[SOLVED] Transferring GRUB to Another Hard Drive

[hitenshi]

I just recently installed my computer in a dual boot setup with Windows XP and Ubuntu. My computer has two hard drives, an IDE onto which both OS's are installed, and a secondary SATA storage drive. For some reason, when I restarted my computer after installing Ubuntu, it wouldn't boot to the GRUB screen, but rather, go straight into XP. So, after some tinkering, I found out that if my computer booted from the secondary SATA drive first, GRUB would run. I could always work this way, but I want to transfer GRUB from the SATA to the IDE. I've tried taking a look at this (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto#head-62dd4ea50c42fb3113752a272d7100469d733668) article, but the explanation it provides doesn't help me too much. I don't understand it very well... >.<

Can anyone tell me how I might be able to transfer GRUB from my SATA drive to the IDE? Thanks. ^.^

[meierfra.]

Open a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), type


sudo fdisk -l

and post the output.


Then I (or someone else) will be able to give you detailed instruction.

[IgnorantGuru]

There are two issues... you want to put grub's boot code in the MBR of the IDE drive. You also want to tell grub where its root partition is. The desired root partition (on your IDE drive) must have grub's stage 1 files on it (/boot/grub). If it doesn't you should be able to copy them there, or install grub using the OS.

This briefly explains how to tell grub what root partition to use and how to install grub to the MBR...
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_To_Backup_Operating_Systems#How_To_Set_Grub.27 s_Root_Partition

[hitenshi]

Well... this is what I got from "sudo fdisk -l"


Disk /dev/sda: 82.3 GB, 82348277760 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0003990d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 5006 40210663+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 5007 10011 40202662+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 5007 9800 38507773+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9801 10011 1694826 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00071eb1

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 91201 732572001 b W95 FAT32

[meierfra.]

To install Grub to the MBR of the IDE drive, open a terminal and type


sudo grub
and then at the "grub>" prompt:


find /boot/grub/menu.lst
(the "l" is a lowercase L)

This should return (hd0,4) or (hd1,4).

If it returns "(hd0,4)" type this at the "grub>" prompt


root (hd0,4)
setup (hd0)
quit

If it returns "(hd1,4)" type


root (hd1,4)
setup (hd1)
quit

instead.


Next backup and open the file "/boot/grub/menu.lst" via




cd /boot/grub
sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.bu
gksudo gedit menu.lst

Look for the line

#groot (hd1,4)

change it to

#groot (hd0,4)


Look for your Windows item:

title Windows XP (or something like that)
root (hd1,0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
.....


change "root (hd1,0)" to "root (hd0,0)"

Delete the lines "map (hd0) (hd1)" and "map (hd1) (hd0)"

Save the file.


In the terminal type


sudo update-grub


That's it. You should now be able to boot from your IDE-drive.