Would this work?

[Aggieeng]

Hey guys,

I am really tired of dual booting Windows and Linux from the same hard drive, so I was thinking...what if I get a small hard drive and install Linux to it? Would this work to dual boot from two hard drives without having to get one of those HDD switcher things (nice technical definition :D)? Could LILO be set up to boot across two hard drives? I'm assuming it can, since it can across two partitions and that's basically the same thing, right? Anyway, if you guys could give me any tips on how to do this, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks,

Aggieeng

[DarkArctic]

That shouldn't be any problem at all. I've done it before with GRUB and I'm sure that LILO is mature enough to handle that task.

-DarkArctic

[Aggieeng]

What about if I use FreeBSD? Will it work? I remember reading somewhere that FreeBSD (or at least one version of it) doesn't co-exist with another partition.

[esau]

dont you need to have grub/lilo on the master drive for it to work?
thats the only way it worked for me.

[Aggieeng]

Hmm...maybe so...but I think you can use the windows boot loader (if you really want)...I'm not sure what I'm going to do as of right now...

[JabberWok]

I just use two hd (one for each os) and put them in mobile racks and jus swap em whem I wanna ;)

[Titan386]

Originally posted by Aggieeng
Hmm...maybe so...but I think you can use the windows boot loader (if you really want)...I'm not sure what I'm going to do as of right now...

You can setup the windows boot loader to have an entry that points to LILO. So if you want to load Linux, first you would select your LILO entry in the windows boot loader, which would load LILO, and finally you select which LILO entry you want to boot from.

I used to do it that way, but I found it caused needless trouble. I just use GRUB for loading all my OSes now.

One option would be to leave your Windows MBR unchanged, and boot Linux from a floppy. That way there is no way that a messed up bootloader install could damage the Windows install. It also makes changing your kernel somewhat simpler (just copy the new image to a floppy). The disadvantage is it takes a considerable amount of time to load the kernel from the floppy each time you boot.

[PolyPill]

What are "HDD switcher things"?

The windows boot loader is not worth the trouble to use, I say just toughen up and install lilo or grub. Worst thing, you just boot off a win 98 boot disk and type fdisk /mbr to restore your old mbr.

If you're doing a fresh install of any modern linux distro it will set up all the boot stuff for you, whether you want both on 1 hd or linux on it's own.

[Aggieeng]

Originally posted by PolyPill
What are "HDD switcher things"?

The windows boot loader is not worth the trouble to use, I say just toughen up and install lilo or grub. Worst thing, you just boot off a win 98 boot disk and type fdisk /mbr to restore your old mbr.

If you're doing a fresh install of any modern linux distro it will set up all the boot stuff for you, whether you want both on 1 hd or linux on it's own.

You know...the HDD switcher things you see in tiger direct catalogs that let you boot from different hard drives...and I've "toughened up" and used lilo every time i've dual booted...i just wanted to know if it would work across two hard drives...

[moorcito]

Yes it will work across two hard drives. All you have to do is tell Lilo where you installed linux and everything will work just fine.

[nil_esh]

This is what I did at one point:

Drive 1 - (windows boot loader) Win2k

Drive 2 - (GRUB boot loader) Linux and FreeBSD

The Win2k bootloader boots either Win2k or the GRUB boot loader on the other drive. And from GRUB I can boot Linux or FreeBSD. I initially installed Linux and GRUB on Drive 2, and then installed FreeBSD and configured GRUB to boot FreeBSD.

This is just one of the many possibilities, its really a matter of personal preference. I like keeping Windows on a seperate drive and not overwrite the Windows bootloader, but have the ability to use GRUB on my other drive. I also like this setup, because if I wanted to remove the Windows drive and make Drive 2 the 1st drive, it would be relatively easy (though GRUB will need some reconfiguration).

EDIT: This kind of configuration can work on a single-drive as well.