Re: GRUB location on Dual-Boot with TWO hard drives
On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 6:10 AM, Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat 13 Oct 2012 at 00:40:40 -0400, Wally Lepore wrote:
>
>> If I choose NO to the installer's question as to placing GRUB in the
>> MBR of the 1st drive. What are my choices as to where to install it? I
>> don't want to answer "NO" to the question only to advance the
>> installer to a dead end. I have no idea what may happen next if I
>> answer NO. Any ideas or suggestions please?
>
> You have chosen not to instll GRUB to /dev/sda because, although it will
> work, you do not want the Windows boot loader on this drive to be
> replaced. Your desire is to leave this drive untouched. Consequently,
> you will not chhoose 'Yes'.
>
> That leaves only one other choice. Either you take it or are condemned
> to stare at this screen for all eternity. So, be a devil - press 'No'.
> Nothing awful will happen. Promise.
Ok, I took your advice and clicked "No" (what other choice did I have
:-) It turned out to be the best suggestion! I was presented with a
new screen that provided an option to install the GRUB boot loader to
another location. Saved!
I only have one shot to get this right or else I have to scrub the
install and start over. Here is what the new screen is asking:
***** BEGIN *****
You need to make the newly installed system bootable, by installing
the GRUB boot loader on a bootable device.
The usual way to do this is to install GRUB on the master boot record
of your first hard drive.
If you prefer, you can install GRUB elsewhere on the drive, or to
another drive, or even to a floppy.
The device can be specified using GRUB's "(hdn,m)" notation, or as a
device in /dev. Below are some examples:
-- "(hd0)" or /dev/hda" will install GRUB to the master boot record of
your first hard drive (IDE);
-- "(hd0,2)" or "(/dev/hda2" will use the second partition of your
first IDE drive;
-- "(hd2,5)" or "/dev/sdc5" will use the first extended partition of
your third drive (SCSI here);
-- "(fd0)" or "/dev/fd0" will install GRUB to a floppy
Device for boot loader installation:
((type the device I want to install GRUB to in the box below - my quote)).
____________________________________
|____________________________________|
***** END *****
I only have one shot at getting this correct. My 2nd hard drive (that
contains Debian) is installed on /dev/sdb and the first partition on
that drive is /boot .
My Debian hard drive (sdb) is partitioned in the following order:
/boot
Swap
/
/var
/usr
/temp
/home
Should I simply type hd1,1 OR /dev/sdb in the above box and
that should install GRUB to the first /boot partition on the 2nd
drive? I want to be sure GRUB gets installed into that first partition
(/boot) on drive /dev/sdb. hd,1,1 seems more accurate than /dev/sdb.
After installation is complete, I will go into my BIOS and change the
first boot device to "sdb" (or as BIOS calls it HDD1). I tested this
BIOS adjustment a few days ago and the procedure worked fine using two
other drives as a test.
Thank you for your patience.
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