Re: Problems of Second writing of MBR with GRUB
On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:56:07 +0530
L V Gandhi <lvglist@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> thanks. what I am doubting is not about finding other OSes while
> installing new OS squeezeamd64, but about the squeezei386 whose grub
> is now in MBR. When I install new squeezeamd64 if it over writes MBR,
> then old squeeze will become unbootable..
>
>
>
On every Debian installation in 'expert' mode, you will be asked whether
you want the bootloader to be installed to the MBR, or to the OS
partition, or *not* *at* *all*. The safest way is 'not at all', then to
boot to the i386 system and run update-grub. This will leave the i386
bootloader in place but it will now have an additional menu entry or
two.
As others have said, if you allow the new bootloader to be written
to the MBR, it should also detect the old system and include it in its
new menu. Choosing 'do not install bootloader' makes absolutely
certain there will be no problem reaching the old system.
If for any reason the old grub has trouble booting the new system, that
can be fixed, we all learn a bit more, and nothing will have been lost.
I personally loathe and detest grub2, it has given me trouble at every
possible opportunity, so I have learned never to give it an opportunity.
Windows *always* overwrites the MBR (not that many people ever install
it, or even have a Windows CD/DVD), most Linux distributions offer the
choice. Debian certainly does. But *always* choose the 'expert'
installation mode unless you know for certain you will be happy with
the beginner's defaults, and you won't in this case. For any
installation other than a simple workstation one to a single empty hard
drive, choose 'expert'.
--
Joe
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