Hi. Thanks in advance for any help. My apologies for asking stupid questions and tending to type too much.

I currently dualboot slack 9.1 and winxp. It's looking like I have to format and tackle re-installs, which is causing a lot of stress. I'm almost certain that I won't be able to get my hardware working and the OS secured when I redo this box!#! A computer/OS-savvy friend handled the install, and it took him three days to get things good. I don't have a fragment of the knowledge that he did, so, uhm, it's looking bad for me. I'm starting to love Linux and would hate to part with it, but at the same time, don't have the luxury of time to spend going back to the beginning and fighting my way towards the place that I am now. Note: I have installed slack on other PCs with sucess, but this machine is a problem child.

There's nothing wrong with the install itself and I'm DESPERATE to keep it, so I was wondering... could I create a new partition on my second HD, copy the contents of my slack partition there and copy it all back when done with the format/reinstall? If so, would I have a functioning OS with my settings as they were, and: what tool should be used to create partitions on the 2nd drive?

The reason that I have to format is due to the first disc's partition table being screwed. I reinstalled XP yesterday, and for some reason, its partition is overlapping slack's :/

"could I create a new partition on my second HD, copy the contents of my slack partition there and copy it all back when done with the format/reinstall? If so, would I have a functioning OS with my settings as they were, and: what tool should be used to create partitions on the 2nd drive?"

I suggest that you copy your Slackware partition to the second hard drive and make the new partition a functional Slackware system. Configure the second hard drive partition table using fdisk. Create a swap and a / partition. Then create a file system in the / partition:
mkfs.ext2 /dev/hdb2

Then mount your new system and copy your Slackware system:
mkdir /newslack
mount -t ext2 /dev/hdb2 /newslack
Copy your Slackware system to your new partition by using the cp -pR command:
cp -pR / /newslack
The -p option is absolutely necessary to preserve ownership and permissions during the copy. Edit the bootloader config file (lilo.conf or grub.conf) and /etc/fstab on your new Slackware system to reflect the new partition arrangement. Then create a boot floppy that will boot into your new Slackware system. Test out your second Slackware system. You will then have your current Slackware system running on your second drive and bootable no matter what you do to your first hard drive.

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If you want to stick with your original plan then follow the above instructions but do not change lilo.conf, grub.conf, or /etc/fstab. Also don't bother with the boot floppy.
After you get your first disk straightened out then you can copy Slackware back with by booting a rescue CD such as Knoppix, mounting the two partitions and using cp -pR to copy Slackware.

The advantage of the first plan is that you have a chance to test the copied Slackware before you destroy the old Slackware. With the second plan you copy Slackware twice and then hope it works.

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html

Steve Stites

thanks for the reponse. tried carrying it out, but ran into a whole new problem. maybe i'm mistyping commands or doing something dumb, but the current slack install refuses to boot or mount, so i can't copy it to /hdb

booting with the slack CD and typing "mount -t ext2 /dev/hda2 /mnt/slack" results in "wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2 or too many mounted file systems".

boting with the CD and trying to boot the actual install results in:
fat: bogus logical sector
umsdos: msdos_read_super failed, mount aborted.
read_superblock_: can't find a reiserfs file system on (dev 03:02, block 64, size 1024)

of course it can't find a reiserfs -- i've never had one, heh. fdisk still sees the current slack partition, and i've made no changes to it, so i dont know what is going on. oh well, back to playing with it while i pray this isn't hopeless.

"booting with the slack CD and typing "mount -t ext2 /dev/hda2 /mnt/slack" results in "wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2 or too many mounted file systems"."

Try booting your Slackware CD and running fsck. It is important to tell fsck the correct filesystem type. So assumming that the filesystem really is ext2 then you should do:

fsck -t ext2 /dev/hda2

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html

Steve Stites

couldn't find ext superblock, trying backup blocks.
e2fsck: bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/hda2

superblock could not be read or does not describe a correct ext filesystem. if the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 filesystem, then the superblock is corrupt and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock.

tried two alternates, no luck. wondering if the overlapping partition issue finally hit me where it hurt. oh well, have a fresh install of slack on /dev/hdb and am trying to set it up, but would still like to save the old, if possible. however, at this point, it's seeming a bit futile.

odd. got the fresh install in and running in about 40 mins. got my hardware recognized and functioning, and i'm online under slackware now. amazing what a girl can do with a bottle of mt. dew and a pack of smokes

on that note, i'm giving up on the previous install and will just format that drive. while there are things i'd like to salvage, starting fresh pushes me to learn... and i guess that's for the best.

thanks for the help.