From: rpao@mts.mivj.ca.us (Roger C. Pao)
Subject: Re: Booting from B drive
Organization: MicroTech Software
Lines: 34

glang@slee01.srl.ford.com (Gordon Lang) writes:

>David Weisberger (djweisbe@unix.amherst.edu) wrote:
>: I have a 5 1/4" drive as drive A.  How can I make the system boot from
>: my 3 1/2" B drive?  (Optimally, the computer would be able to boot
>: from either A or B, checking them in order for a bootable disk.  But
>: if I have to switch cables around and simply switch the drives so that
>: it can't boot 5 1/4" disks, that's OK.  Also, boot_b won't do the trick
>: for me.)
>: 
>: Thanks,
>:   Davebo
>We had the same issue plague us for months on our Gateway.  I finally
>got tired of it so I permanently interchanged the drives.  The only
>reason I didn't do it in the first place was because I had several
>bootable 5-1/4's and some 5-1/4 based install disks which expected
>the A drive.  I order all new software (and upgrades) to be 3-1/2 and
>the number of "stupid" install programs that can't handle an alternate
>drive are declining with time - the ones I had are now upgraded.  And
>as for the bootable 5-1/4's I just cut 3-1/2 replacements.

>If switching the drives is not an option, you might be able to wire up
>a drive switch to your computer chasis.  I haven't tried it but I think
>it would work as long as it is wired carefully.

I did this.  I use a relay (Radio Shack 4PDT) instead of a huge
switch.  This way, if the relay breaks, my drives will still work.

It works fine, but you may still need to change the CMOS before the
drive switch will work correctly for some programs.

rp93
-- 
Roger C. Pao  {gordius,bagdad}!mts!rpao, rpao@mts.mivj.ca.us
