*BSD News Article 34499


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From: mikebo@MCS.COM (Michael Borowiec)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development
Subject: FreeBSD 2.0: someone please fix mount_pcfs
Date: 18 Aug 1994 01:43:30 -0500
Organization: MCSNet, Chicago's First Public-Access Internet!
Lines: 32
Message-ID: <32uvui$dov@Venus.mcs.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: venus.mcs.com

It would be nice if mount_pcfs would mount a DOS partition from a
DOS only hard disk (one without a UNIX disk label). I have two SCSI
drives, one exclusively FreeBSD and the other exclusively DOS.
Depending on which OS I want to run, I simply swap SCSI ID 0 and 1
and re-boot. Having used a boot manager for quite some time, and
having trashed and re-built my DOS partition more times than I care
to remember, IMHO this is a much better solution.

I have used many PC UNICES (Interactive, SCO, UnixWare, BSD386) and
I believe FreeBSD is the only one of these that can't mount a DOS
partition from a DOS only hard drive (again, without a UNIX disk label).
'Cuz I am not a filesystem hacker (by any stretch) perhaps I am naive,
but I can't believe this would be that hard to do.

I can easily envision half-a-dozen scenarios where this functionality
would be indispensable and, right now, I can't get at my DOS stuff
from UNIX (without backing up, relabeling, repartitioning, making new
filesystems and reloading). I purposely used two disks so I wouldn't
have to do anything "special" to my DOS partition/disk/whatever. I 
don't *want* to have to put UNIX label on my DOS disk.
- Mike
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Borowiec			All tied to their things,
mikebo@MCS.COM				they are netted by the strings...
					Free to flutter, in memory of
					their wasted wings...  P.Gabriel
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Borowiec			All tied to their things,
mikebo@MCS.COM				they are netted by the strings...
					Free to flutter, in memory of
					their wasted wings...  P.Gabriel