I have a plan ... to separate PCLOS from XP

[TBercaht]

To all who read this post, greetings.  

The text below the first horizontal line was pasted from a plain text document.
I prepared it to guide myself in moving PCLOS KDE from the hard drive it now shares with XP to a separate hard drive.
XP will occupy the original hard drive alone.
PCLOS will occupy the boot drive, XP will [continue to] be chainloaded from grub.
(on a personal note, spell-check suggests to replace "chainloaded" with "chain-sawed" ... I wish)
 
I would like to have the XP hard drive still boot-able if the PCLOS hard drive is removed.
This last point will probably require the use of tools from XP, thus outside the scope of the PCLinuxOS forum.  I am not asking for help with this, but stating my intentions.

I request that the experts of the forum review the plan for errors before I implement it.
Several of the topics and posts I read while preparing the plan suggest [to me] that it is better to ask for help before making {potentially harmful} modifications to a system rather than after the modifications are made improperly.
 

Current installation:

 1) Dual-boot PCLOS KDE (updated) & XP sharing one 40GB SATA HDD (/dev/sdb).
 2) 160GB PATA HDD (/dev/sda) partitioned & formatted as follows:

   <fdisk -l>

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf9762825

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048     1050623      524288   83  Linux
/dev/sda2         1050624     8390655     3670016   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3         8390656    83888127    37748736   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        83888128   312581807   114346840    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        83890176   312581807   114345816   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb53eb4ff

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    39070079    19535008+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2        39070080    78156224    19543072+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        39070143    41833259     1381558+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6        41833323    58492664     8329671   83  Linux
/dev/sdb7        58492728    78156224     9831748+  83  Linux

   <blkid>

Code:

/dev/sda1: LABEL="WDCB160B" UUID="7c4447bd-43d9-4653-8aae-a6efb4900474" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="WDCB160S" UUID="193451b2-bd17-402f-af0f-fd1907b2a7d6" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="WDCB160R" UUID="2aaa9cc8-0019-428e-9d6a-c3b006bf99f7" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="WDCB160D" UUID="1a9e5a7e-7337-4eab-a833-996a36fd5a62" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Win_XP3" UUID="8A20F8AD20F8A0FD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb5: LABEL="Swap40Gs" UUID="237b4b80-04f1-4541-a2e4-b93081f0ee07" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb6: LABEL="Home" UUID="5c42bb8c-8eeb-4c82-a32f-ae5d54118c2d" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb7: LABEL="KDE_2010" UUID="35770a2a-1a8c-4989-9ba8-0cfe4d567bb8" TYPE="ext4"

   <menu.lst>

Code:

gfxmenu (hd0,6)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan

title linux
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=LABEL=KDE_2010 resume=LABEL=Swap40Gs splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=LABEL=KDE_2010 resume=LABEL=Swap40Gs
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=LABEL=KDE_2010 failsafe
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd.img

title 2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs root=LABEL=KDE_2010 resume=LABEL=Swap40Gs splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd-2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs.img

title 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs root=LABEL=KDE_2010 resume=LABEL=Swap40Gs splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img

title memtest-4.20
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/memtest-4.20 BOOT_IMAGE=memtest-4.20

title windows
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive

title Reboot
reboot

title Shutdown
init 0

   <fstab (edited for clarity)>

Code:

LABEL=KDE_2010 / ext4 relatime 1 1
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
LABEL=Home /home ext4 relatime 1 2
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
LABEL=Swap40Gs swap swap defaults 0 0
LABEL=Win_XP3 /mnt/windows ntfs-3g user,noauto,umask=000 0 0

Objectives:

1) Copy PCLOS installation from 40GB (SATA) to 160GB (PATA) HDD.
  a) Copy contents of /home (partition) to /home (directory on / partition).
  b) Create directories in data partition for <user> documents (Documents, Music, etc).
  c) Add symlinks in /home/<user>/ directory to directories in data partition.
  d) Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst & /etc/fstab to reflect changes.
  e) Create new initrd image.
  f) Copy contents of /boot (directory) to boot partition for backup/recovery.

