[ale] OT:Hard Drive Switcher

[Jonathan Glass]

The only reason installing XP first is important is b/c of the boot
loader.  MS installs are notorious for overwriting the existing MBR
w/their own crap.  Also, when you have XP already installed, the Linux
installer will USUALLY add that OS to your boot loader config.  Go ahead
and install SuSE, but be sure to look up how to reinstall the boot
loader (grub, probably), and how to add the M$ OS to it.

jonathan glass


On Fri, 2004-05-14 at 10:05, Ryan Williams wrote:
> > Are you talking about something where you can turn a knob and switch 
> > between
> > OS's ???  If so, then it will never work, as stuff loaded in RAM for 
> > one OS
> > won't work with the other one.  The article seems to not mention that 
> > you
> > still have to log out, stop the box, flip the switch and then boot up 
> > again
> > to switch OS's
> 
> Actually, it does mention that somewhere I think. At least, I realized 
> that was the case. You would shut down, flip the switch and reboot.
> 
> > - so what's different from dual booting and putting one OS on
> > one drive and the other OS on the other drive ???  Dual booting these 
> > days
> > is incredibly simple - just remember to install Windows first then 
> > Linux.
> 
> To be honest, I'm just a bit clueless when it comes to messing with PC 
> bios (being primarily a MacOSX guy). I've used *nix remotely for years, 
> but this is my first time doing my own install. So, this just seemed 
> like the simpler option. It's also a logistical issue with software. 
> I've been told time and time again to load XP first before adding 
> linux. I'm putting the PC together this weekend and wanted to load SuSE 
> on to play with, but the copy of XP I ordered won't arrive until next 
> week. Impatience. :) This PC will primarily be used for linux -- only 
> booting into win on the odd occasion I need it for music production 
> apps. I'm irritated enough by the idea of having to use win for some 
> things, so having to wait on it before I can do anything else is even 
> more annoying.
> 
> But you bring up a good point. If you have two drives and install linux 
> on one and win on the other, does it really matter that the linux 
> install is existent before you install XP? Is either linux or win going 
> to want to be on the master drive (I assumed both would, hence the 
> switching question). Ultimately, it's not a big deal. I can always wipe 
> the drives and reinstall everything once I get my XP disc. I can just 
> do a test SuSE install this weekend to make sure everything works.
> 
> Sorry. Though I've been doing remote FreeBSD/Linux server admin for 
> years, I'm pretty much a desktop linux newbie.
> 
> Ryan
> 
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-- 
Jonathan Glass
Systems Support Specialist II
Institute for Bioengineering & Bioscience
Georgia Institute of Technology
Email: jonathan.glass at ibb.gatech.edu
Office: 404-385-0127
Fax: 404-894-2291