress the folk back home. So please don't go away

 

No can do it seems Mark. Mandriva insists on reformatting first before doing the live install. This is a bit of a pain, as TI can only do sector-by-sector backups with the 256 byte inode format.

Or am I missing the point here?

Bernard

 

I'm not familiar with Mandriva, but Kubuntu has a few different versions of its installer available. The LiveCD version is automatic and will format the partitions during the install, like it or not. But they also have what's called an "Alternate Install" CD, which gives the user lots of choices during the install process. Does Mandriva have something similar?

 

not a downloadable version as far as I can see.

 

Bernard:

I took a look at the online docs for Mandriva 2009. It appears that there is only one version distributed, but the installer does allow you to use existing partitions. Take a look here at this part of the installation manual. You would choose "Use Existing Partitions" and then specify the mount points for the partitions that you set up and formatted previously with Disk Director. From your previous posts, it looks like you had three Linux partitions, so they would be / (root), /home, and /swap probably. Point the installer to each of these partitions and make sure that you don't let it format the partitions.

 

That's exactly how it goes, except it wouldn't let me proceed without formatting the root partition.

I've just finished a clean install and backed it up, but I'd love to get this aspect sorted. I'll have another go, DVD drive permitting!

 

I found this on the Mandriva forum, and it doesn't look encouraging:

You could also look at the advanced options in DiskDrake to see if you can get any control over the installer. If there is no way around this, then avoid formatting your /home and /swap partitions when you install and just let the installer go ahead and format the root partition.

With Linux there are always multiple ways to skin a cat. You can't easily do this in Windows but I've done it before with Linux. You need the capability to run a Live Linux distribution from your laptop so that you can work on the Mandriva root partition when it is not in use, and you need a place to store a couple of GB worth of files (USB hard disk, USB flash drive, etc). Here's the basic idea:

1. Boot to a Live Linux CD. If your Mandriva install disk does not allow booting into a Live version, use Knoppix, Ubuntu, etc. Live CDs.
2. (sudo fdisk -l) to determine the device numbers of the Mandriva partitions on your hard disk. The root partition was /dev/sda5 on a previous post of yours.
3. Mount the root partition (sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt).
4. Copy all of the files from the mounted root partition to a storage device. You can mass copy the entire partition into a gzip archive if you look up the command syntax for gzip, or perhaps you can do it graphically with drag and drop from Konqueror or the file manager.
4. Reboot to DD and delete the root partition. Reformat it as ext3 to get 128-byte inodes
5. Back to the Live Linux CD. Remount the root partition.
6. Copy all of the root files back to the partition, or expand the gzip archive to the root partition. Unmount the partition (sudo umount /mnt)
7. Boot to Mandriva

If this all fails spectacularly you may be stuck with 256-byte inodes. I can't find a word about this on the Mandriva forums, other than acknowledgement that this is the format the installer uses when creating partitions. If I got you all messed up then restore the partition from one of your TI images.

 

Wow! Reading that I don't think I'll bother trying another live install, as it's just going to go the same way again. I do have everything backed up so am happy to try anything. When/if I can get my head around what you are suggesting Mark I'll give it a whirl.

Let you know.

 

Mark:

Finally managed to boot from CD, but the copying process has stopped with the message

"The file or folder /mnt/boot/kernel.h does not exist"

with options to Skip or Cancel.

Don't know much about Linux but I believe the copying process starts by creating all the folders on the target and then copies the files across, so that error looks pretty fundamental to me.

I might try using TI for this, by first imaging the root partition, then formatting with DD, and then using TI to copy all the files back. This would avoid the problem of this dysfunctional CD drive too.

Late Edit - Trying to use TI to restore all files and folders to the DD formatted partition TI says the partition is corrupted and unreadable. Looks as if Ext3 128 and 256 inode partitions are incompatible. A normal image restore from the same image works fine. Or perhaps you can't restore selected files and folders from a sector-by-sector image??

 

What method are you using to copy? The file kernel.h is the hex source code for the Linux kernel, and most Linux distributions would not keep this file in the /boot directory because it is fairly large, so I suspect that they instead keep a symbolic link to the file. Perhaps your copy program is unable to deal with symlinks.

I would expect this behavior since TI cannot decode ext3 with 256-byte inodes.

