wb0gaz
March 7th, 2011, 01:29 AM
I am having trouble setting up a dual-boot Ubuntu (on IDE, unfortunately called /dev/sdb by Ubuntu) and Windows Vista (on SATA, called /dev/sda by Ubuntu) machine - the problem is related to where the Ubuntu 10.10 installer puts the Grub MBR - on /dev/sda - even though all of Ubuntu is being installed on /dev/sdb, my IDE drive.
The Grub install process is at the very end of the installation procedure.... is there a way to tell it to put the MBR on /dev/sdb (the IDE drive)?
(more detail if needed):
My machine has one IDE and one SATA hard drive; IDE is designated for Ubuntu, the SATA drive (which is removable, so it is not always in the machine) has Windows Vista. When I run the Ubuntu 10.10 server installer, the IDE drive is intended by me to go on /dev/sdb (the device Ubuntu calls the IDE drive), and the SATA drive is designated /dev/sda. This ordering of drives is not the way I would have preferred, but that's how the OS and the motherboard are interacting on this particular machine; it seems the ordering is inconsistent among various machines - calling IDE drives /dev/hdx would avoid this problem, but that's not how Ubuntu is built nowadays, so I am working through it.
On this machine, I can choose which of the two drives is enabled for boot as a BIOS set-up option. During the install of Ubuntu, I have set the IDE drive as bootable (important - this doesn't seem to influence the logic in the Ubuntu installer which chose the SATA drive - /dev/sda - as the place for MBR.) Basically, I want GRUB to offer the two options (Ubuntu or Vista), but if the Vista drive is absent on a given boot, of course I don't expect anything sensible to happen.
The problem is that Ubuntu 10.10 server installer wants to put the grub MBR on /dev/sda (which happens to be the Vista SATA drive) even though the Ubuntu partitions are being put on /dev/sdb (the IDE drive). This is not usable because when the Vista drive is absent (it is a removable SATA drive), I want the remaining IDE drive to operate stand-alone; it would be /dev/sda itself at that point.
The Grub install process is at the very end of the installation procedure.... is there a way to tell it to put the MBR on /dev/sdb (the IDE drive)?
(more detail if needed):
My machine has one IDE and one SATA hard drive; IDE is designated for Ubuntu, the SATA drive (which is removable, so it is not always in the machine) has Windows Vista. When I run the Ubuntu 10.10 server installer, the IDE drive is intended by me to go on /dev/sdb (the device Ubuntu calls the IDE drive), and the SATA drive is designated /dev/sda. This ordering of drives is not the way I would have preferred, but that's how the OS and the motherboard are interacting on this particular machine; it seems the ordering is inconsistent among various machines - calling IDE drives /dev/hdx would avoid this problem, but that's not how Ubuntu is built nowadays, so I am working through it.
On this machine, I can choose which of the two drives is enabled for boot as a BIOS set-up option. During the install of Ubuntu, I have set the IDE drive as bootable (important - this doesn't seem to influence the logic in the Ubuntu installer which chose the SATA drive - /dev/sda - as the place for MBR.) Basically, I want GRUB to offer the two options (Ubuntu or Vista), but if the Vista drive is absent on a given boot, of course I don't expect anything sensible to happen.
The problem is that Ubuntu 10.10 server installer wants to put the grub MBR on /dev/sda (which happens to be the Vista SATA drive) even though the Ubuntu partitions are being put on /dev/sdb (the IDE drive). This is not usable because when the Vista drive is absent (it is a removable SATA drive), I want the remaining IDE drive to operate stand-alone; it would be /dev/sda itself at that point.