Dual-boot on two Hard Disks, MBR, etc
 

This is complicated.

:).

I'm changing my current setup quite a bit, and I'm still a Linux n00b (only done two installs), here's my current setup:

hda: Windows XP, installed with no other HD plugged in.
hdb: DVD drive, unimportant.
hdc: Redhat, also installed with no other HD plugged in, GRUB on MBR, manually configured to boot XP.

Here's how I plan on changing it, in this order, don't ask why, it's complicated, ^_^:

1. Install Libranet over Redhat on hdc, install GRUB on the MBR.

2. Remove the current XP HD, replace with a new, unformatted HD. Install XP on the new drive, plugged in as hda.

Will this cause any problems? If I understand correctly, GRUB will install to the MBR of hdc, so installing XP afterwards won't cause any problems.

If I'm wrong, what about this:

1. Remove XP HD, install Libranet over Redhat on hdc, install GRUB on the MBR. Plug XP drive back in, configure GRUB to dual-boot.
2. Remove Libranet HD, install XP on the new hda, plug Libranet HD back in.

Ok, and one last thing, I want to have a FAT32 partition so I can share files between Linux and Windows XP, my questions are:

Which HD should I put it on? Both drives are the same, 40gb so I should never run out of disk space.

When should I partition it? Before I install? As I install? After I install?

How do I partition it in XP/Libranet? Do I need to boot a special program before installing?

Thanks in advance, :).

Are you sure your grub is in your first hd ( hda)? I thought MBR can only be on the first hd (hda). I might be wrong though

Well the way I installed it, GRUB would've installed on hda, but the way it's set up now, GRUB is on hdc.

If the MBR can only be installed on hda... that doesn't make any sense, ^_^. When I plugged my Windows drive in after installing Redhat, I only had to edit grub.conf to get it to dual-boot, I didn't have to reinstall GRUB.

this trick comes from suse 7.2 manual
Install GRUB (or LILO) to the MBR of (in your case) hdc
Insert blank DOS formatted floppy and mount it to /media/floppy
run:
/bin/dd if=/dev/hdc bs=512 count=1 of=/media/floppy/bootsec.lin

Boot XP
copy bootsec.lin to root of c:
add this line to c:\boot.ini
c:\bootsec.lin="Linux"


OR

just use grub on the MBR of hda (it will boot XP, i've tried it)

Thanks for the help, my plan is to basically use the same setup I installed Redhat with. Unplug the XP HD and plug the former hdc in as hda, then it will install GRUB to the MBR of the Libranet HD, so I don't have to worry about XP overwriting it. All I'll need to do is change a few /etc/fstab entries from hda to hdc and it'll be fine.