[BlackHorseman]

Hello : )

My question:

I have three SATAII HDs (Channei 2 (hd0), Channel 3 (hd1) and Channel 4 (hd2)). The channels are the three physical sockets, in order, into which they are plugged. I want to install XP, Vista and Windows 7 (when the official release come out, not right now) on hd2 and Ubuntu on hd1. hd0 I wanna keep for long term file storage.

Is it possible? I thought of changing the boot priority in the BIOS to make hd2 first and installing XP, then Vista (Ultimate 64bit) on that disk, then change the boot priority to hd1 and install Ubuntu on it. The way I assume it should work is that two separate boot loaders will handle each his own physical disk, and if I wish to leave Windows and go to Linux I reboot and chage the boot priority in the BIOS.

I'm asking this here because I've tried this, and it didn't seem to work. I've wreaked all sorts of havoc on my machine....

Thanks,
Daniel.

[leroys1000]

You would need to connect one hard drive at a time so the boot
loaders don't try to overwrite each other.
Install one at a time.
The way you stated is a good way to keep the drives seperate
on thier own boot loaders.
After all the systems are installed,you can connect all the drives
and use the bios bootloader to select.
Most boards now allow you you press a key to select the quick
boot function to select a drive.
I have a dual boot setup like that so the linux bootloader didn't
mess with vista.

[BlackHorseman]

So, what you're saying is, if I install Linux on my other physical drive, it will change the boot loaders on the other drives?

[leroys1000]

It can,yes,as well as windows versions trying to take over too.
If you connect one drive at a time and install the OS you want
on it,then disconnect and connect the next drive and install the
next OS,they can't overwrite each other with just one drive
connected.
Once all the operating systems are installed and running,you
can shut down.connect all the drives,then use the bios boot
to select.

With all the drives connected the bootloader will usually
be written to the first drive and can mess up the boot
on the rest.

[BlackHorseman]

I had a dual boot on hd2, (XP, Vista), and then tried installing Ubuntu on hd1. It installed it, but I could not load it. GRUP would load and when I selected Ubuntu it said it could not load from the partition. Then I installed it on a partition on hd2 (GRUP became first in the boot-loaders sequence on that drive, referring me to the Vista loader if I wanted to load that etc.). All worked well until I deleted all the partitions on hd0 (could the boot loader have actually been installed there?).

I tried installing on hd2 again, but couldn't boot. Then I made hd0 1st in boot priority in BIOS and installed Ubuntu on it, and all is working, but now I cannot access my Vista and XP on hd2.....

I know this sounds like something from Tales of a 1001 Nights, but I need to understand this (and possibly restore my Windows installation).

Thanks again,
Daniel.

[BlackHorseman]

I see. So I should keep only one connected at a time, install my systems, then connect them all, format the one that has no systems or partitions on it (hd0) in one of the systems and partition it, and all is running.

But can I restore my Windows installations?

[leroys1000]

You can probably disconnect all but the XP drive,boot
to the xp cd,and run fixboot from repair console or do
a repair install.
For vista,connect only the vista drive,boot to the cd
and click the link for repair options and try running
startup repair.

If they don't work,you are probably looking at clean installs.

[BlackHorseman]

OK, Things are beginning to clear up a little bit : )
I know what I have to do to try and repair my Windows dual boot on hd2. I assume that the Linux partitions on that disk won't be harmed, yes? My swap and a data partition are there.
I also assume that when I boot into my Vista and it finds new HDs connected it won't mess them up (whether after I restore my Vista or after I freshly install it)....

Another assumption - if I only keep one HD connected during repair/install, it doesn't really matter which SATAII socket it's plugged into, and it won't matter after I'm done repairing/installing and reconnect the rest.

And I assume each disk can have partitions of mixed types (ext3, fat32, ntfs), so that later when I reconnect all disks I can move my windows pagefiles around, move the swap partition to a pre-prepared partition on the Windows HD with no adverse effects.

Are all these assumptions correct?

[leroys1000]

If you are using a linux boot loader on the dual boot drive,
The windows repair install can mess that up.
The linux boot loader likes to bury itself deeper in the boot
sector and XP can have a hard time overwriting it.
The partitions shouldn't be messed with.
You may need to reinstall the linux bootloader.

Vista should detect the drives but windows usually doesn't see
linux partitions.

Yes,you can use different partition types,up to 4 primary
partitions per drive.
I don't know how moving the swap is going to affect it.
Being as it is for temperary data,probably easier to delete
the old one and make a new one.

