2 HD's 2 OS's

Hi.Im.New · 11-12-2008, 09:50 AM

Hello,

I have a Vista partition on HD1(Vista takes up all the space on HD1) and a linux on HD2. When I try to boot off HD2, thinking that i would have to, to boot linux. HD2 doesnt boot, but when i boot off HD1 I have the option to use either Vista OR Linux. My general question is, why wouldn't i have to boot off HD2 to get Linux to boot.

thnx!

Lexluethar · 11-12-2008, 09:52 AM

If you have two hard drives you are going to need to go into your BIOS and set which drive to boot to first (change the boot order). You may also have to physically make one drive master and the other slave (or if it is SATA put the drive you want to boot to on the first channel).

Hi.Im.New · 11-12-2008, 10:46 AM

Lex,

Yea i changed the boot order, but when i boot off HD2 - Nothing happens, then when i boot off HD1 i get the grub loader to choose the linux or vista partition. The thing is i dont understand who this is possible. The vista partition takes up all the space on HD1. very weird, but i was hoping it was a common thing and its just something i dont know about.

Lexluethar · 11-12-2008, 10:48 AM

Interesting... not sure how you installed Linux, but you could have possibly told Linux to install the Grub loader onto the first hard drive. It could also be a jumper thing, a lot of BIOS settings won't let you chose which hard drive to boot from first, it will just allow you to boot from either a Floppy/hard drive/Cd/USB. It won't allow you to choose a specific drive.

You may have to 'get your hands dirty' and take the case apart to properly configure the cable and or jumpers on the drive (again depending on if it is ATA or SATA).

Hi.Im.New · 11-12-2008, 11:05 AM

Lex,

Yea I've checked the sata cables and in my bios you can just choose a single HD to have to boot, but can pick from whatever's connected to the computer. So, I know that im only booting from HD2 when i try, but it just hangs up. I even double checked my vista partition on HD1 to make sure its not sharing space with a linux and it has the whole HD allocated to it. The plot thickens...

maybe its something from my MB that does this?

Lexluethar · 11-12-2008, 11:08 AM

So is your goal always to boot into Linux? I mean if so Grub always has Linux as default so just don't press anything for the 10 seconds while it loads - no big deal.

Since it is SATA just ensure whatever drive you want to boot to is in channel 0, which you said you did and it hangs... Which leads me to believe somehow the grub loader got installed on the hard drive with Vista.

Hi.Im.New · 11-12-2008, 12:30 PM

I was just wondering why i wasnt able to boot directly from the 2nd Drive. I'm sure ill figure out why at some point.

thnx

Mak213 · 11-12-2008, 01:04 PM

Okay i dont get it.

Have HD1 hooked up and you get the choice to boot from Vista or Linux. But if you choose HD2 you dont?

But yet you already have the option to boot from Linux from HD1 so why are you trying to boot from HD2?

This is the purpose of a boot loader. This is what they do. They tell the PC where to go from the selection screen so that you do NOT have to mess with the BIOS and choosing the correct disk.

A bootloader like GRUB or BCD (The Vista Bootlaoder) will do it all. Just set it up so that all you have to do is choose which OS and simply the process. Why make it more complicated by using F12 to boot?

Do you have GRUB loaded? Is that why you can select Vista or Linux? If you want the Widnows boot loader back check out EasyBCD.

Hi.Im.New · 11-12-2008, 02:11 PM

Mak,

my whole question was, why I can't boot directly off my 2nd HD and get linux to boot directly. Thats all i was asking.

Mak213 · 11-12-2008, 02:14 PM

That woulbe because Linux installed GRUB to the MBR which is on the first drive. Would have to boot from the LiveCD and install GRUB on the same hard drive as Linux in order for there to be a bootloader.

With Linux GRUB controlls the boot. Since it was isntalled to the sme drive as he Vista driver there is no bootloader on the Linux drive to boot from.

Hope that helps understand why trying to boot from that drive doesnt work now.

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