[ubuntu-uk] Two operating systems

[alan c]

Keith Powell wrote:
> Keith Powell wrote:
>> For some time now, I have had two hard drives, each in its own plug-in
>> mobile hard drive caddy. One has XP on it (which I still need :-( and
>> the other has Ubuntu on it. So I have just plugged in whichever OS I
>> wanted.
>> 
>> I'm thinking of doing away with the hard drive caddies and installing
>> both drives inside the computer. For ease, XP would remain on its
>> existing drive and be plugged into the 'master' plug on the ribbon
>> cable. The Ubuntu drive would be plugged into the 'slave' plug on the
>> IDE ribbon cable. Ubuntu would probably be a reinstall on a new, larger
>> hard drive, but I've not decided yet.
>> 
>> I see that, if I press F8 during the BIOS boot, I can select what I boot
>> from (different DVD drives or different hard drives). Selecting the
>> appropriate hard drive from F8, I think, would be better than messing
>> about setting GRUB up for dual booting. (Something which I don't know
>> how to do at the moment!) It would mean that I don't have to do anything
>> to the XP drive.
>> 
>> Is what I want to do, using F8 feasible, or would I be better setting
>> GRUB up?
> 
> Thank you all for your prompt replies and the help.
> 
> I was rather scared of doing anything which may adversely affect the XP 
> drive, such as installing GRUB on it, as I didn't want to go to the 
> palava of having to reinstall Windows.
> 
> Now, having read your replies, I'm confident of having the two drives 
> internally and selecting them with GRUB. I'll do it over the week-end.

The biggest risk if there is one, with a dual boot install is the 
possible resize of the ntfs partiton I would guess, so I always 
suggest scandisk well and defrag at least once if not more, to ensure 
tidiest hard drive, Also obviously to have a backup in case of 
unforseen disaster.

However, if you use a second hd for ubuntu, there is very little 
touched on the first drive at all. So (almost) no risk to data.

If you do go for a ubuntu reinstall, an easy way would be to leave a 
large unpartitioned space on the drive (maybe the whole drive, 
partitions previously deleted), if you want a semi automagical 
install, anyway.

hth
-- 
alan cocks
Kubuntu user#10391