[syslinux] Large disk image boot. Any suggestions?

[Nazo]

On 8/20/05, Gary W. Smith <gary at primeexalia.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> 
> I am managing 15 separate boot disks with various network disk images.
> These disk images are used for network installs of Windows OS's.
> Basically the network boot disk contains dos, the network drive in
> question and the connection information to the shared server for doing a
> ghost install.
> 
> The problem is the 1.44 disk doesn't hold enough space to accomplish the
> job.  What I really need is a 16mb or 32mb boot disk in order to do what
> I really want to accomplish.  I have tried using a USB disk formatted
> with dos and ripped the image from linux but that doesn't seem to work.
> 
> Does anyone have any good directions for create a 32mb boot disk which
> boots to dos?  Anyone already have one and willing to share it?  Also,
> what would my PXE boot configuration look like?
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Gary Wayne Smith

Correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't memdisk supposed to support using
a harddisk image?  Normally after the image filename you're supposed
to say "harddisk" or "floppy" if the image is of a non-standard size,
but, as I understand it, it's supposed to just assume harddrive if
it's any size but a standard floppy (which means you really only have
to tell it anything if you have a floppy image that discarded empty
sectors to make the image smaller.)

That said, on the subject of 1.44MB not being enough, you are aware
that memdisk can work with the standard for 2.88MB floppies as well? 
Since that's an official standard, it means the system will still
treat it as an official standard floppy drive once booted.  This has
some compatibility advantages and the fact that it's annoying to have
your real harddrive letters pushed up by one (at least, for me, but,
I'm probably among the very few here still using FAT32 for all Windows
partitions.)  If you use software that can work with disk images, you
can even just switch the format with a good image editing software
(well, I have WinImage, but, there's probably a good free thing that
can do this.)  You can then inject more files with the image editor or
mount the floppy (in windows VFD can do this for free) and work with
the files directly.

Of course, if you need 16 or 32MB, harddrive image is the way to go. 
Mind you, sometimes you can just set up the floppy with a cd-rom
driver if booting from a CD, or, in the case of my flashdrive, I find
that I'm able to access it as drive C: without drivers after booting a
floppy image from it.  Ensure that you don't have an easy solution
like this before doing it the hard way.

I think the simplest way to make a hd image would be to actually make
an image of a real partition via WinImage or some other such utility. 
In linux you can create an image without needing another partition,
but, if you want it to boot a non-linux os it gets a tad trickier to
copy the boot information to it.  You might have to extract it from
another disk and put it on there via dd.  There are instructions on
how to do this sort of thing in the syslinux documation I believe.  In
the end, once you know and understand how to do it, the linux way is
easier and better, but, until you know all that, it's much simpler
just to make an image of something that already exists on a real
harddrive.

Just my two cents anyway.  Of course, you can always try Bart's little
tools, some of them have been a lifesaver for me in the past, so maybe
something on there could save you some pains.  If that doesn't work,
then there's always this method.