Maybe you can try the compressed archive approach using the Linux command tar. The syntax is described here. It is kind of the same principle as TI but at the file level. This is something I've done previously on a root partition to create a backup and restore it. This first command will create a compressed backup file. Let's assume that you are running from a Live Linux CD that can read your hard disk, you've mounted the Mandriva root partition at /mnt and that you've plugged in a USB hard disk as a destination for your archive file, and it got mounted as /media/sdb1:

Code:

sudo tar -cvzf /media/sdb1/mybackup.tar /mnt/*

should create the backup archive from the contents of everything (*) in the folder /mnt (your mounted Mandriva partition) to the file "mybackup.tar" on a USB hard disk that is at /media/sdb1. The command's options mean the following:

After you have the file you should be able to view its contents. With KDE you can use the archive viewer Ark and just click through the archive structure to view its contents to assure yourself that you have a complete backup.

After reformatting your Mandriva root partition to ext3 with 128-byte inodes, reboot into the Live Linux CD and mount the partition at /mnt/ again. Restore the archive with:

Code:

cd /mnt
sudo tar -xvzf /media/sdb1/mybackup.tar

where the -x option means extract. The archive file will be expanded and all of the files in the archive should be put back in the right places. At this point you should be able to browse through the /mnt folder and see the structure of the Mandriva root partition.

Reboot to Mandriva to test. If successful you can convert the /home partition the same way. Simply recreating /swap with DD should be sufficient unless Mandriva does what Ubuntu is doing and uses UUIDs to refer to the swap partition instead of the more-common /dev/sdax notation. Post back if that happens - the symptom would be that the laptop will hibernate OK but will reboot instead of resuming from hibernation.

 

KDE4 has a new file manager, Dolphin, which is like My Computer and My Network Places all rolled into one. I ran that as su, and apart from this kernel.h problem it was running fine.

All it had been asked to do was copy files, one by one, from a sector-by-sector image of a 256 byte inode partition to a newly formatted 128 byte inode partition. You are sure this shouldn't work? I ask because it seems this DVD drive is truly down and out, and TI offered what I see as my only hope here. Your other suggestions all require the ability to boot or read CDs, which seems to be a thing of the past. The drive is not replaceable, and there is no compatible alternative.

 

Were you running Dolphin from a LiveCD or from your installed Mandriva distribution? The file system that you are copying cannot be in use while making the copy, so this must be done from a LiveCD.

Therein lies the problem. Since TI can't decode ext3 with 256-byte inodes, it can't read the files that you are trying to copy. The sectors are there and TI could restore them when doing a partition restore, but it can't decode the files.

Does your laptop boot from USB devices? You could put a Live Linux distro on a bootable USB flash drive, or you could put it on a bootable USB hard disk and boot it from Grub4DOS. Or, could you borrow an external USB optical drive?

Probably the best solution would be if Acronis adds support for ext3 with 256-byte inodes to their products. I'm not sure why many Linux distributions are switching their default format, but it probably has something to do with the proliferation of huge hard disks and the need to deal with a gazillion files on the disk.

 

Yes, I was copying while running the installed version, as unable to boot to CD. Didn't have any choice and had to hope that Dolphin could do what TI and Ghost can do and copy from a live system.

The only boot options this machine has are CD, HD, and LAN. Never looked at LAN, might it help here?

I suppose I should replace the laptop, but as its main function is remotely controlling the main PC when I'm somewhere else, and as it can do that just fine, and as it cost me a bomb I'm a bit reluctant. Installing Mandriva was just a diversion, though I must admit I'm quite impressed by it, and enjoying discovering Linux.

Thnx for all the help Mark.

 

That makes sense. The file system probably locked the file and wouldn't allow access.

I didn't realize that. Since you mentioned restoring with TI, I just assumed that you had a way to boot to the TI recovery environment; it didn't occur to me that you were doing all of this from the Windows version of TI. Doesn't that mean that if you need to restore your Windows partition some day then you may have a problem getting the Acronis recovery disk booted? If replacing the CD drive is out of the question then you might consider getting one of those adapter cables that lets you connect a laptop hard disk to a USB input. You could then connect the disk to your desktop machine and have a go at restoring the disk, should it prove necessary.

You're quite welcome. Yes, learning Linux is highly recommended. You will discover many tools that will let you do almost anything to your Windows machine after you figure them out.

 

It isn't quite like that. I've got a VistaPE partition with TI and DD that I use to manage, backup and restore both Windows and Linux, and just now and again I can get the DVD drive to boot or read. Depends on the disk mostly, but even on a 'good' disk it often won't play ball.

 

Paul or Mark:

I want to try this but can't fathom how to install it as there is no grubinst executable.

Bernard

 

Bernard:

You should be able to just replace the file grldr on your disk with the newer version from the zip file.

Also, have you seen this post from Acronis Support? This should solve your issue with using TI to back up your Mandriva partitions.

 

Mark:

Sounds simple enough, thanks

Good news about DD, but it's a bit much if they aren't intending a new build for TI 11. That's forcing users of earlier versions to upgrade.

Bernard