Dualboot Two Hard Drives

[alfy]

Hi!
I too have two hard disks SATA.
On the first HD there is WinXP, the second is blank.

I would install Ubuntu on the second, and put Grub on it.
I read first post, but I've a question:

My motherboard do not permit to choose which hard disk is "the bootable".

So, if I unplug my first HD (with XP), where I'll plug the second HD (the blank one) before to install Ubuntu, on SATA1 slot or SATA2 slot (this is where it plugged now)?
I think on SATA2, but motherboard will recognize the disk on SATA2?

Excuse me for my english and my confusion.

[confused57]

Hi!
I too have two hard disks SATA.
On the first HD there is WinXP, the second is blank.

I would install Ubuntu on the second, and put Grub on it.
I read first post, but I've a question:

My motherboard do not permit to choose which hard disk is "the bootable".

So, if I unplug my first HD (with XP), where I'll plug the second HD (the blank one) before to install Ubuntu, on SATA1 slot or SATA2 slot (this is where it plugged now)?
I think on SATA2, but motherboard will recognize the disk on SATA2?

Excuse me for my english and my confusion.

Unplug your XP drive, then plug the drive you're going to install Ubuntu on SATA1...after you have Ubuntu installed, then you can connect your XP drive to SATA2, then see the first post in this thread for adding an entry to grub for booting XP.

[BPMOU]

Hey Confused: I read the grub modification on the first post, but admit I am lost. My Vista drive is in SATA 2 and the Ubuntu is in SATA 4 (this is what is shows when I choose which one to boot) and if nothing is done Vista boots up. I want Ubuntu to boot if nothing else is selected. What specially should I put into the grub menu for 2 SATA drives, one with Vista and one with Ubuntu?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[confused57]

Hey Confused: I read the grub modification on the first post, but admit I am lost. My Vista drive is in SATA 2 and the Ubuntu is in SATA 4 (this is what is shows when I choose which one to boot) and if nothing is done Vista boots up. I want Ubuntu to boot if nothing else is selected. What specially should I put into the grub menu for 2 SATA drives, one with Vista and one with Ubuntu?

Thanks in advance for your help.

All you need to do is move your grub Vista entry to the very BOTTOM of your menu.lst, instructions are in the first post...make a backup of your current menu.lst first:

cd /boot/grub
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst_backup

then

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

[alfy]

Thanks for your reply, Confused!

Unplug your XP drive, then plug the drive you're going to install Ubuntu on SATA1...after you have Ubuntu installed, then you can connect your XP drive to SATA2, then see the first post in this thread for adding an entry to grub for booting XP.

Hmmm, so...

Bios look for MBR in the disk on SATA1 slot first, and then, search in the slot SATA2 ?
For Bios, SATA1 is "a kind of" master, and SATA2 "a kind of" slave?

Have I got that right?

[confused57]

Thanks for your reply, Confused!



Hmmm, so...

Bios look for MBR in the disk on SATA1 slot first, and then, search in the slot SATA2 ?
For Bios, SATA1 is "a kind of" master, and SATA2 "a kind of" slave?

Have I got that right?

In the context of this thread, you could look at it as SATA1 master & SATA2 slave...your SATA1 is the first hard drive in the boot sequence, which is where you want Ubuntu installed.

I can only boot to the master hard drive(not the slave drive) on my Dimension 4550, therefore I had to set the Ubuntu drive as master in order to boot using grub.

[alfy]

In the context of this thread, you could look at it as SATA1 master & SATA2 slave...your SATA1 is the first hard drive in the boot sequence, which is where you want Ubuntu installed.

I can only boot to the master hard drive(not the slave drive) on my Dimension 4550, therefore I had to set the Ubuntu drive as master in order to boot using grub.

Ok, thanks!
I understand now!

[BPMOU]

Ok from before. Where exactly do I make the mentioned change? I am trying to switch ubuntu as the primary or default boot so that Vista has to be selected. HEre is my menu.lst. I am new, so thanks for your patients.

menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=d1bd994f-5ff5-4ce8-804f-269db4d2d604 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=d1bd994f-5ff5-4ce8-804f-269db4d2d604 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=d1bd994f-5ff5-4ce8-804f-269db4d2d604 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

[confused57]

BPMOU,
If you're able to boot into Ubuntu from grub if you boot first to your Ubuntu drive, then all you need to do is add your Vista entry to the bottom of your menu.lst, e.g.:

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=d1bd994f-5ff5-4ce8-804f-269db4d2d604 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=d1bd994f-5ff5-4ce8-804f-269db4d2d604 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

title Windows Vista
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

If Vista is on the second partition, then you would need to use root (hd1,1)...you can check your partition layout, by opening a terminal, enter:

sudo fdisk -l

-l is a lowercase "L"

[dayyou]

Ok I know this sounds like a novice question but,
this works on vista right? I don't want to go off
and try this before i mess every thing up.