Bootable Zip Disk

mr_angry

Does anyone know a way of creating a bootable zip disk. I no longer have a floppy drive, and I'm looking to boot to the DOS prompt, despite running Windows XP (NTFS). Is this even possible? I've scoured the net, but come up with nothing.

BoB_BoT

if you can set your bios to boot from zipdisk then ya can all you do is (if you want to use the win98 boot disk) download/obtain the files needed for a windows 98 bootdisk and put them onto the zip disk.
Gl,
Rob

p.s. I have never tried this but it is worth a shot

mr_angry

Will that work while my installed operating system is XP? I only want to do this in order to flash my Radeon 9800 to a Pro...

BoB_BoT

if the flash program can run in dos then it should do because you're not running winxp but you're running from the boot disk. READ THE README FIRST!!!! make sure that it says you can do this from booting using a win98/other boot disk!!!!!! Be 100% Positive that it will work before going ahead. If you don't read the readme and **** up you may be up **** creek. If you have the link to where you got the flash from i'll take a look at it if ya want.

Rob

mr_angry

I suppose. I'm still having difficulty finding a utility under Windows XP that lets me create ANY boot image on a Zip disk though. I can't seem to get the 98 boot files onto the disk in the first place!

This is the article about the flash. I understand the risks, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm positive anyway that my motherboard allows me to boot from Zip though - I've checked it out.

lotas

you should try www.bootdisk.com. lots of stuff there. theres where i got my boot discs when i needed them.

mr_angry

I've tried there already. None of the available utilities will work with a Zip drive - they all scan for the presence of a floppy. I need something that will create a boot sector on the Zip disk, and boot to a DOS prompt when I reboot.

Sleipnir

Errr what type of zip drive are you trying to boot from?
As in ATAPI, USB, parallel?

vibe666

if you have a win95 or 98 disk, you can get the entire OS installed onto the zip itself if you do a minimum install.

for safety reasons you might want to unplug your hard disk so you don't end up messing with the main boot record, or it will cause you problems further down the line.

if you're not happy with this then don't do it, but you can just remove the power from the HD and that will be enough for your bios not to see it at all.

then stick a win98 cd in and choose your cdrom as the first boot device in the bios (win95 wont let you boot from the cd though, but 98 shgould be fine if you have the disk).

run through the install choosing minimum and see how much you can remove.

if you want to make it even smaller try www.litepc.com who have an app that allows you to make any windows installation a lot smaller and faster (they even do 2k and xp now btw).

or you could just press F8 at bootup and choose 'command prompt only' from the menu. :rolleyes:

OfflerCrocGod

vibe your link still gets redirected to an english web page not the hk one www5.cd-wow.com.hk should do; try putting a number in where I have 5 (5 should work). Sorry for nagging:p.

lotas

and totally off topic, the prices on the HK website are about 11.16 for cds, after converting from hkd to EUR. it works out cheaper by about 2.50 off the IE price. but will you be charged for VAT comming outsite the EU or what?

vibe666

there ye go, definately all fixed now.

still totally off topic:

most of the CD's on the main page (i.e. all the new popular CD's) were HK$85.99 two days ago which at the time was €8.95, but they seem to have increased their prices today by HK$20.

Well that sucks, guess I'll have to update my sig.

btw, the HK$ seems to be incresing in value slightly too, which doesn't help.

Still damn good value though, although it's a shame it's not as cheap as it was.

OfflerCrocGod

Yep works like a charm now:p, the prices may be going up cause of x-mas?.

jesus_thats_gre

Why no just create a Ramdisk?

mr_angry

I'm not trying to get an OS onto my Zip disk - I just want to boot to the zip drive so I can flash my Radeon 9800 to a Pro. During this process I have to read from, and write to the disk, so I can't use a CD. And what's more, I don't have the command prompt option on my BIOS boot menu - NTFS disks don't like it apparently.

What I need is a way to create a boot sector on my Zip disk, and get the files for a bootable disk of any sort, be it DOS, Windows 98, or XP onto that disk. Does anybody know how to do this?

Sleipnir

again, what type of zip drive is it?
ATAPI?

mr_angry

Well, thats where it gets a bit complicated, actually. Its an ATAPI drive, but I didn't have the proper bay-front for it (bloody Dell cases), so I put it in an external drive housing that I have. This connects to my computer over USB 2.0, and it freely offers it to me over the boot menu.

Sleipnir

Well that's your problem then.
I know that your BIOS menu offers to boot from a zip drive, but you may notice that even if you remove the drive, that menu option will still be there.

