Dual Boot...Dual Hard Drives?

jc_firestorm · 04-23-2005, 11:08 AM

Hello everyone.
I want to buy a new hard drive to house my every so beautiful SuSE 9.2 and still keep the one i have running windows...
can i do this?
i want the second HDD to be a SATA (which is compatible w/ my mobo
and the one i currently have is IDE
will this be a problem?

thank you for your help in advance.

abisko00 · 04-23-2005, 11:52 AM

From what I read in this forum (no own experience), 9.2 is sometimes a little problematic on S-ATA (the installer sometimes doesn't recognise the HDD). But I think this is dependent on the controller.
I guess the tricky part is to convince your BIOS to keep loading grub from your old HDD on the first primary controller, even if a new drive appears to be on the serial controller (sorry if I am using fuzzy or even wrong terminology, I am definitely not an expert).

This is from the SUSE grub manual ( http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2002/0..._overview.html ):

Code:

Another important point: When assigning hard disk labels, Grub does not distinguish between IDE, SCSI, or other devices. 
All hard disks detected by the BIOS or other controllers (SCSI, RAID, etc.) are numbered according to the boot sequence. 
(hd0,0) is always the first hard disk in the boot sequence set in the BIOS, regardless of the type (IDE, SCSI, or RAID).

Example: In a system with two IDE hard disks and two SCSI hard disks, the boot sequence in the BIOS is set as "IDE before 
SCSI". Thus, Grub will use the following labels:

(hd0)   First IDE hard disk
(hd1)   Second IDE hard disk
(hd2)   First SCSI hard disk
(hd3)   Second SCSI hard disk

If you modify grub according to this scheme, it should be no problem to load SUSE from your new drive.

Am I understanding this correctly? You already have a dual-boot on your current (IDE) HDD and want to move SUSE to the new S-ATA HDD, still keeping Windows on the old drive?

In this case I would recommend to keep your old HDD as it is for a while and install SUSE on the new HDD additionally. If booting SUSE from the S-ATA HDD turns out to be no problem (in fact you have a triple-boot system with one Windows and two SUSE9.2), you can move your data to the new drive, delete the old SUSE and expand Windows to the whole drive.

I hope this did not confuse you and helps a little.

aznboi12321 · 04-23-2005, 11:54 AM

I have no idea wat ur talking about when u refer to SATA, but i think i kno what u mean by IDE. As far as a dual boot w/ two hard drives, it works. The boot loader will be installed in the first hard drive (prob ur Windows) and when u boto the comptuer up it'll ask you which one u wanna boot Windows or SuSE.

jc_firestorm · 04-23-2005, 05:44 PM

actaully i should update that, i use many shall we say...memory intense apps and my memory fills up incredibly fast...so i had to remove SuSE form my hdd i miss her...she was so good to me...

to aznboi12321 ...
when i use the tern sata i am refering to Serial ATA hard (disk) drive sorry for any confusion

to everyone
well...this sounds to be too much of a biatch...and no i don't have the other hdd yet...i was just wondering so when i do buy a new one i know what to get, which kind i mean.

abisko00 · 04-24-2005, 09:07 AM

It doesn't really matter which drive you have. The controller on your motherboard is the crucial part. I, for example, have no trouble at all with my Intel ICH5 controller.

jdblick · 04-24-2005, 12:15 PM

I would expect to change the boot order to the new HD first.

RonRussell · 04-24-2005, 04:54 PM

I dual boot, with two hard drives, although both of mine are IDE type. The linux bootloader, grub, is installed in the MBR on the master hard drive (hda). It looks for a file, /boot/grub/menu.lst which will probably be on whatever drive holds your Linux. This file contains the options for which operating system to boot. In my case, both are just different Linux distros, but one could easily be Windows, and for many people, it is. Below is a copy of my file:

default saved
timeout 15
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 2f5178
splashimage /boot/grub/mepis.xpm.gz

title MEPIS at hda1, kernel 2.6.7
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7 root=/dev/hda1 nomce psmouse.proto=imps quiet splash=verbose vga=791
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.mepis
savedefault

title MEPIS at hda1, kernel 2.4.26
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.26 root=/dev/hda1 nomce quiet splash=verbose vga=791 hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.mepis
savedefault

title MEPIS at hdb1, kernel 2.6.10
kernel (hd1,0)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10 root=/dev/hdb1 nomce psmouse.proto=imps quiet splash=verbose vga=791
initrd (hd1,0)/boot/initrd.splash

title MEPIS at hdb1, kernel 2.4.29
kernel (hd1,0)/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.29 root=/dev/hdb1 nomce quiet splash=verbose vga=791 hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi
initrd (hd1,0)/boot/initrd.splash

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86.bin

Each line which begins with the word "Title" is an option which appears on the splash screen. I can cursor up or down with the arrow keys to select one of those options, then press "Enter", and the selected kernel boots.