I'm getting sick of XP and I want to Try Linux. I've heard so many good things about it, especially the Red Hat version. I was thinking of installing an old 20GB hard Drive I have laying around and putting Linux on it and trying to configure it to do dual boot. The thing is, I've read up and only found people doing the Dual boot Linux and Windows with a single Hard Drive Partitioned. I want to have 2 hard drives with an OS on each and run Dual Boot. Can this be done? I'm almost sure it should be an easy task. Now, if someone can tell me how to do this, I'm requesting detailed info on how to do this. I've never set up 2 hard drives, and I've also never set up a Dual boot machine. Also, if anyone can think of a better, easier to use, version of Linux other than Red Hat please tell me. Thanks for any and all help!
No1 has info on this? I thought it would be a rather common thing to run dual boot with dual hard drive.
Hi fuel_f2f, I will give you some info (but briefly). To dual-boot, it will be easy if your WinXP is not installed yet - just a bit more involved if you have a HD with WinXP already on it. You will need a DOS (Win98) bootdisk with DOS commands, or at least FDISK and FORMAT, and DELPART is handy (for NTFS partitions) too. I suggest the 20GB as master on the primary controller, and the more modern larger HD as master on the secondary controller - or do you have SATA? It's always good to leave the secondary controller for your DVD burner (or maybe you have SATA DVD burner, LoL :^) Anyway, you must make a system partition C:\ and it must be FAT. The largest possible partition = 2GB (FAT16) is what you want; this will contain your multi-boot menu (and boot.ini and NTLDR, for starting WinXP). If you make the 2GB partition, format it (with system), make DOS directory, copy all files from bootdisk, and copy and config autoexec.bat and config.sys, your PC will start and boot to C:\ prompt (just like 1992). DOS mode! If you then have ~18GB free and unpartitioned, and another big empty HD for WinXP, things are easy :^) Install WinXP; you will get multi-boot menu automatically, offering you Microsoft Windows (which is really the DOS mode) or WinXP. You can then install Linux on the 18GB - and because of the DOS mode it will be easy to do any Linux partitioning required. Linux will add itself to the multi-boot menu these days I believe... Before, you needed to install your DOS, then your Linux, THEN your Windows, and multi-boot menu would be written automatically. This is still a good 'safe' installation order for n00bies ;^) The chief skill in multi-booting is learning your boot.ini file - learning to point it at existing Windows installations on other hardisks that used to be C:\ but have been moved and are not C:\ any longer, for example. I would slave my burner to the 20GB on the primary controller if I were you (if you are without SATA) - that way Windows and the burner would be on separate controllers and could read & write to each other best. That's all for now (could write much more!) Come back with any specific questions... if I can answer them, Regards
The thing is, I already just finished getting my system set up from a long time of horrid events... my *0GB has XP on an 8GB partition C\: and then a 62GB partition for programs and other files so that when XP starts to become unstable I can again, format the Partition and keep my files intact. This is the first time I've done that. I think it was a wise decision. Now I installed my 20GB as a Slave and it is Drive F\: and I just formatted it. What I was really hoping for was an easy way to load Linux on that hard drive and then set up the multi boot. I've never even read up on multi-boot that much till the last few days and I've obviously never attempted. I'm by no means an expert also. I learn as I go on and pick up on computer related things rather quickly... Sad as though I was 16 before I owned my first computer... a 386 I built from trashed computers I found lol. This is sadly my first decent system... a 933mhz P3 with 256mb ram and 80GB HD. Oh and both hard drives are IDE and not Sata. I also formatted the 20GB F\: as Fat32 and not NTFS as I heard Linux prefers a Fat32 file system. So yea, the info was a bit new to me, but thanks. Any ideas on my request? or Do I have to start from a freshly formatted PC again?
You would have probably gotten more help if you would have posted this in the right forum. OS's are not hardware. Try the sfotware forum, or if you're lucky maybe a mod can move it for you.
Hi fuel_f2f. If you already have Windows installed and your 20GB HDD setup you are half way there. The next bit is pretty simple. 1st you need to decide on which distro of Linux your gonna go for, there's quite a few to choose from. Try this and see what it recommends http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php?select_lang=true Its just a little questionaire and gives some suggestions. After that, download the verison you decide on, burn it to a disk and reboot with the disk in your optical drive (making sure cd is set to boot in bios) When the Linux install starts it will ask you where you want it to put it, select your 20GB drive. Next it will ask about the file type, most versions will have an auto setting or a recommended setting which will partition it and format it for you in Linuxs native file system. It will let you choose a bootloader and finish the install. Now when you reboot you will get a choice, Windows or Linux. You should be good to go from there. Have fun.
Kool! cause I just have one more ISO to download and then I'm done the hard part. But I'll try that questionaire to see if theres a more suited version. Thanks a bunch! Edit> Took the test and it suggested Red Hats Fedoora which is what I am downloading. Right on
Yeah that test is pretty cool. I found it AFTER I had already settled on one, but when I took it, it chose the one I had chose anyway Have fun with Linux.
Yes that Linux Tester is fantastic :^) It is good tool to help promote wider acceptance of the OS. I got SuSE or Mandriva - good link (thanks).
