Grub and Multiple Hard Drives

[z]

Hello, I have a new hard drive that I want to install Kubuntu on. I ran a Kubuntu CD on my old hard drive and successfully installed it on the new drive. The problem is that now my old hard drive is looking to run Kubuntu rather than Vista when it starts up. Please ask any question that will help you help me. Thanks.

[vinnywright]

Re: Grub and Multiple Hard Drives

lets see if I got this right.....

you put a new HD in your computer ........so now theirs 2 HD's installed in the box...... the original has vista on it...... you then installed Kubuntu to the second (new) HD and grub 2 the MBR of the first drive /dev/sda
now when you start the computer it boot's striate to Kubuntu..........if this is right then when you start the box press and hold the shift key down untill the grub menu cums up and see if windows is on the list.
If it is not on the list then boot into Kubuntu and run in a konsole

sudo update-grub

and see if it finds vista then .

if this is not the case please tell exactly what you did and how you did it .....your post is a little vague.

you may also from Kubuntu post the output of

sudo fdisk -l

so we can see the drive layout

VINNY

[z]

Re: Grub and Multiple Hard Drives

It doesn't boot straight to Kubuntu; it gives me an 8 second countdown with Kubuntu preselected. I don't have the knowledge to work with Grub. What I wanted was for Grub to be installed along with Kubuntu on the new drive not the old.

Here is the fdisk output for both hard drives ("old drive" first):

"Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x27c7d12a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 30401 244196352 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sector/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000bela4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 59272 476097536 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 59272 60802 12285953 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 59272 60802 12285952 82 Linux swap / Solaris

[oshunluvr]

Re: Grub and Multiple Hard Drives

Trying to sort this out: You added a new drive and it's now sdb. You installed Kubuntu to it, and installed grub to drive sda.

Your issue is you want grub on sdb? And that's it, or are there other things you want done differently?

I presume then that you're planning on using your computers BIOS to boot to either sda or sdb, or you were planning on swapping the drives, making the new drive sda and the old one sdb?

I ask because if you're only planning on the drive swap it's simple:

Boot to Kubuntu, open a terminal, type sudo grub-install /dev/sdb, shutdown, swap drives, power-up, done.

If you want the old drive to be able to boot to Vista directly without grub (not a bad idea), you'll have to search the web for "Restoring Vista Master Boot Record"

If you have some other set-up in mind, gives us as much detail as possible.

[z]

Re: Grub and Multiple Hard Drives

Success. I used freeware EasyBCD to repair the Vista MBR. Now I'll have to see if the new drive works correctly as it is. What does sda and sdb stand for?

[Snowhog]

Re: Grub and Multiple Hard Drives

What does sda and sdb stand for?

See Device names in Linux