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Re: GRUB location on Dual-Boot with TWO hard drives



On Saturday, October 13, 2012 12:40:40 AM Wally Lepore wrote:
> Hi Debain Users,
> 
> I'm at the final stages of Installing NOT Ubuntu but  Debian 'Squeeze'
> on my dual-boot system. Windows is installed on the 1st hard drive
> (/dev/sda) and Debian will be installed on the 2nd hard drive
> (/dev/sdb).
> 
> The installer is asking me where I want Grub installed. It says:
> 
> -begin-
> 
> The following other operating systems have been detected on this
> computer: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
> 
> *****begin*****
> If all of your operating systems are listed above, then it should be
> safe to install the boot loader to the master boot record of your
> first hard drive. When your computer boots, you will be able to choose
> to load one of these operating systems or your new system. Install the
> GRUB boot loader to the master boot record? No  or  Yes ?
> *****end*****
> 
> This is the make it or break it point! Debian is installed on my 2nd
> drive (/dev/sdb) NOT the 1st drive (/dev/sda). I also created a
> partition on the Debian drive (/dev/sdb) called  "/boot". GRUB was to
> be installed at this /boot location and then I would go into BIOS
> after install and switch the boot order to boot the Debian drive
> (/dev/sdb). This would then present the menu for which OS I would like
> to boot (Windows or Debian).
> 
> 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?
> 
> Thank you

You may have no choice. I had lenny installed on sda. I tried to install 
squeeze on sdb so I could play with KVM and Xen. Grub *insisted* on installing 
itself to sda regardless of what I told it to do. I had to boot lenny's rescue 
disk several times to fix grub before I gave up.

You may have to pull the first drive during the install. And, if you're lucky, 
your BIOS will set the second drive as the 'first' when you tell it to boot 
from it.

If you find no joy, try grub legacy if it's an option. I *know* legacy works; 
I can make a bootable ISO that uses grub, copy the ISO contents to a flash 
drive and make it bootable with a trivial change, and legacy installs where I 
tell it to, not where it decides to because it knows better.

To be clear, my grub2 problems were with v1.97-1.99; I've not tried it since. 
And probably won't until legacy truly dies (i.e., RH's patch set falls into 
disrepair).

In a short phrase, be prepared to stub your toes some more.


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