Hi all guy´s. I want to activate a hard disk (d:\) from the currently bootable unit (c:\), in order to make a second bootable disk, and that 486 hasn´t floppy disk. Is it possible with any program? FDISK only activates from floppy to hard disk.
The units are two independent disks.
Very thanks.
Best regards.
Osvaldo. Barrio Garay. Almirante Brown. Buenos Aires. Argentina.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

"...FDISK only activates from..."

... do you mean to set a second partition active?

if so try pqboot, found this:

http://www.4shared.com/file/4894006...

... download and rename to pqboot.exe

... if NOT try entering your bios and altering the settings from therein,

... hope I hav'nt got the "wrong end of the stick!"

Grrrr
wat do I know?
... got brain freeze

It's probably best to get a floppy drive.

Fdisk won't allow more than one active partition. If C: is active and you want D: also active, the easiest way is to temporarily set C:'s drive type to NONE in cmos/bios setup. Then boot with floppy and run fdisk. Fdisk sees only one drive and you can then set its partition active.

You can switch between the two drives in cmos/bios setup, setting whichever one you don't want to boot from as NONE. Or, if both are enabled in cmos, the one connected to primary master will boot.

If you don't want to get a floppy drive you might try downloading AEFDISK:

http://www.softpile.com/Utilities/D...

I've never used it in the way you intend but I think it'll allow you to create more than one active partition.

You can set a second hard disk active by using a program like Partition Magic.

Thanks to all answers. Happens, the the floppy disk is available, but only to read/write. Probably, because of a fault in the motherboard, any attempt to boot from a: destroys the disk´s data. I have two of that mothers, and both have the same trouble. I tryed with a lot of floppies and cables, but they aren´t responsible.
This is the reazon because I want to activate a partition in a hard disk d:\ from the c:\ with the object to make a second backup bootable disk.
Osvaldo. Barrio Garay. Almirante Brown. Buenos Aires. Argentina

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

Make sure the floppy drive is properly identified in cmos/bios setup. 720's and 1.44 look alike as do 360's and 1.2's but they have to be ID'd right in cmos.

Other than that, try the software recommended above.

Yes, it is well setted in CMOS. If not, I couldn´t read/write anything.
The trouble is in the mother. But the rest of the machine is propely working, so I will not change it.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.