2) Designate PCLOS HDD as boot drive in BIOS.

3) Verify that both OS can boot.

4) Expand XP to fill 40GB HDD.
  a) "Restore" XP bootloader to 40GB HDD so that it can boot without PCLOS HDD installed.


Plan (From LiveCD terminal, as root):

1 ) Create mount point directories.

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/here /mnt/home /mnt/there /mnt/Data /mnt/boot

2 ) Mount "origin" / partition @ /mnt/here.

Code:

mount LABEL=KDE_2010 /mnt/here

3 ) Mount "destination" / partition @ /mnt/there.

Code:

mount LABEL=WDCB160R /mnt/there

4 ) Copy / to new partition.

Code:

rsync -av /mnt/here/ /mnt/there

5 ) Create mount point for /mnt/Data (to be used in new fstab) in new partition.

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/there/mnt/Data

6 ) Mount "origin" /home partition @ /mnt/home.

Code:

mount LABEL=Home /mnt/home

7 ) Copy /home to new partition /home directory.

Code:

rsync -av /mnt/home/ /mnt/there/home

8 ) Mount data partition @ /mnt/Data.

Code:

mount LABEL=WDCB160D /mnt/Data

9 ) Create directories in data partition for <user> documents.

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/Data/Documents /mnt/Data/Pictures /mnt/Data/Music

10) Create symlinks in /home/<user>/ to directories in data partition.

Code:

ln -s /mnt/Data/Documents /mnt/there/home/<user>/Documents
ln -s /mnt/Data/Music /mnt/there/home/<user>/Music
ln -s /mnt/Data/Pictures /mnt/there/home/<user>/Pictures

11) Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst & /etc/fstab to reflect changes.
  a) Proposed menu.lst

Code:

gfxmenu (hd0,2)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan

title linux
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=LABEL=WDCB160R failsafe
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd.img

title 2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd-2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs.img

title 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img

title memtest-4.20
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/memtest-4.20 BOOT_IMAGE=memtest-4.20

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Reboot
reboot

title Shutdown
init 0

 b) Proposed fstab

Code:

LABEL=WDCB160B /mnt/Boot ext4 noauto           0 0
LABEL=WDCB160S swap     swap defaults         0 0
LABEL=WDCB160R /       ext4 relatime         1 1
LABEL=WDCB160D /mnt/Data ext4 relatime         0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
LABEL=Win_XP3 /mnt/windows ntfs-3g user,noauto,umask=000 0 0

12) Create new initrd image (from within chroot environment).

Code:

umount -a
mount LABEL=WDCB160R /mnt/here
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/here/dev
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/here/proc
mount -o bind /sys /mnt/here/sys
chroot /mnt/here
# prompt changes from ~ to /
cd /boot
ls -l |grep initrd
mv initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img-old
mkinitrd -v /boot/initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs
# Repeat above two steps for 2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs initrd image.
ls -l |grep initrd
exit
# prompt changes from / to ~
umount /mnt/here/sys
umount /mnt/here/proc
umount /mnt/here/dev
umount /mnt/here

13) Mount "destination" boot partition @ /mnt/boot.

Code:

mount LABEL=WDCB160B /mnt/boot

14) Copy contents of /boot (directory) to boot partition.

Code:

rsync -av /mnt/there/boot/ /mnt/boot

15) Create symlink within boot partition to itself.

Code:

cd /mnt/boot
ln -s . boot

16) Install grub to the MBR of PCLOS HDD.

Code:

grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit

17) Edit /grub/menu.lst (in boot partion).

Code:

gfxmenu (hd0,0)/gfxmenu
default 0
timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan

title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=LABEL=WDCB160R failsafe
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.img

title 2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd-2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs.img

title 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs
kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs root=LABEL=WDCB160R resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/initrd-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs.img

title memtest-4.20
kernel (hd0,0)/memtest-4.20 BOOT_IMAGE=memtest-4.20

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Reboot
reboot

title Shutdown
init 0

18) "Restore" XP bootloader to 40GB HDD (UBCD?).

