FlyingPenguins Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 (edited) Hello, My computer currently dual boots Windows XP and Mandriva 2006 through the use of two partitions. I use GRUB as a boot manager. I want to upgrade Mandriva 2006 to 2008, without having to reformat XP. Is it possible to do this? If so, how? Edited December 23, 2007 by FlyingPenguins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 There is an upgrade option in the Mandriva installation. But beware that an upgrade frequently has odd problems that can be sorted out and corrected. If your 2006 installation is all Mandriva original software, then it should work just fine. Just boot with the Mandriva 2008 dvd and choose upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardp Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 It's always been recommended to me that when wanting to upgrade to a new version, it's better to install it as a new installation instead of as an upgrade, due to various problems that can occur. The installer should detect the presence of Windows, so when the bootloader is written, you should continue to have a Windows option afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieJohn Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Doing an upgrade from 2006 to 2008 is really asking for trouble. It really is too many versions back to upgrade over, especially since so many new procedures are used that didn't exist in earlier versions. If you were going from 2007-Spring to 2008 you would have every chance of being OK. Installing 2008 will not have anything to do with your Win XP. It will only effect the bootloader on the MBR which Windows (the OS) thinks it owns. As Edward says, the GRUB bootloader will detect your Windows installation and include an entry in the boot menu to enable you to boot into Windows. A Merry Christmas to all in this thread. Cheers. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude67 Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 I, too, run WinXP and MDV (2008). I would also suggest running a clean install in stead of upgrade (reasons listed above posts). The MDV installation does not touch your WinXP partition if you do not let it. Just search this forum for advice, if you need them. Do you have a separate /home partition? If you do, then it's easy to keep all the personal information you have (e-mails, documents etc.). If you choose the "Custom disk partitioning" (or was it "use existing partitions"?) you will be asked during the installation process which partitions you would like to format. Just leave the /home partition alone and format the rest of the Mandriva partitions (not the windoze ones - but I guess it will not even ask to format that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingPenguins Posted December 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Thanks for your replies, everyone. :D They definitely clarified things for me. BTW, I forgot to specify that by 'upgrade', I meant "replace 2006 with 2008, even if it means reformatting the Linux partition". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 (edited) There shouldn't be any REAL problems, even if you upgrade 2006 to 2008. In the case of upgrade, the most important change is the switch to the libata driver for IDE devices, which will significantly change some device nodes ( /dev/hdx to /dev/sdx ). This will "probably" mean a failure next time to boot properly, but the fix is quite easy,even for inexperienced users- so nothing to really worry about. Edited December 24, 2007 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 I think the best bet is to upgrade from 2006(->2007.0, might not be necessary)->2007.1-> 2008.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude67 Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 If you have your personal data secured either in a separate /home partition or somewhere else (external HD, CD/DVD, USB dongle), I would definitely suggest a clean install of 2008 with keeping your /home intact. At least, that's what I'd do... Here's an excellent walkthrough for installing 2008 and (imho) an indispensible guide for getting the most of MDV desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingPenguins Posted December 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 I think the best bet is to upgrade from 2006(->2007.0, might not be necessary)->2007.1-> 2008.0 :blink: And I thought wasting 4 blank CD-Rs (is that how many I need?) was costly. I only have a CD burner, and blank CDs are becoming more expensive and harder to find than DVDs. I think I may buy a DVD burner first before installing Mandriva. Here's an excellent walkthrough for installing 2008 and (imho) an indispensible guide for getting the most of MDV desktop. Looks like they're very helpful guides. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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