Replacing A HDD in a Dual Drive System

[Brian McKee]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 6:18 AM, Eberhard Roloff <tuxebi at gmx.de> wrote:
> Jeffrey Tooker wrote:
>> I am running an Ubuntu XP dual drive system.  When the system boots it
>> comes up to the system choices.  The Ubuntu options are listed first
>> (8.04)  Then the "Other System".  In this case it is the XP Home
>> Edition, which is on a separate drive.  I would like to replace the  XP
>> drive and do a clean install of XP on the new drive.  From what I can
>> see of the  boot sequence I should be able to remove the old XP drive
>> and replace it with a new drive.  I should  then be able to start the
>> system and go to the new disk and install the new XP program on the new
>> disk.  Is this correct or possible?
>
> Both, BUT with a BIG BUT:
>
> If you install windows on your existing system, it will recklessly
> overwrite your Linux bootmanager, i.e. grub, as far as grub resides in
> the bootloader of your bootdisk. Otherwise it will nevertheless take
> care that windows and just windows will boot after the XP installation.
>
> So you might save your grub grub bootloader before installing windows.
> Thus it will be easier to restore, after it has been overwritten.

It might be easier to just disconnect your linux drive, install XP on
the new drive as the only drive present, then connect the linux drive
back up.

Brian