🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 23:54:40 +0000, John Moore wrote:
 
> Im non to fond of Micro$haft's products either, but until Linsux can run
> ALL the software I use and is guranteed not to nuke my hard drive's
> partition table and MBR upon installation (which it has on the 3rd
> occasion I decide to try it) then Im sticking with Windblows....
 
I multi-boot myself. If it nuked your partition table you used the wrong
distro or made a mistake. The MBR can be an issue (albeit there are docs
that tell you how to avoid that or fix easily). Myself I use a boot
loader in the MBR called Vpart, DOS based, because I can restore my boot
configuration (which is what gets screwed up) in less than a minute with
it. It's so easy to use a 16 year old could do it and it's free.

Now I chainload and that a bit complicated sounding but all it means is
that what you chose on boot from Vpart flags the selected partition as
active, If linux is selected then boot up is transfered to lilo on the
partition that linux resides on (IOW, the root partition).

If anyone needs or wants Vpart I can make it available or email it to
you. Like any low level utility I would not recommend using it unless you
understood what I just said above and have a backup solution. Murphys Law
- If it can go wrong, it will. If you need to boot one of multiple primary
partitions, there are better solutions, but they are also "bulkier".

I use Partition Magic and Drive Image for creating, resizing, and
maintaining partitions. I find they are superior to anything that either
MS or Linux provides. 

I put all of these utilities on one bootable CD and it makes these chores
a piece of cake to use.

But anyway always use what you are comfortable using. Howeven never fall
into the trap of getting too comfortable. No matter what the OS, computers
are all high maintenance devices and it takes work to keep  of them
running optimally.