newbie question - grub

[Maca Cassar]

First of all. thanks for all who replied, i am a bit clearer now on a few
issues with this, and can work with my current setup for now.

i don't have the time to play with it for now, maybe on the weekend or maybe
later even, but here is what i wanted to explain, how i wanted to setup, and
what i was misunderstanding; and where grub installation failed me.

I may have wanted a different setup with respect to multi-boot / multi os
systems as most would opt for. I have 3 disks/3 oses but i rarely setup a
multi boot system where for axample, one disk is set as boot in bios, and
loads a boot loader form there, which in turn has entries/options to boot
from a list of different OSes on the different disks or partitions.

Previously this was ok, where i had 2 versions of windows on different
disks, and used the 3rd as a scratch disk or whatever you call it ( to
record onto it, keep backups, and store audio sample libraries on ). But I
rarely need to constantly switch between OS and usually stick to the same os
in long phases, and was recently just testing different flavours of linux
and unix since it is new to me and had no idea about their differences,
capabilities and what i would *simply like*.

So most of the time i opt for each disk being a self contained OS so to
speak to make things more straightforward and easier in the long run. Each
OS has it's own boot loader on the same disk, and with no other OS option. I
just set that disk as the first boot drive in bios, or use a boot menu for a
one-off boot. With this i can literally unplug other disks, (or wipe them
completely / install an enitrely new OS ) ; and the disk i want would still
work as expected, and still bootable.

The most ive used aside from windows is freebsd, which needed the most work
to setup, but has an option to install a MBR boot loader for multi boot, or
a simple boot loader on the same drive as the OS ( which is what I always
use ). With this, no matter what happens on the other disks, this disk
always boots properly and loads my os. I mean the drive is set as boot from
bios, and it loads as if it was my only drive/os (then i mount the others
when i need something off them).

Phew, sorry for the long explanation, i just hope it helps explain where
grub always fails on my system. My latest install of ub-studio this weekend
was on my 3rd disk (sata) and it installed grub on MBR on my first disk
(IDE), i think replacing my windows bootloader there. I can still load it
through grub, but not what i would have wanted. ( if i eventually buy a new
ubuntu studio dedicated system and move the disk, still need to fix boot
loader on both systems)

I know these all have fixes eventually and no big deal, but i still don't
know why grub should fail to install the way i want it. I have tried to
select my 3rd sata drive for grub previously, but the installer off the
studio64 disc fails. and i have tried removing all other disks while doing
that, which does not fail during installation but fails to load after
reboot  I thought the fact that the disks were sata had something to do with
it, but someone replied not.

Apart from that i don;'t know if ppl have tried what i have been trying to
do with success, or if most are under the impressoin that it showed work
going on theory. I had previously checked through the manual but still
couldn't figure out anything.

Sorry for the length and blabbering, if this does not interest anyone, just
scrap it. otherwise it might serve some purpose for futur ref. I had ubuntu
studio burnt on a disc for about 4 months but never managed to install it
properly till now. I never realised it was related to grub and the way i
wanted to setup.

i'll shut up now.
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