> [this] always seems to stomp my label (the geometry of the drive).
> Instead of using the swap partition, I am using a blank (or
> effectively so) drive and repartitioning it and reformating it.  I am
> using parition a instead of b. so it is on the beginning of the disk.

Strictly speaking, that doesn't follow, since the a partition doesn't
have to begin at offset zero, and the b partition can begin at offset
zero.  However, yes, if you do the miniroot route, don't use a
partition that begins at offset zero.  For that matter, don't try to
swap to such a partition, or I *think* you'll risk swapping over your
label.  (I have seen at least one thing that special-cases partitions
at offset, zero, but I'm not sure whether NetBSD does.)

> My guess is I need to make an A partition of some size, 100 blocks?
> and then make the B parition 60,000 blocks or so and do the dd there,
> hopefully then it will be farther down the disk and unable to kill
> the label.

There's no need to have an a partition for these purposes, as long as
you have a root partition somewhere.  Just put the partition you use -
whether it's a or b or something else - at a nonzero beginning-cylinder
number.

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
		     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B