# Dual boot using different hard drives?



## MastahUK (Apr 30, 2006)

I'm sorry but I really know very little regarding Linux or dual booting etc. I need to use a Linux system (I'll use Ubuntu 6.10 I believe) for many of my University assignments, so I'd like to have this on my PC at home rather than have to always use the systems on campus. I really do not want to try and dual boot Linux and Windows Vista on separate partitions of a single hard drive as this has caused me problems in the past.

I have a spare 80Gb hard drive that I've now installed into my PC, and just thought I'd ask a question here before I go and potentially do anything stupid! Would it be possible to install Ubuntu onto this hard drive (drive E and then be able to choose which hard drive to boot to when I turn on my PC? I would assume something like this would require me having to enter the startup menu and then manually select to boot to drive E if I wish to use Linux, otherwise it would boot to Windows Vista on drive C automatically. This is what I'd like to be able to do, but I'm not sure if it is possibe as I have never done it before. Is it this simple?

Sorry to ask what may be a very stupid and straightforward question, but I thought I'd better just check before I do anything. Better safe than sorry!


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## justo (Dec 29, 2006)

it is not a stupid question.if it was i would know the answer.what you want to do is not real easy.most all that are new to linux want to do that.some can do that though and will tell you how. my thinking is the best solution is a hard drive switch.there is a bit of complication if your brand of hard drives are not the right ones..you can build a switch without a lot of cost. I will look one up.I hope to do that myself because i do not like two systems on one hard drive. -------------------------------------------------> http://www.dansdata.com/nicklock.htm http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/43190/Build_a_HardDrive_Switcher.html http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/05/homemade_linux.html http://www.dvhardware.net/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=4


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

I dual-booted on the same drive and had no problems. Didn't know what I was doing, just followed the directions at hermanzone.
Over the months I've collected a few dual-boot threads that seemed useful. Take a look at these

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=275728
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179902&highlight=dualboot
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=271968

This one might be helpful because the person added a lot of screenshots and some interesting links

http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/2622/how-to_dual-boot_ubuntu

I've read that Vista has introduced some new challenges if dual-booting on the same drive. Imagine that - Microsoft trying some new tricks to make it harder for people to do what they want to do with their own PC's.
Anyway, haven't looked into that at all.

EDIT: Forgot about this one I found just a few days ago - talks specifically about Vista

http://apcmag.com/5162/the_definitive_dual_booting_guide_linux_vista_and_xp


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## justo (Dec 29, 2006)

I have a pc here I had XP on.I tried to load Puppy to a 1 gig pendrive.Now even normal Linux loads will not load to the hard drive.I used G Parted to blank the extra partition but I hope to blank the whole hard drive to save it. I will not try Puppy on a good PC again.I load a lot of Linux versions.Fedori Core can cause kernel panic and lock a hard drive. The best way would be independent loads on their own hard drives.The best way to solve the problem is a switch on the IDE ribbon cable.Eventually a bright Chinaman will devise one.


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## MastahUK (Apr 30, 2006)

Thank you very much for those replies, I've saved those links for future references if I decide to dual boot on a single hard drive.

I have actually found a way to do exactly what I intended using 2 hard drives. Since I built my own PC from individual components, I have a pretty good motherboard and there is an option in the BIOS settings to set the priority of each hard drive - allowing you to boot to any of them without any need for a loader such as GRUB. This is ideal as when I don't need to use Linux (ie, most of the time), I can simply set my Windows hard drive as the highest priority and I can completely ignore my Linux drive. And vice versa. I managed to get this working earlier, but I seem to have broken my Linux installation already so need to start over. I'll start a new thread regarding that question though, as it really is nothing to do with this one.


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## justo (Dec 29, 2006)

I have some that let you choose what things to boot from but I do not think I can put Linux on a place where the slave drive would be and boot it up unless I did something extra. You can read up on the info like Bartender posted.I am going to double load the one I tried Puppy Linux with and messed up XP. I am loading XP back in and will add a linux. My first choice is PC Linux 2007 TR 3 version.But here are some I like because they are not complicated and they do well. PC Linux TR 3 . SAM Linux . Mint Bianca ( Gnome version) Do not hit the update button on that one.It crashes my wireless.Mint KDE .I do not update it either.But get packages from Package manager on both. MEPIS 6.5 is also good. But i think an update knocks my sound off.---------- You can download these from here >> http://distrowatch.com/ But Mint KDE is bigger than CD.So you have to have a DVD burner to get it on disk.Then the one you load it to must have a DVD deck to load with.Any load above 700 mbytes is DVD size. Anytime you need help come by.Some questions may be left to Linux geeks who drops in here now and then.I just do ordinary things with Linux.


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