[BlackHorseman]

If you are using a linux boot loader on the dual boot drive,
The windows repair install can mess that up.
The linux boot loader likes to bury itself deeper in the boot
sector and XP can have a hard time overwriting it.
The partitions shouldn't be messed with.
You may need to reinstall the linux bootloader.

The dual boot drive installation history: First XP, then Vista ( on another partition, of course, which turned control over to the Vista boot loader), then, after attempts to install Ubuntu on another HD (my second one - installation would go through OK, but I couldn't boot into Ubuntu), I ended up installing it on the same one with XP & Vista on, so the Ubuntu boot loader took over. Then changes I made to my third HD messed that up (if I remember correctly, I couldn't boot anything at all), so I installed Ubuntu on that third HD (which was actually plugged in the first SATAII socket).

So, in order to restore the vista boot loader.... I can't really do that now, can I? I'd need to install GRUB but without Ubuntu (with the other two HDs unplugged), to manage the booting of Vista & XP. I reckon I'd need a special CD for that.... gotta research it.

As for Linux partitions on the Win installation drive Windows can only tell me they are 'healthy' and of 'unknown type', right? That's fine, as long as it doesn't mess them up.

Yes,you can use different partition types,up to 4 primary
partitions per drive.
I don't know how moving the swap is going to affect it.
Being as it is for temperary data,probably easier to delete
the old one and make a new one.

I think that during installation of windows I could just create an unformatted partition or leave unpartitioned space later to be used as swap. This would mean that initially the Linux swap would be on the same HD as the Linux installation, and I'd just have to move it later to that partition on the Windows HD. I think it shouldn't be too difficult.

Do I understand it all correctly?

[leroys1000]

Do you have any important data you are trying to save
on these drives?
If not,it would just be easier to start from scratch,one drive
at a time.
Leave the swap partition on the linux drive as it will be running
from that drive.

You can probably boot to the vista cd and salvage the mbr
on that one.
Just watch the screen for a link that says repair options.
Click it and run startup repair.
Vista is usually pretty good at overwriting linux bootloaders.
That should get vista up.
You might want to consider XP and vista on the same drive
if you want that dual boot setup,as they play well together.
Then,just run linux on it's own drive.
Make sure the other drives are disconnected when installing it.

[BlackHorseman]

I can access all my partitions through Linux and I'm backed up, as they say, to the teeth, it's just that I'd worked hard on making my XP and Vista well-configured and suited to my needs, hate to be starting from scratch.

I understand about salvaging Vista. XP and Vista are on the same drive : )
Actually, if I salvage my Windaz boot, I'll leave everything as it is: for each OS, the OS will be installed on one physical drive and its swap area/pagefile will be on another.

Anyways - I really want to thank you for walking me through this (in theory, for now : ))
You've helped me plan my next steps.
I'll follow through with it as soon as I start feeling adventurous on a system-rocking scale again.
But that won't be too soon - Ubuntu is a lot of fun : )

D.

[leroys1000]

If you manage to salvage the vista boot,you can probably
add XP to the bootloader using this.
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

[BlackHorseman]

I thought the XP salvaging procedure might take care of that : )
I mean - the MBR contains only a reference to the boot loader which is actually situated at the start of the system partition. There the actual boot loader's table is, and since that has not been damaged (or touched) by GRUB during any of my installations of Ubuntu in all the various configurations I'd come up with, I guess the reference to the XP installation would still be there when the salvaging crews dramatically shine in with their flashlights....

I expect to actually go for it in about a month or two, so you'll have to wait a long time for the final installment of this saga. But I promise to do it and report back.

Thanks again,
D.

[saikee]

From my experience one can move a Xp between any partition and any hard disk as long as the original drive assignment is not upset.

I have installed Xp into a D drive, nuked the "C" drive and it still boots as a "D" when there isn't a C drive the box.

There are two ways of putting several MS Winodws in the same box.

Method 1 (MS way) - is to use a partition recognised by MS WIndows (fat16, fat32 or NTFS type) to store a common boot loader and Xp, Vista and Win7 each in their own partition without any boot loader of their own. The bootmgr of either Vista or Win7 will take ultimate control whereas the NTLDR of XP will still be kept in the boot partition.

Method 2 (Linux way) - is to install each MS Windows partition, has its boot loader inside, verified it working properly and then hide that partition when installing the next one. This method differs from the first method by not able to access the hidden partition but you can install as many MS systems as you care to install. Grub is used to unhide the system to be booted and re-map the disks if required.

I am usingt Method 1 for Xp, W2k, Vista and 2 Win7. For Method 2 I have it on another box with 3 Dos + 5 versions of Windows.

Linux will not be fun if it cannot boot all the MS WIndows one wishes to put into the same hard disk or computer.