Re: Ready to join the club..
Marty wrote:
> Greg wrote:
>
>> I'm a noob to Debian but I'm ready to install Debian to my current
>> machine. (PIII, 512MB Ram, 2 HDs; 60 MB - main and 80 MB secondary).
>> The first HD contains WinME (don't laugh) and the second will contain
>> Debian in one partition and Windows files (mp3s, JPEGs) in the other.
>> I've already partitioned the second HD and burned the installation
>> image files onto CDs. My question is this, I want to use a boot loader
>> that will load either WinME or Debian. Grub seems like the default
>> boot loader per the installation docs I've read. During installation,
>> will Grub be smart enough to see WinMe on the other drive and will
>> itput the boot loader file on the main drive, the one that holds WinME?
>
>
> I don't know the answer to question question, but it raises a red flag,
> byt suggesting that you are planning to install Debian on a system with
> WinME
> present. That's an unnecessary and risky thing to do, especially for a
> "noob."
> I strongly recommend against it, especially if your system is not 100%
> backed up.
> Instead you could just remove or disconnect the WinME drive, to avoid
> the risk
> of total and irretrievable data loss on the WinME drive.
He is new to Debian but sounds like he has a decent understanding of
PCs. If he is stupid enough to delete his Windows partition during the
install, it will certainly be the kind of mistake he learns from. :)
d-i is very friendly and I think he should proceed with both drives
connected.
> Furthermore since you are using separate hard drives, you can probably
> select the boot drive using the BIOS boot device selection menu (e.g.
> F8->Boot Menu)
> available on newer motherboards. There is probably no need in your
> case to use a boot loader for OS selection.
Talk about making an inelegant solution (dual-booting) even more so.
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