Hello,

I currently run Debian Testing on a machine with two hard drives. I would like to add a Windows XP partition for gaming to the second HDD, which is currently used only for storage, but I have never tried setting up a Linux-first dual boot arrangement before.

I have not been able to find a really thorough and up-to-date guide for doing this - please point me towards one if it exists!

I have one particular concern: I have read that Windows should only be put on the primary HDD (http://dustinbreese.blogspot.com/200...and-linux.html). Is this really necessary? Is there anything special I will need to do to put Windows on hdb? I currently have a reiser3 partition using the full space on the secondary HDD. I plan to backup the data and use gparted or something easy to resize the reiser partition and make room for XP.

Thank you for any help!

I'm not sure about it as I haven't installed XP for quite a while, but if that's the case you can
always change the order of your HDs in BIOS and then just update grub. I don't think it should be a problem.
I would make the second drive the primary one in BIOS, install windows on it (which would overwrite Master Boot Record).
Then what you need is to reinstall grub.

edit: Obviously you'd have to install grub on the MBR of the appropriate hd (not the one where your linux is now.)

You can install windows on a second hd, you just need to map your grub boot path to make windows think it is on the primary drive. Here is a "how to" tutorial

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...d_HD_with_Grub