[Topazz]

I have two hard drives and after after disconnecting the primary HDD and changing the second HDD from slave to master I installed Fedora Core 2 on the second HDD.

This was successful but after plugging the primary HDD back in and changing the boot order in the BIOS to allow the computer to boot from the slave drive FC2 will not load. It mutters something about the file system on /hda3/ (I think) and wants to restart. This is all it will do.

I can easily change the boot order back to the primary HDD to return to Windows but it would be good to get into FC2 as well. I was able to do this when the second hard drive was purchased and I had a Windows installation on each drive and could boot into either by switching the boot order around in the BIOS.

Am I missing something? Can it be done with Linux or do I have to go out and buy a removable HDD caddy to swap the drives around?

[lynch]

Originally Posted by Topazz

I have two hard drives and after after disconnecting the primary HDD and changing the second HDD from slave to master I installed Fedora Core 2 on the second HDD.

Was'nt nescessary; Linux will install to a slave drive.

This was successful but after plugging the primary HDD back in and changing the boot order in the BIOS to allow the computer to boot from the slave drive FC2 will not load. It mutters something about the file system on /hda3/ (I think) and wants to restart. This is all it will do.

The Linux bootloader (probably Grub) is looking for a master drive(hda or hdc; slaves are hdb or hdd). Being that you swapped it back from master to slave, Grub is looking for another drive.

I can easily change the boot order back to the primary HDD to return to Windows but it would be good to get into FC2 as well. I was able to do this when the second hard drive was purchased and I had a Windows installation on each drive and could boot into either by switching the boot order around in the BIOS.

You may just want to leave the drives as they are, continue to boot from the 1st hard drive and reinstall Fedora. When you get to the partitioning part, choose custom partitioning and select to install Fedora to hdb ( I assume both drives are on the same controller?) And if asked where you want the bootloader, install it to the MBR, which is on the 1st drive's boot sector.

Am I missing something? Can it be done with Linux or do I have to go out and buy a removable HDD caddy to swap the drives around?

No need to buy a drive tray: Do the above or try running the install CD in
rescue mode to redo the bootloader. Instructions for that can be read here
HTH
lynch

[Topazz]

Thank you very much for your advice.

I was hoping to have Linux booting and running on its own hard drive rather than as a dual boot with Windows. For some reason I had the idea that I could somehow configure GRUB to allow me to do this but it doesn't look that promising.

Never mind, I will study the notes in the links you have posted and decide which would be the best option.

[lynch]

Whoops!, I was under the impression that you did want to dual-boot with windows. My bad.
A removable drive tray setup would be a good solution in that case.
That or booting Linux from a floppy or the install CD.
lynch

[Topazz]

No problem. I obviously didn't make it clear enough what I wished to do.

Many thanks for all your advice.