dual boot with two hard drives

Hello everbody!

I'd like to make my 80G+18G system dual boot so, that linux is on the second, smaller drive, windows xp is on the first drive. Is it possible?

I have Windows installed at the moment on the first hard drive, so if I'd just simply install ubuntu 7.04 on the second drive, will it dual boot. Some time ago I did it oppositely (windows was on the smaller drive and installed linux on the bigger one). Result? GRUB didn't recognize Windows. So my question is: will it work that way.

Another question I have is that does linux mount ntfs partitions. Or does windows mount ext3 (or whatever ubuntu uses) partition. The problem is that I thought that it would be smart to do a separate partiton for music, photos and documents as it's very easy to screw up Windows and i have to decide in what format should I format it.

I would be glad if you respond.

And btw, to prevent those stupid questions like "why do you need windows" then I should also mention that I hate Windows because it's unstable and slow on my computer (old 2.4ghz celeron, 1gb of ram, gf 6200 256mb on agp 4x) but it offers me a better support for my digital camera, mp3 player and let's face it, it has some programs I need but that doesn't have Linux versions. However, I hate viruses,spyware, trojans and the fact that I should pay for software (in most cases, they should pay for me to use it :p, unless it's not an apple software on a mac).

Hi and Welcome !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MartiReek

I'd like to make my 80G+18G system dual boot so, that linux is on the second, smaller drive, windows xp is on the first drive. Is it possible?

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Yes, Its possible and very easy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MartiReek

Some time ago I did it oppositely (windows was on the smaller drive and installed linux on the bigger one). Result? GRUB didn't recognize Windows. So my question is: will it work that way.

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It should work in both ways but in most cases, GRUB throw errors if you install it in the MBR of Windows HD. One should plug-in Linux Hard Disk as Primary Master and install GRUB in MBR of Linux Disk only ( Its default ).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MartiReek

Another question I have is that does linux mount ntfs partitions. Or does windows mount ext3 (or whatever ubuntu uses) partition. The problem is that I thought that it would be smart to do a separate partiton for music, photos and documents as it's very easy to screw up Windows and i have to decide in what format should I format it.

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Ubuntu doesn't support NTFS write access out of box but you can enable NTFS write access by install ntfs-3g package.
If you wont plug-in Windows HD during Ubuntu Installation, you will have to mount Windows Partitions in Ubuntu to access those.