Re: [TCLUG:13399] VAIO

[Scott Lystig Fritchie <fritchie@mr.net>]

>>>>> "crp" == Christopher Reid Palmer <reid@pconline.com> writes:

crp> The issue is that I can't get it to see the second disk, whatever
crp> that second disk might be. The FDD is USB.

Sendmail recently sent me the monster VAIO, the PCG-XG9.  No problem
installing from the DVD-ROM drive.  Sorry I can't help out much there.

Carl's (?) idea of putting the CD-ROM on the Windows paritition and
then using Partition Magic is a good one ... if you can't find the
hardware adapter doodad you need to put the HD in a desktop box for
the install.

My VAIO is usually running FreeBSD.  I used the Win98 disk
defragmenter and then the FIPS repartitioning tool without any
difficulty whatsoever.  The GNU partition editor might get you the
same results.  FIPS has an option to write the partition and boot
sector to a safe place in case you screw things up and need to restore
to a sane state.  That USB floppy won't work there, alas.

But you do (don't you?) have the emergency recovery CD-ROM, right?  A
coworker tried using FIPS, and it hosed the FAT32 partition he was
trying to preserve.  He said, "Screw it," kept the new partition table
as it was, re-installed Win98 from the recovery CD-ROM (he said it was
pretty painless), then installed FreeBSD & Linux in the now-leftover
space.

Good luck.

-Scott