Easiest would be to use raw disk access in vmware or VirtualBox to set it up the way you want.

Supposedly Rufus can be used on external hds but I've never tried it and unknown how that would differ from a regular dos install.

Without using those you'd have to manually have to know how to add the mbr and copy the files that sys c: would add to make it bootable. If you had an image backed up that could be restored then that could be used as well.

I just did that but its not working or Im doing something wrong.

I plugged the HDD in my USB adapter and connected to PC, confirmed the drive number and used the command to create image (which correctly recognised the drive as I can see size mentioned matches).

followed these instructions , created the raw access file for virtual box, mounted it etc ..

http://theinstructionlimit.com/installing-ms- … -to-ide-adapter

and here is what I get:

btw the disk is 120GB and I created number of 2GB partitions on it FAT format so they can be seen by DOS.

most tutorials I see are using drives smaller than 2GB ... could that be my issue?

ok figured it out , I had to completely clear the drive of any partitions, DOS install then created its own, its only 260MB but its ok, I was able to install the system and created more 2GB partitions onto which I am copying games and software.

boots ok on the drive in VM box, I can hear the hdd make noises:

Damn … still wont boot when I put the HDD back in the laptop …

[

I think its not detecting the drive right… is this bios limitation? What can i do? Dont have other 44pin drives.

ordered one of these from Amazon :

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0BCFNMG … 0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

will try it with the SD card I am using in my other PC which uses IDE to SD card adapter and boots into DOS all fine.

not sure what else I can do.

Omarkoman wrote on 2023-04-14, 05:21:

I think its not detecting the drive right… is this bios limitation? What can i do? Dont have other 44pin drives.

Yes this is BIOS limitation, I was thinking "what is that laptop that will work with a 120GB HDD in DOS" while reading the thread
So what is that laptop, does it have USB? Can it boot from USB?

Its nec discovery 713L

It has usb port on the back but no mention of it anywhere in bios, no option to boot from it. I think it was early daya for usb back then and prob only for mouse connection.

Omarkoman wrote on 2023-04-14, 05:21:

[ https://i.postimg.cc/7ZDW3FMB/F18-D8094-88-F6-4562-81-E6-EDDC3155-EB0-E.jpg […]
Show full quote

[

I think that DOS running in VirtualBox will not have seen the same drive geometry (cylinders/heads/sectors) as is shown here, and I think that that would have resulted in the drive not being bootable - I think it would result in partitions not being found.

I'm not sure if it is possible to work around that by for example doing an install in PCem with the virtual disk geometry set to match what the target machine expects, then writing the disk image to the physical disk.

I suppose it is unlikely that your laptop has both an Ethernet port and a network boot ROM? You would know from BIOS settings and/or messages appearing at boot time.

Unfortunately it doesnt and i agree with your thoughts about the drive geometry.

Lets see how it goes with smaller 8gb drive.

ok so I got the 44pin to SD card adapter and I am pleased to report its all working !

interestingly, DOS not seem to like just any SDcard as with few 8GB models I keep getting errors.

All good, working fine and my laptop is alive ! now the fun part starts!

Omarkoman wrote on 2023-04-16, 00:50:

ok so I got the 44pin to SD card adapter and I am pleased to report its all working !

interestingly, DOS not seem to like just any SDcard as with few 8GB models I keep getting errors.

All good, working fine and my laptop is alive ! now the fun part starts!

Real SD cards top out a 2GB usually (rare 4GB models exist).
Beyond that it's SDHC, SDXC.. And pure SD card readers can't read them.
Maybe the converter chip is from the early 21th century?