Guest headlessspider Posted September 17, 2004 Report Share Posted September 17, 2004 (edited) hello, i want to set aside a hard disk for linux and linux only. i don't want to mess with my boot disk. too many files to think of eventhough i have backups. what i want to do is to boot to that particular hard disk via the bios and not use lilo. much like what knoppix does but instead of the cd linux will boot on that drive. can this be done? in mandrake? got any ideas? Edited September 17, 2004 by headlessspider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willisoften Posted September 19, 2004 Report Share Posted September 19, 2004 (edited) OK This is personal experience: Theres no guarantee that any of the ideas below will work flawlessly for you but they did for me! Just some ideas to kick around. I take no responsibility for people who wander around playing in the bios, overwriting mbrs, or carrying boot disks in public. Whatever happens is the sole responibility of headlessspider. I blame the parents......... I have two disks one with Linux (Debian at the moment) and one with XP pro <boooo!!>. I have used Mandrake in the recent past (9.2) I have done it both ways lilo on the mbr and lilo on the / or first linux-disk partition. The first is usually safe - I have had no problems. For the second: I'll presume your talking about a Windows disk. IF it's 98 I've never heard of a problem installing the bootloader on the MBR. It's easily restored anyway . But as you don't want to do it that way: Set Linux up as master on it's ide channel . Set the other OS as Master on a different ide channel. Load grub or lilo to the first partiton of your linux drive. Not to the MBR. Select whichever device you want to boot in the Bios. 1st Boot device Floppy 2nd Boot Device ide0 or whatever you want to boot. NB Windows of all flavours is often only happy as master on ide0. (Mine is master on ide3 - so go figure it's an old raid m'board) From my shaky memory - doing it this way you'll get the option to boot Windows using Lilo /grub when you switch to boot linux in the bios - and it'll probably work too! Nice. Alternatively: Set linux up as your boot drive. Install grub / lilo on first partion of your linux disk set other os up as master on a seperate ide channel. And let lilo boot it . You can sometimes move a full XP install to a new channel and it will remain happy. I don't guarantee it though. Might be worth trying. Don't drop the damn hard drive. Alternatively : Install the boot loader on a floppy. As for your original HDD Back everything up again just for the hell of it. It's your insurance policy against making a mistake, misinterpreting instructions during an install, dropping your computer spilling coke on it etc.. I'll be happy to answer any more questions but I'm actually working in Dublin at the moment and won't be back home for a few weeks maybe a month. Keep posting here other peole will be along. Many / most ? of them have more experience than me. Edited September 19, 2004 by willisoften Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest headlessspider Posted September 20, 2004 Report Share Posted September 20, 2004 OK This is personal experience: ..... overwriting mbrs, or carrying boot disks in public. Whatever happens is the sole responibility of headlessspider. I blame the parents......... lol! that made me really laugh. i'll try the steps and post the results here whatever they may be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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