[comp.unix.i386] copying 5.25 boot disk to 3.5

eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) (02/15/90)

does anyone know how to copy a 5.25 boot disk to 3.5???
i'm going crazy with this Zenith 386 machine!  it must have the 3.5
drive as primary, unless i get a special cable.

"dd" can copy 5.25 to 3.5 media, but how to deal with the boot track?
is there a special blocksize necessary???




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hchen@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (H. Chen) (02/16/90)

In article <1688@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> eli@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes:
>does anyone know how to copy a 5.25 boot disk to 3.5???
>i'm going crazy with this Zenith 386 machine!  it must have the 3.5
>drive as primary, unless i get a special cable.
>
>"dd" can copy 5.25 to 3.5 media, but how to deal with the boot track?
>is there a special blocksize necessary???

Can you find some system which can be booted from your 5.25 disk and have
3.5 disk driver tied to it?  If you can find one, boot from your 5.25 disk.  
Then format/s your 3.5 disk and then transfer the files from the 5.25 disk
to the 3.5 disk.  (The problem is that many systems don't boot from a lower
lever dos.)

I did this way for dos 2.0 (or 2.1?) disk.  The 3.5 disk was formated
into 360k.

(Another way to do it, if there is nothing about system files, you may try
to use PC Copy II.  I am not sure if it works or not for the system files.)

Huijie

jackv@turnkey.gryphon.COM (Jack F. Vogel) (02/16/90)

In article <35947@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> hchen@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (H. Chen) writes:
>In article <1688@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> eli@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes:
>>does anyone know how to copy a 5.25 boot disk to 3.5???
>>i'm going crazy with this Zenith 386 machine!  it must have the 3.5
>>drive as primary, unless i get a special cable.
>>
>>"dd" can copy 5.25 to 3.5 media, but how to deal with the boot track?
>>is there a special blocksize necessary???
 
[ suggestion to simply copy files deleted.....]
 
>I did this way for dos 2.0 (or 2.1?) disk.  The 3.5 disk was formated
>into 360k.
 
??HUH?? I don't think we are talking about dos here. I would suggest you
refrain from posting when you don't understand what you are talking about.

The following courtesy Piercarlo Grandi (I think you're right Piercarlo, we
DO need a frequently asked questions monthly posting, I just wouldn't want to
be responsible!!):

Piercarlo writes:
->
->The usual answer is RTFM. A bootable floppy, be it any density,
->size, whatever, has the first track that contains the bootstrap
->(finding the file in /etc that contains the floppy bootstrap is
->left as an exercise to the reader), and the remaining tracks
->contain a filesystem, into which you can put what you want, but
->usually a miniscule root.
->
->The device files /dev/*dsk/f*t (i.e. those ending in 't') will
->give access to the entire floppy, first track inclusive, the
->other will only let you access from the second track onwards.
->
->If you want to duplicate a bootable floppy, just use the device file
->that ends in 't' (/dev/rdsk/f0t will work almost always).
->
->If you want to create a bootable floppy, just copy the boostrap file
->onto the device file that maps the entire floppy, and then mkfs and
->fill the rest. For example:
->
->	cp /etc/flboot /dev/dsk/f0t
->	mkfs /dev/rdsk/f0 <size>:<inodes> <gap> <cylsize>
->	labelit/dev/rdsk/f0 install flop
->	mount /dev/dsk/f0 /install
->	find <miniroot> -depth -print | cpio -pdlmuav /install
->

Disclaimer: These are my opinions, not my employer's

-- 
Jack F. Vogel			jackv@seas.ucla.edu
AIX Technical Support	              - or -
Locus Computing Corp.		jackv@ifs.umich.edu

pabres13@pc.usl.edu (Joubert John V.) (02/17/90)

In article <1688@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> eli@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) writes:
>does anyone know how to copy a 5.25 boot disk to 3.5???
>i'm going crazy with this Zenith 386 machine!  it must have the 3.5
>drive as primary, unless i get a special cable.
>
	Use copyiipc 5.0 to do it for you.  I used this on a friend's
printshop program.  She had bought the program to use on her ps/2 but it
only came with 5.25 floppy, and it would not run off of her drive B.  It
wanted to be booted from drive a: (at least until I could use the hard
drive installation program that came with it).
	The copy created by copyiipc on 3.5 in disk worked fine on drive
A:, we were able to boot from it and install the program.
	I bought copyiipc from Telemart for a paltry $18.



--
John Joubert                                      |  /\  |    /\    |     _ 
Internet: pabres13@usl-pc.usl.edu                 |  \|<>|>|> \|<>|>|><`|`|
GENIE: J.JOUBERT                                  |--/|-------/|------------
                                                  |  \/       \/

cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) (02/17/90)

In article <6716@turnkey.gryphon.COM> jackv@turnkey.gryphon.COM writes:
>The following courtesy Piercarlo Grandi (I think you're right Piercarlo, we
>DO need a frequently asked questions monthly posting, I just wouldn't want to
>be responsible!!):

Ok.  I'll bit the bullet.  I volunteer myself as the initial keeper of the
frequently asked questions for the comp.unix.i386 group.  How about
suggestions for questions and/or answers to include.



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