With 4 drives I do not understand why you cannot install grub to another MBR and still have windows boot on the other MBR and choose in BIOS and have it work. I have 3 drives and generally have 3 different boot loaders and while usually using just grub to choose what to boot can choose to directly boot any drive with f12 or change boot order in BIOS and boot with a different boot loader.
Run your boot_info script again to see what is installed where now that you have moved things around.
Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010
============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks for
(UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59)/boot/grub.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdd and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for /media/sdd1/boot/grub.
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows Vista
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe
sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /Windows/System32/winload.exe
sdd1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: Grub 2
Boot sector info: Grub 2 is installed in the boot sector of sdd1 and
looks at sector 307071 of the same hard drive for
core.img, core.img is at this location on /dev/sdd and
looks on partition #1 for /boot/grub.
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sdd2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdd5: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcbce2081
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 1,953,520,064 1,953,520,002 7 HPFS/NTFS
Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x86c8741f
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2,048 1,953,521,663 1,953,519,616 7 HPFS/NTFS
Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x5b1c2173
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sdc1 2,048 1,953,521,663 1,953,519,616 7 HPFS/NTFS
Drive: sdd ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdd: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xafb10720
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sdd1 63 937,167,839 937,167,777 83 Linux
/dev/sdd2 937,167,840 976,768,064 39,600,225 5 Extended
/dev/sdd5 937,167,903 976,768,064 39,600,162 82 Linux swap / Solaris
blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/ramzswap0 swap
/dev/sda1 D27431CF7431B6D7 ntfs Iomega HDD
/dev/sdb1 7ABAABA6BAAB5D7F ntfs Vista 64
/dev/sdc1 8A744E9C744E8AC1 ntfs Win 7
/dev/sdd1 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ext4
/dev/sdd5 87bfb42c-5789-4794-afbb-3dcb048b4c7b swap
============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/sdd1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sr0 /media/cdrom0 iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev,utf8,user=jim)
=========================== sdd1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-20-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic root=UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ro splash vga=795 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-20-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic root=UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ro single splash vga=795
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-18-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-18-generic root=UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ro splash vga=795 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-18-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-18-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-18-generic root=UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ro single splash vga=795
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-18-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ro splash vga=795 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd3,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 ro single splash vga=795
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sdb1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7abaaba6baab5d7f
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
=============================== sdd1/etc/fstab: ===============================
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdd1 during installation
UUID=087bea97-1c54-4592-9ade-59c753c02c59 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sdd5 during installation
UUID=87bfb42c-5789-4794-afbb-3dcb048b4c7b none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
=================== sdd1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================
.1GB: boot/grub/core.img
4.6GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
4.3GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
4.4GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-18-generic
4.4GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic
.4GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
.1GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-18-generic
13.1GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic
4.4GB: initrd.img
4.3GB: initrd.img.old
13.1GB: vmlinuz
.4GB: vmlinuz.old
=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============
sde sdf sdg sdh sdi sdj
Do not understand what sda1: is?? It says it's type is Windows XP, but I don't have XP.
sdb1 is Vista, so that's one 1TB drive and it's in Bios as SATA: PM-SAMSUNG HD
sdc1 is Win7, so that's second 1TB drive and it's in Bios as SATA: SS-SAMSUNG HD
sdd1 is Ubuntu, 500MG drive in Bios (I BELIEVE??) as SATA: 4M-ST3500418A
sdd2 and sdd5 are extended partion and swap file on Ubuntu drive I believe.
external eSATA drive doesn't look like it's listed but it has nothing but files on it anyway.