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From: europa@cbnewsh.att.com (r.j.capik)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: How to put DOS boot files on a non-system disk
Message-ID: <1990Jun29.220052.6914@cbnewsh.att.com>
Date: 29 Jun 90 22:00:52 GMT
References: <90179.170238TEB106@psuvm.psu.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 23

From article <90179.170238TEB106@psuvm.psu.edu>, by TEB106@psuvm.psu.edu (Tom billet):
> Norton 4.5 will do the job. Norton will move whatever files are currently
> taking up the system area to another location thus freeing up the area.
> Norton will then transfer the system files to the system area.

I don't know if this technique should be trusted. I did this to upgrade
the system on my hard disk and nearly lost the use of my entire system!
The new system was transfered with no (apparent) trouble, but in the
process the partition table (partition table pointer ?) and the boot
loader were corrupted. The new system disk will boot,  but can't find
the hard disk, the hard disk won't boot, and the old system won't boot.
I was lucky, however, in that I found a version of generic MS-DOS that 
would boot AND allow me access to the hard drive (only the main boot
partition). I'll probably have to do a low level reformat to recover
from this "helpful" transfer technique, but that life. I do have 99% of
the files backed up, but rebuilding a large hard disk is still a pain.
If any one knows of another way to recover I'd love to hear it. I have
other PCs I can work on, so I've put off this reformat project until
I have a little more time.

Ron Capik
Bell Labs, New Jersey
[ I don't know my proper net path, else I'd put it here ]