XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

[Manni]

I currently have XP installed on an Intel ICH9R RAID 0 and I have a spare 120GB IDE HDD I would like to install Kubuntu on. My questions are this:

Can I just install Kubuntu 8.10 on the the IDE HDD as a dual boot?
Where will the Grub boot loader be saved?
Will I need to setup the Linux to see the Fake RAID before the I install?

I'm just concerned the XP RAID 0 will be damaged with the installation. I would like to setup Kubuntu and then get my wife to migrate over as smoothly as possible.

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

Does anyone know where grub is saved?
Does it overwrite windows MBR (on my RAID 0 drives) or install with Kubuntu on the spare HDD?

[dibl]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

Unless you direct it differently, using the option at the end of the installation process, Grub will be installed on the Master Boot Record (mbr) of whichever drive has the "boot" flag set on it -- undoubtedly the RAID set with XP on it. Here's more:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0

[Qqmike]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

No experience with RAID, so I avoid what seems to be quirky issues at times.
The how-to will give you the principles (of GRUB).
Here's one concrete tip:
=> the geometry command in GRUB could be very useful to you.
With both drives plug in, from a Live Kubuntu CD, use the geometry command to see how BIOS and therefore how GRUB sees your drives (hd0, hd1, etc.).
You probably do not want to overwrite your main XP MBR, so try to install GRUB to the MBR of the Kubuntu drive only.
See the how-to dibl linked to, SECTION 6: Windows topics about using the Kubuntu Live CD installer, Manual method, and using Step 6 -- Advanced > Specify where to put GRUB.
But I don't know how your RAID will boot. Can you just boot the PC from the Kubuntu drive and then boot XP from Kubuntu's GRUB? (If so, see again SECTION 6, the subsection "When XP is on a non-first hard drive")

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

Thanks dibl & Qqmike. I had a read of section 6 on the link you posted. Looks as though that will get Kubuntu up and running on the third HDD without touching the MBR of XP. I could edit Grub with the lines to launch XP, but my only concern is if it will read the RAID. Is there someway I could install a driver so that Grub would see the RAID? Would Grub even need to read the RAID?

Suppose the worst case is it doesn't see the RAID. I would just have to remove XP from Grub and then switch HDD in the BIOS to boot which OS I wanted to use. This just would be a pain.

[Qqmike]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

Would Grub even need to read the RAID?

I just don't know because I've never tried/studied it.
A google produces a lot of stuff:
Grub and RAID
http://www.google.com/search?q=Grub+...ient=firefox-a

Did you try geometry (from Live Kubuntu CD) to if GRUB sees RAID from that vantage point?

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

I haven't tried geometry as of yet. Been working a night shift when I read your post. Will try later, however my DVD drive is playing up at the moment. I was going to replace it before I installed Kubuntu. I will try the CD and hopefully it will work.

Thanks for your help so far!

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

I tried the geometry as follows:

------------------------------------------
Grub>geometry

Drive 0x80(LBA): C/H/S=36482/255/63, Sector Count/Size=586083330/512 Partition num: 0, active, filesystem type is ntfs, partition type 0x07

Grub>
-------------------------------------------

I've never done this before, but assume that grub sees one HDD?

Just a reminder, I have:
2 x WD Raptor X 150GB SATA HDD's as a RAID 0.
1 x 1TB external HDD vie ESATA.

I should have 2 partitions. 1 x 300GB NTFS RAID 0 partition across HDD1 & HDD2. Also 1 x 1TB NTFS partition on the external HDD. I plan to use the 1TB HDD for data, shared between XP & Kubuntu. I also have a spare 120GB IDE HDD (Not installed yet). I plan to fit this and install Kubuntu 8.10 on it.

Can anyone explain what grub has seen?

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

Can anyone please help me.

What does grub see in the above post?

Have I done this correctly.

[Qqmike]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

"Can anyone please help me.
What does grub see in the above post?"

Well, I'm afraid that's about all I can tell ya: GRUB sees 300 GB (= 586083330 sectors * 512 Bytes.sector). It is seeing one partition, Partition 0, ntfs.

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

This looks like good news then. I have my new DVD player and plan on installing it and my spare HDD soon, so I will give it a go and report back.

Thanks for the help, and fingers crossed!!!

[Qqmike]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

Glad you feel it helped. When you get this figured out, you can explain it to us
Never did quite get the RAID-thing down, nor have I seen consistent patterns when messing with booting. Kinda all Greek to me. Yeah, I HAVE read the leading PC hardware books on it. Most folks feel that RAID isn't needed except possibly in the case of servers. But, philosophy aside, we'll be interested to see what you're up to here.

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

I started off by building a HTPC from scratch. Searched on goggle about RAID out of interest and thought I'd give it a try. Installed XP across a RAID 0 and was impressed by the responce of the drive. (Not sure if it was the rest of the hardware or the RAID, but decided to keep the setup).
I then started looking for a media front end for TV / Music and Films. Found a few and tried most. LinuxMCE caught my eye, but I had never used Linux and wanted to get it up and running ASAP. For XP I found that GBPVR was the best solution for me. Set this up and was happy, but then I just wanted that bit more.
I decided to take the plunge into Linux! I didn't want to distroy the HTPC setup, so dual booted my laptop, XP / Kubuntu and was hooked. I found LinuxMCE to be buggy, so haven't used that fully, but I just like the ease of Kubuntu. So far it's been a smooth transition, with only one fault on the laptop that I know of, which I'm trying to work through
(http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3101912.0)

The plan now is to get the HTPC to dual boot Kubuntu and to get the wife to slowly make the switch. She seems to like it on the laptop, so it looks promising. Just need to sort out a good, stable media front end for TV / Music and Film. Hopefully LinuxMCE will become more stable in time. I intend to install Kubuntu 8.10 and try LinuxMCE when that version is released.
Have to say that so far, so good. I like the easy of adding new programs, the safety side, the general feel, and the community is one of the best I've seen. So thumbs up to you all!!!

[Manni]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

I have finally got around to installing my new DVD player and old 120GB HDD. Have some good and bad news:

Good News is that the DVD player works well....

The bad news is that the HDD isn't seen by XP. This caused the start-up of the PC to take ages! This is my only IDE HDD, inserted the jumper on the master setting and plugged in. Disk management in XP doesn't even show any HDD at all (No partition / unpartitioned space). There should be an old XP install on it (ntfs partition), that I want to delete.
I don't know as yet whats causing the fault, but I need to know the HDD is operating fine before I take the installation of Kubuntu further.

Will report back when I eventually get it working.

[dibl]

Re: XP on SATA RAID 0 and Kubuntu on IDE HDD

I would recommend putting the jumper on "CS" for "cable select", and make sure you have a good IDE cable (can you test it on another computer to be sure it is good?).

However, the main problem appears to be in your BIOS settings. With the drive jumpered to CS, most computers will automatically "see" it, but maybe your BIOS has the IDE channel disabled. Set the first IDE channel to "Master" and use that for the hdd, and (if it is also IDE) put the DVD drive on the other IDE channel.