[Discussion] DOS Critical Error

Fri Sep 4 02:13:36 PDT 2009

Tom,

My understanding is that the BIOS only knows about the Boot sector.  The 
starting address of partitions, etc. are put in the Boot sector by the OS 
when it Formats a disc.  I challenge you to show me a function in any BIOS 
that will define a partition.

Brad
================================================
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Thomas Clayton" <topcatdrc at yahoo.com>
To: "POSSI Discussion List" <discussion at lists.possi.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 8:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Discussion] DOS Critical Error

Brad,

Almost correct. Because the hard disk isn't YET setup for an OS to operate 
from, there HAS TO BE functions in the BIOS that can be told WHERE to put 
down "markers" for partition beginnings and endings. On 'modern' (more 
recent than 2002 (?)) computers, there are interrupt 13 eXtensions (INT13X) 
that allow HDDs that are > 8GB (using Logical Block Addressing (LBA)) to be 
addressed and, so, "marked".

For those who'd like to "read up" on these things, I recommend,
Thompson,? and Fritchman-Thompson,?; _PC Hardware in a Nutshell_ (Third 
Edition); O'Reilly and Assoc.s.

Now, whether those "markers" are the IBM(R,C) FDISK scheme to "break up" a 
HDD into volumes OR their later LVM scheme OR some other scheme  (supposedly 
MS has created something that Apple also uses these days on their Intel 
based systems) doesn't matter. The partition software, traditionally, has 
been part of the OS.

(I, personally, DO wish that later versions (eCS) of OS/2 COULD use a purely 
FDISK type of scheme. Just my preference for tried and true ways of doing 
things.)

Sincerely,,

Thomas Clayton

--- On Thu, 9/3/09, Brad Montroy <brad at montroy.info> wrote:

> From: Brad Montroy <brad at montroy.info>
> Subject: Re: [Discussion] DOS Critical Error
> To: "POSSI Discussion List" <discussion at lists.possi.org>
> Date: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 9:10 PM
> Felmon, you're wrong. The BIOS
> has nothing to do with partitions. Partitions are created
> and controlled by the Operating System.
>
> In regard to DOS, my memory is uncertain also, but I seem
> to remember that 4 primary partition are possible, and in
> the Extended partition you can have a hundred partitions if
> you want. There is no limit there, except for the size
> and disk space available. There has to be at least one
> primary partition to boot from. And yes, there is a
> limit on the size of partitions in both Fat 16 and Fat
> 32. I don't remember the numbers, but Fat 32 was a
> larger limit.
>
> Brad Montroy
> ===============================================================================
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Felmon Davis" <davisf at union.edu>
> To: "POSSI Discussion List" <discussion at lists.possi.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 2:41 PM
> Subject: Re: [Discussion] DOS Critical Error
>
>
> On Thu, 3 Sep 2009, Carl Gehr wrote:
>
> > One more question: Doesn't DOS have a maximum
> partition size?
> > I know I have had to create a small partition [FAT16]
> to install
> > some old Win16 programs because even with an empty,
> but larger
> > drive, the installer says there's not enough space.
> >
> > I don't know what the number is, but I'm sure there
> are problems
> > with a size greater than 'n...nMB'.
> >
> > Carl
>
> everyone is referring to 'DOS' but I thought the limitation
> is due to
> the BIOS of PCs. I believe there are 4 primary partitions
> though
> maybe it's 3 and one extended. not sure.
>
> if it's a BIOS limitation then it doesn't just apply to
> DOS.
>
> maybe people means something special by 'DOS'. I just think
> of it as a
> disk operating system. I assume one would get a similar
> error in
> Windows, Linux or OS-X.
>
> please instruct me if I am wrong!
>
> Felmon
>
> > On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 14:03:11 -0700 (PDT), Thomas
> Clayton wrote:
> >
> > >Brian,
> > >
> > >Firstly, Is it an 800 GB or an 80 GB. (Wow. How
> things have GROWN!)
> > >
> > >Secondly, HOW did you partition the drive? (LVM,
> Part'n. Magic,
> > > Part'n
> Manager)
> > >
> > >Thirdly, Besides the Boot Manager partition which
> HAS TO BE a Primary,
> > > what
> type/kind are the others.
> > >(Is there an EXTENDED boundary into which some fit
> and are, therefore, >LOGICAL drives?)
> > >
> > >Lastly, you're using 'only' 16-17GBs of an 800MB
> drive. Is that what you >bought it for? (to waste
> space?) ;-)
> > >
> > >Thomas Clayton
> > >
> > >
> > >--- On Thu, 9/3/09, Brian Grawburg <grawburg at myglnc.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >> From: Brian Grawburg <grawburg at myglnc.com>
> > >> Subject: [Discussion] DOS Critical Error
> > >> To: "POSSI" <discussion at lists.possi.org>
> > >> Date: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 9:39 AM
> > >> I have an 800 GB HD partial
> > >> partitioned.
> > >> 7.8 MB (Boot Mgr)
> > >> 502 MB
> > >> 3757 MB
> > >> 6000 MB
> > >> 6000 MB
> > >>
> > >> I am able to make folders in the last 6K
> partition and
> > >> could write some data to it. Now I get this
> error when I try
> > >> to save data
> > >> into new folders I made. DOS Critical Error,
> cannot
> > >> find [here is the folder name]. Anyone
> understand
> > >> what's going on?
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discussion mailing list
> > Discussion at lists.possi.org
> > http://lists.possi.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
> >
>
> -- Felmon Davis
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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