[SOLVED] Dual boot with Windows 7 & 2 HDDs

[ElWray]

Hi again,

I got 2 HDDs now:

1 x 500GB & 1 x 80GB

I'm planning to use the 500 for linux exclusively and I want to install windoze 7 on the 80 GB one.
Are there any chances that I'll have trouble dual-booting this way?
Do I need to backup grub or will I need to reinstall it after I'm done with win7?

Thanks,
ElWray

[oshunluvr]

Re: Dual boot with Windows 7 & 2 HDDs

Are there any chances that I'll have trouble dual-booting this way?

Always some chance. Although dual-booting with two drives, each on it's own os is the easiest and safest.

Do I need to backup grub or will I need to reinstall it after I'm done with win7?

Never a bad idea to have a backup, but since you're using two drives, here's my suggestion:

Assuming your computer is modern enough to boot to either drive via bios setup - install win7 to it's drive and install linux and grub to the other drive. Then set your linux drive to be the primary boot drive. Then, boot to win7 and install EasyBCD to it http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 and set your win7 bootloader to allow you to boot to linux.

Then just choose the drive you want to boot to. If one bootloader ever fails - swap the drive boot order and you should be OK.

[ElWray]

Re: Dual boot with Windows 7 & 2 HDDs

Thanks a lot.

Linux is already installed on the 500 GB drive which is what I'm using right now.
Gonna get to work now and will edit this post when I'm done.

This might be a bit off topic, so sorry about it, but how can I upgrade to 10.10? (Running Lucid now).

Again, thanks!
ElWray

[The Liquidator]

Re: Dual boot with Windows 7 & 2 HDDs

I assume you have got a separate home partition? If so, you have an extra couple of options.

Option 1. simply upgrade over the internet. I would be reluctant to do this myself, as if something goes wrong you potentially have a non-working system with nowhere to go.

Option 2. Download the alternate cd. You should (I say should because the RC would not do it for me) be able to use this as an upgrade source.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ma...grades/Kubuntu

Actually re-reading this would suggest option 2 didn't work for me because I did something wrong.

Option 3. Use the alternate cd to do a clean install, ensuring that your home partition is merely marked for use as such rather than formatted. The instaler will run in text mode.

Option 4. Use the live CD to do pretty much the same thing. The installer will be a GUI.

With 3 and 4 you start off with everything but home totally new. As a result you'll have some program installation to do. I would if I were you try option 2 first, although you'll appreciate it's a huge update. However, if you have got the CD, if option 2 fails you can always go to option 3.

HTH

[ElWray]

Re: [SOLVED] Dual boot with Windows 7 & 2 HDDs

Everything worked without problems so far.
Gonna upgrade to 10.10 later this evening.

Thanks a lot once again,
ElWray

[ElWray]

Re: Dual boot with Windows 7 & 2 HDDs

Seems like one of the partitions on the linux HDD was ruined.
Now I got two options: Skip mounting (and then it just hangs at the loading screen) or manual recovery. How do I do that?

Edit: a disc check with the live cd solved the problem.