[ubuntu-uk] Two operating systems

[Skeg Fast]

I have Ubuntu on my Master hard drive and XP as its slave (heh). My hard 
drives in this machine are just plain old (parallel) ATA though so ymmv.

When you install Ubuntu it will automagically set up GRUB to dual boot. 
If you then install other OSs or reinstall Windows then you might have 
to faff with the GRUB settings (see below). XP won't (in my experience) 
install if it's not master but will boot happily from any drive via GRUB.

Changing the GRUB settings is really easy if you need to (and there are 
plenty of guides on the internet). If you're not sure/want to be 
safe/don't know the exact command at the time you need it most then I'd 
recommend burning SuperGrub http://supergrub.forjamari.linex.org/ for a 
semi-interactive "where has my OS gone" fallback. As usual, test it 
before you need it :)



alan c wrote:
> Alec Wright wrote:
>> You would just need to set the Ubuntu one as master and the XP one as
>> slave (not the other way round like you suggested) and when you
>> reinstall Ubuntu, it should automatically add an entry in GRUB for XP.
> 
> I do not think that it matters much whether one is master or slave (I 
> think).
> 
> The master boot record is presumably on the master hd, and it will be 
> modified by the ubuntu install wherever that is, to then use the 
> ubuntu boot information (grub).
> 
> It is easier to have windows in place first, because if you install 
> windows last, it does not take linux into account.