Linux/Windows XP Dual boot/Dual Hard Drive

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!

 

Saw your other thread first so replied there http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/325121

This one is in a better place though, but I worked down the forums so caught it last heh.

 

fuel -- i have just set up (for the umpteenth time) a dual boot with XP and Linux. what i have done differently this time (and it was thanks to thread in this forum and from somewhere else), is to install XP on my biggest drive (with any partitioning i so desired) with the second hard disk disconnected during the install. once you have XP set up, power off your PC, and reconnect the other drive. Now before going any further, set the XP drive as the SLAVE, and the drive you are going to install Linux on as a master. I installed SUSE 10 (evaluation DVD) for my linux OS (I have tried others but i am impressed with the ease of use of SUSE so far). When the installation is progressing, it will set up the boot manager for you on your master drive (Linux), this will be either GRUB or LILO (depending on your OS), and it will find the XP install on the other drive. Just follow the onscreen instructions and it will be set up for you.
When you reboot you get your menu screen and you are able to select whether you want to go into XP or Linux.
The advantage to this is that if you decide to take your Linux drive out and place it in a stand alone PC, or you wish to put in a new drive, when you boot the PC back up the other drive still has the MBR on it for XP and if it is set as the master then everything will be hunky dory, and XP will never know that the other OS was there. When you are in XP, you should only have one drive visible (XP cannot read the Linux filesystem to my knowledge), but from Linux (SUSE and Mandriva can, not sure about others) you can access the XP drives in a read only format so you can copy stuff over, or if you are using Amarok (or another media player) you can build a library from the XP drives.
Quite a big post, but it is a simple operation to carry out. I am still a Linux noob (even have a book on order), but when i tried this it worked for me first time with no problems whatsoever. It also takes away the issue of having to fix the MBR of Windoze anytime you decide to uninstall Linux.

 

Damn!!! Are you still alive? Suecide?

@fuel_f2f

Everything is so simple! You just need some free hdd space (it depends how much you do know PC hdd partitioning)

Boot fro

 

2 Admins/Addicts... Seems to be a forum bug..

 

Thanks for the info... so making the XP drive the master and the Linux drive the slave I could get some complications when removing Linux or the Linux drive?

If that is correct then I'm guessing I should switch the XP drive to slave and the Linux to Master as you suggested?

If there is nothing wrong with XP as Master and Linux as slave drive please let me know. I'm switching them anyways but I'd like to have that knowledge at my disposal. Thanks.

 

@fuel_f2f

How old are you?

 

boba - it may seem like a lot of work, but it does work like a charm. what the method i have described does is not alter the MBR on the master disk (normally the windows install), so if the linux drive ever crashes/dies/gets pulled out to put another disk in, there is no need to go in and fix the MBR. I know it is not a big job, but it removes the need to do it.

fuel -- you would get problems if you install the boot loader on the master if XP is on the master, because if the linux drive was removed then you would not be able to boot up (you can go in and fix the MBR using the XP disk though). The method described is really simple (I am NOT a PC genius by any means), and just takes away this small issue. Having a second drive is also useful because if decide to change the Linux OS then when you format you are only dealing with one drive that is dedicated to Linux and not have to worry about mucking up XP.

 

Not that my age is of any concern but I am 21.

ktulu, like you I am no computer genious but I am a whiz when I learn something about computers. I've only recently been getting into a lot of software stuff... I'm catching on fast and want to learn a bunch. And I know that Linux is a more advanced operating system than Windows and I definately want to learn it. XP is easy to use but it has so many problems with instability and such. Linux is supposed to be a much better, stable OS but I know it takes some knowledge to run it well and its not for all beginners.

This is gonna be a fun experiment I think

Edit> Changed XP 80GB IDE drive to slave and 20GB ATA drive to Master and tried to install Linux Red Hat, Fedora Distro.
It could not find a hard drive. I switched the Slave and Masters and tried it that way, it only detected the XP IDE 80GB drive. I gave up and rebooted normally to search some stuff and now the 20GB drive doesn't even show up as a drive... I'm lost...

 

fuel, try having the 20GB drive just on its own, i.e. only have the IDE cable and the power going to it and try that. I think the slave has to be the last on the cable (someone correct me if I am wrong). If the 20 GB drive cannot be found if it is the only one connected, then the drive might be knackered. Beyond this I am a bit lost.

 

I tried the 20GB by itself and it never picked up that it was there... not to mention when I put everything back to the way it was that the 20GB now doesn't register at all in my setup... I had it working as a 3rd drive(my 80GB is partitioned) but now its nowhere to be seen... I'm totally lost. I'll mess around with it some more.

1 Question... if I do happen to get the drive working by itself I won't be able to have dual boot then will I? cause the Linux install won't detect the 80GB XP drive thats unplugged... If not, then I'm gonna be pissed.

OMFG wait a second... I think I firgured it out and I think I'm a moron... I have the drives running off different IDE cables... could that be whats making it clash? I never really thought that much of it when I first installed the 20GB but it DID work on different cables, but it could be causing the mess-up right?

 

could be the problem. if you connect the drives up on 1 cable and see if XP sees it then you are in with a shout. then just follow the destructions above and you should have a linux dual boot install.

 

@ktulu14:

No offence. May be I've chose a wrong word, but my english is bad.

@fuel_f2f:

If you still need help partitioning you drive then pm me or we can descuss the whole process in this thread. Everything is very simple and you are right that linux is very flexible system. It is a little complicated but you will get used to it in few months.

 

Partitioning is easy, but thanks for the offer... my problem was having 2 seperate Drives, not 1 partitioned one. and have Dual boot from that... but I think the 20GB I had in a box for a couple of years is a broken one... I forget why I had it there anyways...

 

In my opinion instead of repartitioning your hard drive to set up a dual boot, just get a copy of vmware and use it to create a virtual partition of linux on your system. With vmware there is no need to repartition. You simply delegate a certain amout of space to the os in a folder and run a virtual machine (linux or any other OS except mac os's) in windows mode with XP in the back ground. Press CTRL + ALT to make linux your full screen and press it again to get back into window mode. Very user friendly, easy to set up and configure.

 

Hi Everyone... im new here and a newbie in linux....Have a question to ktulu14..followed your steps, but what happen is ,On my pc wont detect the second hdd,which is xp on it.xp is on slave. so what i did i unplug the power of xp hdd and installed suse10.0.It boots on xp to the logo but after that gives me blue screen error.and even suse wont boot only blinking cursor...thanks...

 

I personally gave up on dual boot and went dual Tower lol. Salvaged some old parts, plus some old stuff from a local comp store and found out some people were getting rid of their old computers. Its much easier this way lol. Not to mention I can run both at once

 

can you boot lin?

 

boba....are you responding on my question....Yes i can boot to linux or xp ,but i have to unplugg the power of one of the hdd.Like if i want linux unplugg xp.If both plugg its not gonna boot,even changing the bios. On xp it will boot to windows logo but after that blue screen,and if linux it will go to the detecting hardware ,(those icon)but hang..

 

@mnm:
problem solved or not?