Well it's not so much that it takes up a lot of space. It's just that small efficient programs always impress me. 60K versus MB's for partition "magic". As well, if resizing your partitions on the fly is something you don't need, why have the option? Scares the hell out of me.
You will need to start from scratch with masterbooter.
What version are you using? I have 2.8, the new one seems a bit odd. If you would like a copy of the older one let me know.
Before wiping your machine:
- If you don't have drivers for your cdrom, go to either mitsumi.com or samsung.com and download their driver disks. Samsung works with 99.9% of CD-ROM's. If you can't find it, I can email it.
BACKUP ANY DATA you need before doing this, it will be permanently erased.
1. Create a windows9X boot disk. Start>Run, type in command. Put a blank floppy in your A: drive. Type at the command prompt sys c:
2. Unzip the masterbooter files to the floppy.
3. Copy format.com, mscdex.exe, edit.com to the floppy. These can be found in c:windowscommand
4. Put the boot floppy in, restart the machine. It should boot off the floppy, and you will arrive at a: (if it goes right by the floppy and launches windows, enter the BIOS and turn on floppy seek and/or change the boot sequence to A/C/SCSI or whatever. a drive first.
5. From the a: prompt:
- Type efdisk /mbr
- Then efdisk
This is where it gets a little tricky. Your presented with a dos screen with a few options. EFDISK is used to create partitions.
You need to create 2 (or 3, depending what you want). First, delete the partition listed there, probably only one listed, you will see start and end cylinders. So, split the drive in half. Starting cylinder will be 0000, end cylinder it will tell you. Select FAT32 for the file format. When it displays the max cylinder, divide that number by 2, and
add 1. so if it's 510, half is 255, so the second partition will start at 256 and end at 510.
Ok, so you have created to partions, hit F10 to write the changes, and reboot, with your boot disk still in.
6. From the a: prompt. Type format c: /s
Let the drive format.
Give it a drive label, whatever - "Windows"
7. From the a: prompt. Type format d: /s
Give it a drive label, "recording".
8. type efdisk Highlight the second partion and hit the H key. This will "hide" that partition allowing you to install the first instance of the OS without windows messing up. F10, reboot without the floppy.
9. This should bring you to the C: prompt. type in d:
It should say "invalid drive specification" which means, it's been hidden.
10. Get your CD-ROM working with either the CD-ROM driver disk you got with your CD, or use the Samsung drivers you downloaded. This can be a step in itself. Easy if you know the routine. The samsung is the easiest, it copies mscdex.exe, creates the autoexec.bat and config.sys line entries etc.. Reboot.
11. Assuming you have your CD-ROM working, install your operating system.
12. Reboot with the boot disk in. At the a: prompt type efdisk
13. Hide the first partition using the H key. F10, write new partition table. Reboot without the floppy.
14. Get the CD-ROM working the way you did in step 10.
15. Install the second operating system.
16. Reboot with the floppy. At the a: prompt. Type mrbooter
17. Select which OS you want to boot first, password or not etc. F10 and exit. Reboot without the floppy.
You should be presented with a menu to select between the 2 operating systems. Install your recording software on one, and all the other junk on the other.
Sorry for the lack of detail in parts... It is a step by step process. It sounds more complicated than it really is. I do suggest you give it a go, only way to learn. If you run into problems, post or email me... hmm guess you won't be able to email or post unless you have 2 machines
Good luck!