I don't even have a zip drive but it shows up on my boot menu too.
You will not be able to boot up off the drive if it is connected to the USB port. USB only works from within Windows (98, 2k, XP)
If you can take the drive out of the USB housing and connect it to one of the IDE ports then you should be able to boot off.
But while it's connected to the USB, it won't be possible.

lotas

it may be posible to boot off usb, depending on the system. i was looking at doing it with a USB memory key. there is an option in the bios of the system at work (Dell Optiplex GX240) but havent checked at home. if you have the option in your system to boot from USB, try it with a normal disc in the zip drive (like one with out boot sector) and if you get an error (no os found i think) it should be bootable and all you have to do is make the disc bootable. as for that, i think (im not 100% sure here though) you have to copy the command.com, io.sys and what ever other files you need. i think a autoexec.bat and config.sys may be handy (to get the cdrom drivers working, etc) and i think thats about it. you could try that.

mr_angry

Yes - that was my point. I can boot from my USB housing - I can even tell that its scanning the disk in my drive to attempt to boot from it. The nearest I've come is using the Partition Magic 8.0 rescue diskette creation tool, but that didn't copy over DOS, so the message I got was "Could not load DOS".

My problem is within Windows, i.e. getting a boot sector onto my Zip disk, and copying the required files. Does anybody know of a utility that will create a boot sector on a Zip? That's all - no other issues.

jim_bob

just to let you know even if you boot to the disk you won't be able to wright to the c: drive or even see it as it ntfs

to make it a bootable zip disk why not just sys the drive ie if the zipdisk is the e drive just in 98 just type sys e:

mr_angry

Originally posted by jim_bob
just to let you know even if you boot to the disk you won't be able to wright to the c: drive or even see it as it ntfs

to make it a bootable zip disk why not just sys the drive ie if the zipdisk is the e drive just in 98 just type sys e:

I don't want to write back to the C:\ drive, I want to write back to the A:\ drive.

Your second point is a good one, but I don't have a copy of 98 - just XP. I'd be happy to find a way to do it in the long run, but the reason I posted here was to find out how to do it relatively hassle-free in XP.

vibe666

have you tried the format utility in windows xp? (i.e. right click on the zip drive and choose format).

there should be an option to copy system files there i think.

afaik. the actual 'sys' command from win9x is no longer available in xp (bummer).

did you try pressing F8 when booting to get the boot options menu?

aha, just had a thought.

if your zip disk is in a usb enclosure, why not take it to someone who has win98 or similar and use their machine to make your zip disk into a windows boot disk?

BoB_BoT

here's the boot disk files for ya, extract them onto your zip disk and try booting off it.

win98 boot disk

mr_angry

Cheers Bob. I still need to create a boot sector on the disk, but I think I can do so with the PM8 utility, delete the files, and then copy yours over.

have you tried the format utility in windows xp?

Yes. The "system disk" option is greyed out. The IOMEGA-Ware software doesn't support the feature either.

if your zip disk is in a usb enclosure, why not take it to someone who has win98 or similar and use their machine to make your zip disk into a windows boot disk?

Good point, except I don't know anybody who runs 98. As was pointed out before, I could try to find a copy, install it, and then create the system disk, but it seems like an awful lot of effort. Having said that, trawling the Internet for the answers for 3 straight days was no fun either!

fractal

Ok.. you need to create a boot sector on a zip disc...

Before you start you will need a linux installation or a Knoppix cd. (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html) and a copy of your ntldr.exe from the root of your windows partition.

Boot.ini should look like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="WinXP/NT/Whatever"
c:\bootsect.dos="DOS"


Steps:
- Boot into linux.
- ZIP drive should be allocated to something like /dev/hdc (You can be sure by mounting it or doing a "df" to see the size of it)
- dd if=/path/to/ntldr.exe of=/dev/hdc
- mount /dev/hdc /mnt/hdc
- cp /path/to/boot.ini /dev/hdc
- copy the rest of a regular boot disk over and reboot (bootsect.dos must be present or dos wont boot)


That _should_ work..

Though there is probably a much easier way..

BoB_BoT

jebus man just hook up a floppy disk drive lol! i'm sure you can get one somewhere
on another note, have you tried just copying those files i gave ya onto the zip disk and tried to boot from it? There's a chance it might work

Oriel

I thought you had to be in windows to use a USB interface? No?

mr_angry

Depends on your motherboard and BIOS. I still haven't had a chance to try Bob's suggestion - I'll give it a go tonight, and let you know what happens.