[TriLUG] HDD Bootability, WAS OT: Looking slightly used Notebook HDD

[Tim Jowers]

Maybe someone else knows for sure.

I think the PC BIOS reads the first little bit of the disk so that
must be good for the PC BIOS to load the next place to jump and start
running the BIOS instructions saved on the disk (after running the
bios flash/eeprom). I know their is some LinuxBios project so maybe it
could by pass this dance...???

TimJowers


On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 9:07 AM, Brian Henning
<Brian.Henning at datadirect.com> wrote:
> Just to expand my own knowledge here..  So you're talking about some
> kind of hardware failure that can't be corrected by writing a new boot
> sector?  Seems like if there's any logical manoeuver that could trash
> said sector, there would also be one able to repair it.  I guess I've
> never had the fortune of a drive with a "physically" faulty boot sector
> that wasn't just totally hosed overall.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
> Behalf Of Roy Vestal
> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 8:28 AM
> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] OT: Looking slightly used Notebook HDD
>
> Guess I should have clarified. I do *not* want an OS ( I am rolling my
> own linux distro atm). I am looking a drive that the boot sector is
> not hosed. If the boot sector is hose, you can use the drive, it just
> won't be bootable. This is usually the first 446 bits of the disk.
>
> Basically, if you have a disk that's not bootable in this manner, you
> know it. :D
>
>
> On Jan 28, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Neil L. Little wrote:
>
>> Sure, trash or remove the master boot record. There are other
>> methods as
>> well. I can affirm this because I have made all the mistake possible
>> in
>> rendering a HDD "un-bootable".
>>
>> In this case I think he is saying that the HDD be operational.
>>
>> 73,
>> Neil, WA4AZL
>> JARS Forever!!
>> www.jars.net
>>
>> Brian Henning wrote:
>>> Is there such a thing as a non-bootable HD?[1]  Or are you asking
>>> for a
>>> HD that already has an OS installed?
>>>
>>> ~B
>>>
>>> [1] Honest question.  I've never heard of one, but there's lots of
>>> stuff
>>> I've never heard of (at least, I suspect there is!).
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On
>>> Behalf Of Roy Vestal
>>> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 10:24 PM
>>> To: trilug at trilug.org
>>> Subject: [TriLUG] OT: Looking slightly used Notebook HDD
>>>
>>> Hey all,
>>> Looking to see if anyone has a "slighty used" ATA/EIDE notebook hard
>>> disk (must be bootable). For comparison, I can get a new 80GB from
>>> Intrex for around $65.00 and even cheeeeper at newegg.com.
>>>
>>> If you have one you can part with it for cheap or barter ( can
>>> someone
>>> say baked goods? ), let me know OFFLINE please. :)
>>>
>>
>> --
>> TriLUG mailing list        :
> http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>> TriLUG FAQ  : http://www.trilug.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions
>>
>
> --
> TriLUG mailing list        :
> http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG FAQ  : http://www.trilug.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions
> --
> TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG FAQ  : http://www.trilug.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions
>