--- Joshua Jore <moomonk at rogue.electricgod.net> wrote:
> Perhaps the old style io.sys located in sector zero of the partition
> isn't
> needed anymore. I seem to recall hearing something about that around
> when
> win98 came out. That perhaps the boot loader knows enough to find the
> start of the boot data area, read the root directory and do a far
> jump
> over to the binary (as opposed to just loading a bit more and getting
> the
> start of io.sys)
   Half-way random question based on that: is the "sector zero" limited
only to the _partition_ or to the actual drive? I know you said
partition above, but I just had a brain storm (must be the weather).
First off, if sector zero refers only to the partition of the hard
drive, then that means that theoretically, I can move Windows anywhere
I want on the hard drive, so long as I keep everything in order
(maybe). The next question, with a dual-boot computer where Linux is
used 99.9% of the time, where is the best place to put Windows? At the
beginning or end of a hard drive? (As though you were looking at, say,
a disk partitioning line graph, with left being the beginning and right
the end.)
   The reasoning I follow is this. If we take the example of a record
(as in LP, vinyl), a point in the outside moves faster relative to a
point closer to the center. If hard drives were vinyl LPs, I would want
to put the most speed-essential records (kernal, libraries, etc.)
closer to the outside edge, yes? But do hard drives work this way? Or
does the rotation slow as the drive head moves farther from the center?
   If this hard drive physics is worth exploring, what on a hard drive
corresponds to the outer edge of a record? Is it the first couple of
sectors (assuming a single-partition drive) or the last? IOW, the left
or right side of a partition bar graph? Or is the bar graph a
convinient lie? Next, would it be advantagous to move certain files
into those sectors, and, if so, which ones?
   I suppose in these days of super-fast hard drives it really doesn't
matter, but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.
   :Peter

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