19) Verify both OS can boot.

20) Recreate XP partition to fill 40GB HDD.

Code:

fdisk /dev/sdb

Command (m for help): p    

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb53eb4ff

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    39070079    19535008+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2        39070080    78156224    19543072+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        39070143    41833259     1381558+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6        41833323    58492664     8329671   83  Linux
/dev/sdb7        58492728    78156224     9831748+  83  Linux

Command (m for help): o
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xbb97e366.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4, default 1):
Using default value 1
First sector (2048-78165359, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-78165359, default 78165359):
Using default value 78165359

Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): 7
Changed system type of partition 1 to 7 (HPFS/NTFS)

Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 1

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbb97e366

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        2048    78165359    39081656    7  HPFS/NTFS

Command (m for help): w

21) Resize filesystem to fill expanded partition.

Code:

ntfsresize -v /dev/sdb1

Quote from ntfsresize --help
"The options -i and -s are mutually exclusive.
If both options are omitted then the NTFS volume will be enlarged to the DEVICE size."

22) Re-Verify that both OS can boot.


Thank you for your interest.

Regards,

Darryl

Edit:  I found (and corrected) some flaws when I previewed the post.  Imagine that  

Edit 30-Oct-2011:  
Corrected steps 10 & 16 menu.list Windows stanza(s) - thanks old-polack
Added URL to step 17

Edit 31-Oct-2011:
Added new step 5 to create mount point directory /mnt/Data - thanks kjpetrie
Renumbered subsequent steps.  Also, step 8 ) is no longer "cool"

[Old-Polack]

TBercaht:

The new boot stanza for Windows needs to have map lines added, and should look like this;

title Windows
    rootnoverify (hd1,0)
    map (hd1) (hd0)
    map (hd0) (hd1)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

[Just18]

e) Create new initrd image.

Is this necessary?

[Old-Polack]

e) Create new initrd image.

Is this necessary?

Yes. Being on a different hard drive, as well as a different type controller he'll need the correct drivers loaded as well as the correct new / partition and new swap partition included in the initrd image. Odds are the system would probably still boot without the new initrd image but would have the one minute time out problem.

[TBercaht]

TBercaht:

The new boot stanza for Windows needs to have map lines added, and should look like this;

title Windows
    rootnoverify (hd1,0)
    map (hd1) (hd0)
    map (hd0) (hd1)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

old-polack,
Thank you for catching that.
The map lines are necessary now because the systems will no longer be on the same drive, is that correct?

The rootnoverify entry tells grub to not try to read the filesystem, just hand over boot control to whatever is there.

Above quote from 3rd result in forum search for "rootnoverify" - how did I miss that?!  

Good night, folks

It's time for TBercaht to "chainsawed" some logs... zzzzzz

Edit 30-Oct-2011:
Corrected original post and local copy (on HDD).

[Old-Polack]

TBercaht:

The new boot stanza for Windows needs to have map lines added, and should look like this;

title Windows
    rootnoverify (hd1,0)
    map (hd1) (hd0)
    map (hd0) (hd1)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

old-polack,
Thank you for catching that.
The map lines are necessary now because the systems will no longer be on the same drive, is that correct?

The rootnoverify entry tells grub to not try to read the filesystem, just hand over boot control to whatever is there.

Above quote from 3rd result in forum search for "rootnoverify" - how did I miss that?! 

Good night, folks

It's time for TBercaht to "chainsawed" some logs... zzzzzz

Windows needs to think it's on the first drive, so the map lines tell BIOS to lie to Windows to achieve that. 

[kjpetrie]

I didn't see you create the mount point for the Data partition in your new /:

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/there/mnt/Data

(The -p shouldn't be needed, but I put it in just in case.)

