[SOLVED] [grub] Vista Dual Boot - 3 HD

[TeXtonyx]

caljohnsmith wrote: The method you describe above will only work if the Linux boot sector that you copy is on the same HDD as Windows; if Linux is on a different HDD, you have to install Grub to the boot sector in a special way so that when you move the boot sector to the Windows drive, the boot sector will correctly point to the external drive. If you use the method above, Grub will point to the same drive it is on, so moving the boot sector to the Windows drive won't work.

I unfortunately learned all of that the hard way myself, but if you don't believe me, feel free to try."
------------------------------------------------

You wrote that before and I responded that it worked on two of my
computer systems each of which has two drives, and I've seen a web
reference. But I can't remember if I used dd with two drives
installed, perhaps I just tested dd for dual booting on just one drive.
That is because I switched to Bootpart, which is much easier.
http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm
Although it doesn't say Vista, it works for Vista to create a
512 byte segment which boots from a second drive. The method for
XP, writing to boot.ini doesn't apply. I used to think Bootpart
was the same thing as the dd method, but in a discussion with
meierfra, I learned they are not the same thing.
I'm using the 512 bytes created by Bootpart to boot my second
drive which has Ubuntu installed on this computer I'm typing from.

Well, ok, I will try it now, shouldn't take too long, and I will
report the result back to this thread promptly.

EDIT: I just realized I'm downloading a large file so I'll find
out after the download completes. Also I used sda in this example
because that is where the OP has Linux installed. I have Ubuntu
installed on the second drive, sdb, so will use that for dd.

[meierfra.]

Just a few more options:

title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
chainloader +1


title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1


title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1


Sorry, for giving you this many options, but in my experience, if raid is involved, it is pretty much impossible to predict what the correct parameters are.

If none of this works, I agree with caljohnsmith and tex: give eascybcd a try.

[TeXtonyx]

Well, the dd method did not work I just got a GRUB screen.
The first time I posted those bcdedit instructions, I added
the following remark in Re: Moving GRUB location? #25

"TeX: This was the same method I used earlier, only with XP
and boot.ini, before I discovered Bootpart."

So I switched back to the Bootpart created Ubuntu.bin and it works to
access the second hard drive still. I had tried to install Mandriva on hdb
in a fat32 partition, I supposedly formatted the fat32 partion with ext 3.
The install failed and checking later the fat32 partition was still fat32.

But Bootpart didn't work now and reported: Loading New Partition
Cannot load from hard disk. Similar to the error reported by the OP.

So you are correct, the dd method does not work. But the Bootpart method
does work. I'm using it now in Ubuntu on my second drive. Bootpart
presents a list of drives and partition with their types which makes it
easy to choose the right partition to create the linux.bin. Real evidence
that dd and Bootpart don't work the same way.

I hope that one of those last three menu.lst entries suggested works.

I got a free coffee from Starbuck's for voting. Ain't America great.

[TeXtonyx]

I wondered why I was suffering from such a wrong impression about
the equivalence of dd and Bootpart.

--------------------------------------------

http://www.linux.com/feature/113945
Convert a Windows system to dual-boot Linux on a second drive ...

Boot sector transplant

"The next step in the process is to save a copy of the Linux boot
partition. *This can be done either with dd in Linux or with the
free Bootpart utility under Windows. Either program simply takes
the first 512 bytes on the disk and puts them into a file.* The
dd command to do this is dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=bootsect.lnx size=512
count=1. Once you have this file, copy it to a diskette or some
other removable media so you can then copy it to the Windows
drive for NTLDR.

I happened to use Bootpart because I forgot to use dd before I
booted the system back to Windows. If you use Bootpart you don't
have to copy the boot sector to a diskette, as you are already in
Windows. To complete the transplant, place the file you created
*with dd or Bootpart on the Windows drive as C:\bootsect.lnx.*"

----------------------------------------------

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=108021

Configuring A Dual-Boot Windows2000/XP & Linux System

cd \bootpart
bootpart

When you run it, you get a report similar to the one below:

Physical number of disk 0: ffff6a32
0 : C:* type=42 , size=22659651 KB, Lba Pos=63
1 : C: type=42 , size=17358232 KB, Lba Pos=45319365
Physical number of Disk 1 : ca1dca1d
2 : D: type=83 <Linux native>, size=6184993 KB, Lba Pos=63
3 : D: type=82 <Linux swap>, size=522112 KB, LBA Pos=12370050
4 : D: type=83 <Linux Native>, Size=1542240 KB, LBA Pos=13414275

---------------------------------------------

In this example whose purpose was to demonstrate how Bootpart
worked, there is a disk 0, and a Disk 1, two hard drives. It does
not say that dd and bootpart are equivalent. However, the first
webpage is rather emphatic about saying dd and bootpart are the
same, "Either program simply takes the first 512 bytes on the
disk and puts them into a file."

One would think linux.com would be a reliable source of information.
And if majorgeeks.com wanted to feature the advantages of Bootpart,
it should have pointed out that the dd command was ineffective
in the context of two hard drives which its example displayed,
but that Bootpart bypassed this limitation of dd.

It just goes to show you, never trust authority. Anyway, I figure
that ten to one on a dime is a dollar, the price of a cup of coffee
at Starbuck's which I mentioned was free yesterday.

[TeXtonyx]

Well, I got dd to work.

Drive 0 = WinXP + Ubuntu

Drive 1 = Vista + Ubuntu

I used dd to copy the 512 bytes of the Ubuntu boot sector to ubiwan.bin
That gives me the option to boot Vista. In Vista I repeated dd to get the
512 bytes of Drive 1 Ubuntu /boot (linux.bin). I followed the instructions
to manually (bcdedit) add Ubuntu on hd1 to the Vista bootloader options:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 10 seconds.
Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry #1

Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry #2

Name: GRUB
BCD ID: {7b1c2e71-ab94-11dd-869f-000c7613bf91}
Drive: Active Boot Partition
Bootloader Path: \linux.bin

That works if I change the bios to boot Vista first.

Since I have WinXP booting 1st normally, I choose Ubiwan to boot Vista
on the grub menu.lst. Then selecting Vista lets me choose to boot Vista
or Grub which is the name for Ubuntu on the second drive. Easybcd only
made a working entry for NeoSmart Linux when I booted directly to Vista.
The GRUB title and the NeoSmart Linux title point to the same Ubuntu hdb5
so I don't know why Ubuntu only worked for both methods using linux.bin,
which is the dd created entry for Ubuntu on hd1, grub installed to /boot.
Maybe because dd works when it is invoked from the active boot drive.

EDIT: But, booting Vista (hd1) and picking the Ubu.bin
created by dd, for Ubuntu located on drive 0, doesn't work.

[pofigster]

Wow, this thread exploded while I was gone - I thought I was supposed to get email notifications...

Ok, first off, I had already used EasyBCD (or whatever it was called - it was using this method that got me the error I reported)

I got GRUB to boot into Vista properly. All I had to do was change my settings so that instead of RAID the BIOS set up the hard drives as AHCI. I dunno...it was kinda weird.

Thanks for all the help everybody!