rogerh Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Hello, My objective is to install Mandriva 2006/XP dual boot, and am now running just Mandrake 10.0. The system has two hard drives, 10GB and 45GB, with the Mandrake 10.0 on the 10GB drive and the other drive basically sitting idle..... Is it feasible/easy to do the new install on the 45GB drive, alter the drive boot sequence (excuse the probably incorrect terminology), and then retain the existing Mandrake 10.0 on the now secondary drive?? Any suggestions would be appreciated, as well as pointers to simple info on altering the boot sequence. Also, is the creation of a dual boot on Mandriva 2006 a no-brainer?? If not, then correct setup parameter recommendations would be appreciated. I just know enough to be DANGEROUS!! Really looking forward to getting the new installation complete and working with 2006. Thanks -- Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Linux does not need an altered "boot drive" sequence. That is a limitation of windows. Simply install 2006 where you wish and make the edits to your boot loader. It is really simple. Post which partition and which bootloader you are using, and we can post the edit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerh Posted December 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Hello and thanks for the fast reply. Wanted to get clear on this before I started.... When I install XP, I assumed that it was going to want to be on the primary drive. Given that I can install XP and 2006 on the secondary drive, I will then have Mandrake 10.0 on primary drive and XP/2006 on secondary drive. I will contact re edits to the boot loader at that point (given that I can't work it out). I assume that I will still be booting off the Mandrake 10.0 on the primary drive, so I should still have web access. Regards -- Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Ummm.... Read what I said again, please. Windows does need to think it is on the main boot device or it will not function correctly. Linux does not. So where ever you install windows, that device must be a primary boot. That fact that you are pairing windows with 2006 on the drive is irrelevent. If you install the way you describe, the linux installs will function and windows will not. In this case, many will try to blame linux, but it is a windows limitation, not linux. Think of it like this: When an OS is running, it has full control of the computer. Linux can run the computer from anywhere. Just tell it where everything is (partitions) and it's happy. But windows has a coded limitation in that it will not run a computer from anywhere but the main boot device. Since there are no useful reasons for dong this, I can ony assume that it is window's way of contolling the user, as opposed to making better computing. So, xp will have to be on the main boot device. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerh Posted December 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Thanks for the clarification. It sounds like I am back to my inital question, since XP does indeed want to be on the primary drive. Currently Mandrake 10.0 is on my primary drive and my secondary drive is empty. I am assuming that the boot loader (pardon terminology if incorrect) defines the sequence in which the devices are read, and that I can change the designation making my current primary drive secondary and the current secondary drive primary. Given that I can do that, then I can retain Mandrake 10.0 on my now secondary drive and perform the install on my 'new' primary drive. Should there be a problem and I want to boot Mandrake 10.0, then I can change the boot sequence back to where is it now. If this assumption is correct, any guidance on how to change the boot sequence would be helpful. Thanks for your patience -- Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 The Mandrake 10 installation does not need to be on the primary in order to run. Here is what I would do with your setup: 1) Move the mandy 10 install to the secondary position. Place the empty drive as primary boot, hda in linux terminology. 2) Install windows first. During the install, partition the drive so that windows will only occupy one partition, 20G perhaps? Leave the remaining part unpartitioned. 3) After installing windows, install Mandriva on the remaining unpartitioned space on hda. (The drive you just installed windows on) 4) Install lilo (or grub) to the mbr. It should find the other linix installation as well as windows. Do not be concerned about the old boot loader on the mandy 10 drive. 5) lilo or grub will boot any of the os's just fine. Leave the new drive as the boot device for window's sake. You will be able to boot any of them without making any other changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerh Posted December 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Thanks very much, it sounds like an ideal solution (given that I can actually implement it : )) At the risk of further revealing my limited knowledge, do I have to physically swap the drives or is there a software means through a revised definition of the system boot process?? Thanks -- Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 If you have a new bios that can determine the boot device, use it. Change it once before installing and leave it alone after that. If you are mechanically able, I would choose to physically locate the drives at the appropriate channels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerh Posted December 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 Thanks, I will go ahead and physically swap the drives. Sounds like my current Mandrake 10.0 will neither know nor care prior to installing the new system. Thanks again -- Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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