[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by tulledulle

I just got a Samsung model: HD501LJ (500 gb/7200 rpm/16m) hard-drive home.. i got a 200 gb in the computer right now.. it has XP OS on it.. and it is set as Master.. So the question is.. Can i plug the new 500 gb hd in and set it as master , but whit a linux system.. so its like 2 computers in one.. just whit the same main board.. but different hard-drives and OS's.. and can i pick when the computer boots, which OS and hd id like to work whit... is there someway this can be done?

Yes, you've just described a dual-boot system. They're pretty easy to set up. Plug in your new drive, pop in a Linux disc, tell the Linux disc to install the operating system on the new drive and write the bootloader to your XP drive. Be sure you back things up before you do this.

If all goes well you shouldn't have to change the master/slave configuration at all. Your PC will boot to the current master (XP drive) and give you the choice of either Linux or XP.

[Manchunian]

You should also be sure to defragment the disk in Windows too. This is important because Windows tends to put data all over the disk and for maximum security you should have it all in one place BEFORE you partition the disk to accept Linux alonside Windows. Not doing this could result in data loss (but you're going to back-up your data, though, aren't you!)

[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by Manchunian

You should also be sure to defragment the disk in Windows too. This is important because Windows tends to put data all over the disk and for maximum security you should have it all in one place BEFORE you partition the disk to accept Linux alonside Windows. Not doing this could result in data loss (but you're going to back-up your data, though, aren't you!)

This is of course true and valid advice, but I believe tulledulle just mentioned using a completely new, separate harddrive for the Linux install, in which case no partitioning would be necessary.

[Manchunian]

Sorry, sir, not paying attention in class, sir! Quite so techieMoe - sorry tulledulle - still, it's good to know. By the way, has anyone used Wubi to install Ubuntu, yet? I advised someone to try it today - but I'm a bit sceptical about the idea of Linux running well in NTFS.

[Jonathan183]

Actually ... if you are installing Linux to a separate hard drive then I would recommend:-
1. Install windows on first hard drive (you already have this anyway by the sounds of things).
2. Unplug windows hard drive and plug in Linux hard drive. Install Linux to hard drive.
3. Plug in Windows and Linux hard drives.
4. Boot system, if Windows boots then shutdown Windows and change BIOS settings or hard drive cables so Linux boots.
5. Add entry to Linux bootloader to allow Windows to be selected and boot.

My reasons for recommending this are:-
a) it minimizes the chance of over-writing Windows data (by you selecting the wrong drive during the install).
b) failure or removal of either hard drive still leaves a system which will boot.
It's a bit more work to do the initial setup but I think it is worth the effort

[tulledulle]

Originally Posted by Jonathan183

Actually ... if you are installing Linux to a separate hard drive then I would recommend:-
1. Install windows on first hard drive (you already have this anyway by the sounds of things).
2. Unplug windows hard drive and plug in Linux hard drive. Install Linux to hard drive.
3. Plug in Windows and Linux hard drives.
4. Boot system, if Windows boots then shutdown Windows and change BIOS settings or hard drive cables so Linux boots.
5. Add entry to Linux bootloader to allow Windows to be selected and boot.

My reasons for recommending this are:-
a) it minimizes the chance of over-writing Windows data (by you selecting the wrong drive during the install).
b) failure or removal of either hard drive still leaves a system which will boot.
It's a bit more work to do the initial setup but I think it is worth the effort

Jonathan's way of doings things sound good.. could you guys also recommend this way?.. if you say go.. ill back my data up and give it a try.. (and of course tell you guys how it went)... and yes ive bought a completly new harddrive.. which i wanna install linux on..

[Manchunian]

It sounds like an excellent system to me.

You can always trust Jonathan183 to come up with good ideas! What part of Bristol are from Joanathan? Despite my online name I actually lived in the Bristol area longer than anywhere else, in Wiltshire actually (I was only born in Manchester.) It's always a pleasure to go back home. Congrats on becoming Britain's first bicycle city!

[Jonathan183]

Originally Posted by Manchunian

It sounds like an excellent system to me.

You can always trust Jonathan183 to come up with good ideas! What part of Bristol are from Joanathan? Despite my online name I actually lived in the Bristol area longer than anywhere else, in Wiltshire actually (I was only born in Manchester.) It's always a pleasure to go back home. Congrats on becoming Britain's first bicycle city!

I can't claim to have invented the method ... I know devils casper has suggested it a few times in the past. The main gain I see in this approach is protection of data, if the drive is unplugged when you do the install its pretty safe, keeping the OS separate is good as well. It also means if you need to reinstall Windows in future you just unplug the Linux drive & do the install ... no restoring grub after

I live in a village north of Bristol close to Thornbury. I lived in south Manchester for about 10 years as well. I do quite a bit of cycling and one thing I have noticed is the cycle lanes are not all they could be. I think quite a few people will be forced to cycle or use public transport ... petrols about 115 pence per litre Splitting cars and cycles would improve safety and probably encourage a few more people to cycle

[Manchunian]

He he, this is turning into a pro-cycle thread! Great! I've been cycling seriously since I was 14. It never ceases to amaze me why people move a ton of car to travel a few kilometres when I bicycle is faster (in town), cleaner, cheaper and safer (to others at least!) You can go amazingly far on a bike. When I was a student, I cycled from my house (I lived in Melksham at the time) to John o'Groats and back (that's 1500 miles!) in two weeks! I was crazy back then! This year, if all goes well, I'm cycling from where I live now (near Amiens) to Portugal! You can't expect everyone to be so mad, but it does show how far you can go on a humble bicycle!
Anyway, back to Linux (the exciting things in life!) I've been wondering how to get a sure safe way to dual boot now that Microsoft is putting tattoos (sorry, Techiemoe - still don't know how to say that in English) on computers to prevent Windows from being re-installable after the MBR has been touched, or even stopping it from booting at all. This method of yours, or DC's, is great because this risk is totally eliminated. I think the safest method now for those who only have a single hard-drive would be to create a grub floppy.

[Jonathan183]

Thats some serious cycling - have a or for on the way!

As for the Windows - Linux boot issue ... I have not had too many problems with Vista/Linux, XP/Linux or Windows 2k/Linux dual boots. I think there are a few problems when people want to install an older version of Windows along with Vista because the Windows bootloader has been changed.

There are a couple of options when a single hard drive is used for a dual boot but since the hard drive must be connected for the install data loss is possible either through failure of partition resize/creation or the user selecting the wrong partition to install Linux to.

Not sure how Windows 7 will approach booting, it may be that taking a copy of the MBR using dd is required. I have not recommended this because it is easy to create real problems - dd is great but change a few numbers and you loose the partition table