[pfmrof]

I have two drives, one master, one slave.
Can I install Linux on the second drive and be able to boot it?
Just thought it would be easier to keep XP on one drive and Linux on the other.

[DaijoubuKun]

No problem, just while installing linux tell it to use /dev/hdb (that would be the slave drive on the first IDE channel) And depending on the Disto. you decide to use it should do all that for you right away.

[saikee]

I have a number of DOS, Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris spreading around 4 hard disks (2IDE and 2 Sata) booted by one Grub.

This shows how you can keep the Windows disk untouched as a virgin.

[talon03]

I have my Linux installed on hdb, I installed LILO over the MBR on hda, I'm not sure if it works if you install it onto hdb, anyone know about that?

[saikee]

The PC always boots to the 1st disk norminated by the user. Hence the MBR of hda controls the rest.

You can have another NTLDR, Lilo or Grub residing in hdb and ask the hda boot loader to boot it as an alternative but somehow I don't think that is what you after.

The post I put up for avoiding touching Windows master disk requires a user to norminate the slave as the first bootable disk and therefore its MBR inhereits the hda status and the Windows MBR is "NOT" used. You get back to the original situation by reversing the boot disk order with the BIOS.

Windows can still be booted satisfactorily by the slave because it doesn't support Linux partitions and wouldn't load any of them. Thus its partition is still the first "C" drive when booted.

As any bootloader can be replaced by overwriting with another a user needs no worry of losing the Windows MBR. The fear is really to do with the ignorance (hence no confidence) not knowing how to resintate it. The fear is understandable as some users can be apprehensive of losing the warranty of the machine.

The Windows MBR is common to DOS and Windows and so a bootable DOS floppy can be used to restore it, using fdisk /mbr command. The installation CD useing fixmbr command is generally advocated by most XP/Win2k forums.

[pfmrof]

Thanks for the reply.
The link to the other thread was interesting.
I will study what you advise and see what happens.
Once again, thanks.

[Eleutherios]

I don't trust Grub, myself. Back when I would dual-boot, I would run it off a CD. I had... less than optimal experiences with Grub. Then again, that was three years ago, so yeah.

[saikee]

I trust Grub.

It is the best thing I have found in Linux. I haven't found any PC system that cannot be booted by it. The best part is that every system can be booted by the same 3 lines (only the partition number varies).

It is the easiest, simplest and the most powerful of all the boot-loaders. It is supposed to be able to boot systems before Grub itself was born and also systems that haven't been invented, as along as they conform to the PC's hard disk standard.

I shall make a report after I get Grub to multi-boot 100 systems. I have passed the mid point already.