I have two hard disk drives. On one of them (D0) Windows XP Pro is installed, and on the other one (D1) Suse Linux 9.3 Pro and Xandros Desktop Deluxe 3.0 are installed.

When I installed Xandros it seems to have overwritten Suse's lilo file, and did not merge Suse's Boot Options which were initially:

Windows XP Professional (default)
SUSE LINUX 9.3
SUSE LINUX 9.3 (XEN)
SUSE LINUX 9.3 (Failsafe)
Floppy

Is there any way of recovering Suse's lilo file, and being able to merge Xandros' Boot Options so that at startup may appear:

Windows XP Professional (default)
SUSE LINUX 9.3
SUSE LINUX 9.3 (XEN)
SUSE LINUX 9.3 (Failsafe)
Xandros Desktop Deluxe 3.0
Xandros (Safe mode)
Xandros (Expert mode)
DVD CD ROM --instead of Floppy--

The basic problem is that, first, I can not access Suse Linux 9.3; and second if I want to run Knoppix Live it should be with the CD ROM and not the Floppy drive.

Suse uses grub by default. You may have specified lilo on installation. If grub: /boot/grub/menu.lst in the Suse partition. If lilo, /boot/lilo.conf in the Suse partition would be the Suse bootloader config files.

Xandrox overwrote the MBR; not the Suse bootloader config. Suse is still there, just not bootable at present. You should be able to boot Suse using cd-1 of the installation set.

You can access Suse from Xandros. Look at the file /etc/fstab. Xandros probably lists two partions for hdb. The first would be Suse and the second Xandros. Fstab should also tell you the mount point in the directory tree: something like /mnt/hdb1.

Mount the partition: mount /dev/hdb1. Use your file manager to select /mnt/hdb1/boot/grub, and you will find menu.lst (requires root privilege to read). Copy the lines you need, and paste them into the Xandros bootloader config file.

If Xandros uses lilo, then the lines from grub will not work. They will have to be edited to suit lilo.

When done, if Xandros uses lilo, run /sbin/lilo to tell lilo about Suse. If Xandros uses grub, no need to run anything.

umm just to add that optical drives and normally bootable if you change your bios boot order to optical drive b4 hard drive BUT leave the tray empty to boot hard drive and put a knoppix or kanotic cd /dvd in to boot from optical

2) agreed that your mbr has been overwritten.

3) when you get a chance to digest all that lovely info on bootloaders or grub etc consider keeping a main distro and keeping its booting files intact and merely for each new distro putting its new bootloader only into the partition and not into mbr.....then you chainload to each linux by amending your main /boot/grub/menu.lst file like this

title new distro
root (hdX,Y) as per tutorial
chainloader +1

then install new distro and when given option of installing bootloader always choose your new distroś /boot parition or if /boot is a subfolder to / then its new / partition as per tut

good luck with playing with all the good stuff.