Dual booting 10.04 & 12.04

[Felix Miata]

On 2012-12-09 10:40 (GMT-0600) Jim Byrnes composed:

> I want to start moving from 10.04 to 12.04 by doing a new install.  To
> avoid downtime and have a fallback position I decided to put 12.04 on a
> new hard drive.  So I put in the new hard drive and swapped the cables
> from the 10.04 hard drive to the new one and installed 12.04.  I now
> realize that constantly swapping the cables will be a PITA and
> completely forgot about dual booting.

> 1. Is there a way now to have them both plugged in and dual boot?

Of course there is. What you did actually amounts to a good fallback in case 
one HD dies. I suggest to cable so that the new HD is first according to the 
BIOS. Then you can add a stanza to your 12.04 Grub to boot your 10.04. It 
will work as long as your 10.04 remains configured as it normally would have 
been on its installation to use UUID, by-id or by-label rather than device 
names in places like /etc/fstab.

Because you just started this, it's a good time to do some more thinking. By 
putting both 12.04 and 10.04 on the same HD, the other could serve as very 
convenient data backup. Reinstalling 10.04 on the new would make little 
sense, since you plan to stop using it, but leaving room for the next LTS 
does. You could repartition and reinstall 12.04 now, making /home a separate 
partition, and reserving space for another / equal in size to the one you'll 
use for 12.04, where next LTS will go. Having at least two installations on 
the same HD gives you a chance to install fresh and/or evaluate the new 
without disturbing the original, a chance to safely experiment. Once you've 
completely stopped using 10.04 on the old HD, its space can be repurposed to 
data backup, or ???.
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

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