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Old 07-25-2010, 07:48 PM   #16
Squeak92
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Hey, thanks for your reply. How do I go about doing that? They're both connected at all times, might have something to do with the fact that one is listed as the "Third IDE Master" and the other as the "Fourth IDE Slave", not sure how that's happened as I'm fairly sure I plugged both HDDs into the red sockets on the MB.

Perhaps I if unplug the windows one from it's fourth IDE slave slot and put it in the third IDE slave or fourth IDE master slot that will make a difference?

I'm really at a loss for what to do, and it's odd things like these that prevented me from migrating in the past.
 
Old 07-25-2010, 10:23 PM   #17
syg00
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Check the jumpers at the back of the drives - if you have 80 wire IDE cables (and you should) set the drives to "cable select".
May change the BIOS order of the drives (one time), but you should be able to talk to them.
 
Old 07-26-2010, 06:07 AM   #18
lugoteehalt
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Squeak92 View Post
Hey, thanks for your reply. How do I go about doing that? They're both connected at all times, might have something to do with the fact that one is listed as the "Third IDE Master" and the other as the "Fourth IDE Slave", not sure how that's happened as I'm fairly sure I plugged both HDDs into the red sockets on the MB.

Perhaps I if unplug the windows one from it's fourth IDE slave slot and put it in the third IDE slave or fourth IDE master slot that will make a difference?
In your first post it says SATA drives. These have little sort of 4 pin connectors into the mother board, as far as I know.

The point is, afik, 'master' and 'slave' are concepts that apply to ATAPI drives; these have a long twin row of many pins when they plug into the mother board. So the thing appears to be set up for ATAPI when it should be set up for SATA??

Were it me I'd plug the Windows (Bill worries about human overpopulation) drive into the number 1 SATA socket and the Linux drive into the second. But this might require some rewriting of the /etc/fstab file and grub's configuration file. So don't know if it's good advice in your situation.
 
Old 07-26-2010, 04:32 PM   #19
Squeak92
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I thought it was wierd they were listed as IDE master and IDE slave. I'm in XP atm and in device manager both hard drives are there, I'm not sure why linux wouldn't pick up on the other drive...
 
Old 07-26-2010, 06:21 PM   #20
saikee
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The Sata disks on some mobo are labelled as IDE disks so I wouldn't worry too much aboout the names in the Bios.

It is very rare that a hard disk detected in the Bios usable in one OS and not in another.

I would suggest you to boot up OPenSuse CD and use it as a Live CD to check if it can see the other disk that an installed version can't. Also try another distro to make sure.
 
Old 07-27-2010, 05:15 AM   #21
lugoteehalt
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Most of the other posters know more about this than me, but why not just try:
Code:
su
supply root password
Then, at the command prompt type grub-install .

Last edited by lugoteehalt; 07-27-2010 at 05:17 AM.
 
Old 07-30-2010, 06:02 AM   #22
Squeak92
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Okay so I have changed them on my motherboard so there is 3rd IDE master and 3rd IDE slave.

Using another distro to see if the drive is there is not possible. Is there no sort of command I can type, get a report for and then let the experts look at?
 
Old 07-30-2010, 08:06 AM   #23
saikee
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The first step is to check the disks reported in the Bios pages. This is the hardware detection level.

The next step is the Bios information will be made available to the operating system. If a Linux is used then all partitioning tools will report the same number of hard disks. So the easiest is
Code:
fdisk -l
If you got only one disk reported the other components of the Linux would not have more information. Since you are using OpenSuse so try this in the root terminal to let what Grub sees
Code:
grub
geometry (hd0)
geometry (hd1)
geometry (hd2)
quit

Last edited by saikee; 07-30-2010 at 08:07 AM.
 
