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I'm trying to re-put together my old computer for a friend. It's sort of a present and a little bit of an upgrade. Unfortunately, I have no means of blanking the disk, and I need a boot disk to acess fdisk and remake the partition on the drive.
I don't have a floppy drive on this computer, and unfortunately, the only computer with one is an iMac osX. Thus to make the boot floppy, I need the individual files to hard-create the boot disk.
If anyone could refer me to a place that I could get the individual files, that would be great. Thanks.
"Computer games are fun! I wanna do this for a living!"
- me, when I was an idiot...
Google for bootdisk - they're everywhere
You seem poorly prepared for the task
If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly
--Donald Rumsfeld
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Generally to create a bootdisk from scratch you run the SYS command to transfer the system files to it and then copy to it whatever utility files you want to use.
The SYS command copies the files to a specific place on the disk. Of course, without a working floppy drive on a PC you can't run the SYS command. I've never copied the system files without using the SYS command but I've heard 9X dos is a little more lenient on their placement.
Other than that potential problem, just google the term as Jboy suggests.
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Yeah - I don't think just plain copying will be good enough, so I (cleverly) sidestepped that issue ; )
If you don't have the right equipment, like a floppy drive or burner (or a spare PC) these sorts of tasks become unnecessarily difficult
If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly
--Donald Rumsfeld
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Oh, what the heck, I just emailed you the files I use. Post back if you actually get a disk created using the Mac.
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I just kind of roll my eyes whenever someone handicaps themselves by using a PC with no floppy drive. Fortunately I think most will accept a floppy drive and I think a user would be well advised to spend the $20 or whatever it takes to get one.
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Sure - passé or not, they come in handy. If you don't have one, then you'd better become adept at burning bootable CDs
... and I'll bet you have a stack of floppy drives, warehoused with the rest of your stuff ; )
If my eyes roll much more, I may need medical attention (forum hazard) {ouch!}
If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly
--Donald Rumsfeld
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Also unless it's 98FE, I thought all SE disc's could self boot so you can do the partitioning with them just like with the floppy disk and it's much faster :P That's all I use now, unless the system is messing me around.
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That's been rather endlessly discussed here - the consensus is that a 98SE CD might be bootable - so... no, not necessarily
Beyond that, it's hard to say what the OP intends to install, he's only expressed an interest in 'blanking' the drive
If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly
--Donald Rumsfeld
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bootdisk.com and download the file for '98SE with cdrom drivers. Save it to harddrive; (self-)expand it to a floppy; use that floppy to run Fdisk and format utils.
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LoL!! "I don't have a floppy drive on this computer" Well done trvlr!
You need a bootable Linux CD which has the Linux equivelent tools, try GOOGLING ??
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mmm - but perhaps... perhaps... just perhapsss he might get one...
At the least he now knows what to do from the assorted input here...
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Snowgod - if your computer doesn't have a floppy drive, what are you going to do with the bootdisk once you create it? I guess you could: (1) procure an external floppy drive; or (2) transfer the HD to a machine with a floppy drive and try to FDISK it. Any response from the "experts" would be appreciated. Thanx
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Geno:
No "expert" but nonetheless a few observations/thoughts:
Some of the options in this scenario are to(providing the case allows for it): install an internal floppy-drive (£15/$20?); transfer the drive to another system and preconfigure it there and make it bootable to a CDROM; even install '98 there too. Then transfer the drive back... Usually it will boot OK in its new home... I have done that a few times successfully
Also one could copy over the '98 setup files to the preconfigured drive; restore to its home; run '98 setup from the harddrive...
An external usb-floppy might not be viable if the MoMo etc. doesn't allow for a usb boot up; and although there are usb for dos drivers arond... I'm not too sure they would work here (but I haven't tried them either...).
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Responses & eye rolls have already been offered ('expert' or otherwise)
The OP seemingly left long ago - perhaps even immediately - but the Post Mortem continues
If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly
--Donald Rumsfeld
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mmm.. still the post above my last may have allowed for others who may dig this out of the archives (via google etc...) a little more info/clarification...?
Sometimes wonder "just how many OP" actually come back to see what advice etc. is offered...
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