dual boot with 2 drives

[Derek Maciel]

On 15 September 2010 15:00, Norman Silverstone <norman at littletank.org> wrote:
>
>> > I have a working drive with Ubuntu 9.10 and all my files and I have
>> > other hard drives that I can use for the XP Pro installation so, please,
>> > can someone tell me the best way to proceed. I accept there are
>> > alternatives but at least I would then have a choice.
>>
>> Have a look here:
>> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
>> and let us know if you still have questions afterwards.
>
> I have looked at the reference given and, unless I have misunderstood
> totally, the item deals with Ubuntu and Windows on the same HDD. What I
> am proposing is to leave the Ubuntu HDD untouched and to load XP Pro
> onto another HDD and then, in some way modify Grub so that on start up,
> pressing Esc will bring up a list including the words 'XP Pro' for
> example. Selecting 'XP Pro' will boot up from the HDD containing
> Windows. If, at start up, Esc is not pressed then the machine boots up
> from the Ubuntu HDD. This is how it used to work.
>
> Norman

Right, however, like Liam said, if you were to take your original
Ubuntu hard drive (Let's call it "Ubuntu Drive") and just put it in
the computer with your Windows Drive, then GRUB would not be installed
(in other words, you would have your Ubuntu drive in your computer but
it won't be "installed". Your computer will "ask" your Windows drive
what to boot into, and since GRUB wasn't installed, Windows will think
it's by itself and just boot into Windows as if Ubuntu isn't there.

So, whether you already have Windows working on your new computer or
have yet to install it, it will need to be installed first, on your
Windows drive. When it is installed (or if it already was), you can
install Ubuntu on your THIRD hard drive if you have one, or on a
seperate partition in your already existing Ubuntu drive. The act of
installing Ubuntu will enable you to switch between which operating
system to use. Then you can copy all your files from the Ubuntu
install already on your Ubuntu drive, and move them to your "new"
install, then delete the "old" partition.


OR, you could just put your Ubuntu drive in your computer (this is
assuming your second drive has GRUB installed). Edit your BIOS
settings to boot from your Ubuntu drive BEFORE your Windows drive. So
the boot order on my BIOS is:

HD1
CD-DVD Drive
Diskette Drive
USB Device

Just add your second hard drive before your first one. That will make
your computer boot from Ubuntu first. Then edit your
/boot/grub/grub.conf and add your Windows install in there.