Old 07-30-2010, 10:28 AM   #24
Squeak92
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I don't understand!

grub> geometry (hd0)
drive 0x80: C/H/S = 30401/255/63, The number of sectors = 488397168, /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500JS-0
0NCB1_WD-WCANK3323598
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82
Partition num: 1, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Partition num: 2, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> geometry (hd1)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub> geometry (hd2)

Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

grub>

How does it not exist...

Linux hd is master and windows hd is slave, is that right?
 
Old 07-30-2010, 11:43 AM   #25
lugoteehalt
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Squeak92 View Post
Linux hd is master and windows hd is slave, is that right?
Nothing to do with it if they are SATA drives, describe the plug that goes into the motherboard from the drive - you said you replugged them in or something, no need to take it apart.

As you may know but in case you don't: Assuming it's a SATA drive it is just a fairly simple plug that goes from the drive into the motherboard. The master/slave type drives have a ribbon cable with a long thin plug, with a twin line of many connectors, on the end and the slave drive is not plugged into the motherboard it is plugged into a socket on the side of the ribbon cable. At least that is what I am used to, tend to use old hardware.

The SATA drive needs two connections 1/ the above into the mother board and 2/ a power supply from the power supply.

Become the root user:
Code:
su
give root password as requested
fdisk -l
The program lshw lists the hardware, but it won't be helpful unless used by root.

Last edited by lugoteehalt; 07-30-2010 at 11:46 AM.
 
Old 07-30-2010, 12:50 PM   #26
johan1391
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Im also new to linux, could you not just install rEFIt?
 
Old 07-30-2010, 04:57 PM   #27
saikee
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Squeak92,

I think we have here before.

The Post #14 confirms that your Linux does not detect the second disk.

By Post #23 the Grub inside Linux also does not detect the second disk.

I suspect your second hard disk isn't reported in the Bios as OpenSuse would have used it if the Bios got it.

Whatever you have been doing the hardware is not connecting. I would power down the PC, open the box, pull the connectors out one at a time and plug it back a few times to see if I get better connections.

johan1391,

not too sure about your suggestion. Think rEFIt is a Mac program and is for gpt partitions. Linux does not need efi assistance to boot a gpt disk. The hard disk here uses msdos partition table.

Last edited by saikee; 07-30-2010 at 05:02 PM.
 
Old 08-01-2010, 11:49 AM   #28
Squeak92
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But my Bios must recognize it, because when I go to hard drives both are listed there, and I change the boot priority to switch between linux and windows.
 
Old 08-01-2010, 06:26 PM   #29
saikee
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OK let's take stock. Can we summarise your situation as per your Post #1.

Currently you have an installed Linux in one Sata disk and another Sata with only Xp inside. The WD model number WD2500JS does confirm your LInux disk is a Sata.


Both system will work if you select its hard disk as the first bootable disk. Therefore you can use either system as long as you change the first bootable disk in the Bios.

You want to dual boot them without going through the Bios as Grub has such function to alter the disk order at boot time.

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

The problem is Grub from the Linux disk cannot see the XP disk. Neither could your Linux which is OpenSuse. We don't know if Xp can see the OpenSuse disk but with a driver EXt2/3 partition will not be mounted by a Xp.

This is a high unusual situation and we can only take the word from you.

You also implied that you could not get a second opinion by booting up another Linux Live CD to get a second opinion. This would have been helpful for the diagnostics.


Can you therefore confirm if Xp sees the Linux disk or not? It should show up in Disk Management even if Xp cannot mount its partitions?

Can you confirm if the above accurately reflects your current situation?

Do you know the hard disk model for the XP disk? It is for us to eliminate the possibility that it is not a WD PATA disk that might have been configured as a "single" and so could render it inoperable if booted as the 2nd disk when the Linux disk is the 1st disk. If such a PATA disk is selected as the 1st boot disk it might function satisfactorily. You have confirmed to us previously in Post #1 that your Xp is a Sata and so the above problem should not exist but it would help our diagnostics if we have the hard disk model number.

Last edited by saikee; 08-01-2010 at 06:36 PM.
 
  


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