[Old-Polack]

I didn't see you create the mount point for the Data partition in your new /:

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/there/mnt/Data

(The -p shouldn't be needed, but I put it in just in case.)

You forgot a space between /mnt/there and /mnt/Data, but no matter, as this, from the original post, has it covered.

mkdir -p /mnt/here /mnt/home /mnt/there /mnt/Data /mnt/boot

[kjpetrie]

I'm not talking about the mount point for the Data directory when copying to it. I'm talking about the mount point for the Data directory in the new system, which its fstab point to when it's booted. That won't exist until its created, so fstab will not be able to mount the data directory. Of course, it can easily be fixed after the first boot, but I thought it was better to fix it in advance.

And no, it doesn't need a space. That directory needs to be at /mnt/there/mnt/Data - ie in the /mnt/ directory of the newly-copied /.

[Old-Polack]

I'm not talking about the mount point for the Data directory when copying to it. I'm talking about the mount point for the Data directory in the new system, which its fstab point to when it's booted. That won't exist until its created, so fstab will not be able to mount the data directory. Of course, it can easily be fixed after the first boot, but I thought it was better to fix it in advance.

And no, it doesn't need a space. That directory needs to be at /mnt/there/mnt/Data - ie in the /mnt/ directory of the newly-copied /.

I humbly beg your pardon, for my error.

Your added explanation above does, indeed, clarify your intent, and eliminate my confusion.

[kjpetrie]

Hehee. One up on O-P!

Only a matter of time before I put my great big foot in it and it'll be your turn to triumph.

[TBercaht]

I didn't see you create the mount point for the Data partition in your new /:

Code:

mkdir -p /mnt/there/mnt/Data

(The -p shouldn't be needed, but I put it in just in case.)

kjpetrie, you are correct.  I am posting from a different machine at the moment, but I believe that /mnt/Data has already been created in the original system.  That being said, to avoid confusion (and in the very likely case that I am wrong), I will add the step after copying /.

Thank you.   

(That reminds me, typing an eight "8" followed by a close parenthesis ")" is "cool" )

Guess I'd better fix that while I'm thinking of it...

Regards,

Darryl

[TBercaht]

Windows needs to think it's on the first drive, so the map lines tell BIOS to lie to Windows to achieve that.  

old-polack,
I believe I understand now (took long enough...).
The map lines were not necessary before, because Windows already is on the first drive (but not for long..).

Thanks again for the explanation.
Well, ladies & gentlemen, it is time for me to shut up & get to work.
I hope to check back in soon with results.
Thank you all for your interest & feedback.

Edit 03-Feb-2012:  
I have completed steps 1 through 17 (Edit /grub/menu.lst in boot partion).  
I rebooted to change the BIOS boot sequence to use the new hard drive (with migrated PCLOS) first.
The "problem" was corrected as described in a later post.
Specifically, I removed the incorrectly installed 40-pin parallel cable, installed an IDE-SATA adapter on the new HDD, & connected the adapter to an open SATA port on the motherboard.

Regards,

Darryl

[TBercaht]

With BIOS configured as follows:

First Boot Device   Optical Drive
Second Boot Device   Hard Disk

Hard Disk Boot Sequence:
1. Ch0 S.    :  <New (PCLinuxOS only)>
2. Ch1 M.    :  <Original (Dual-Boot)>

The optical drive is Master on Channel 0 (IDE).
The new (PCLinuxOS) HDD is Slave on Channel 0.
The original (Dual-Boot) HDD is Master on Channel 1 (SATA).

The message that appears at boot up
Boot from CD :
GRUB Loading stage1.5Read Error

I reboot the machine (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) & change "Hard Disk Boot Seq." to:
1. Ch1 M.    :  <Original (Dual-Boot)>
2. Ch0 S.    :  <New (PCLinuxOS only)>

The graphical GRUB menu appears after POST.

I added a stanza to menu.lst on the original (SATA) hard drive as follows:
title New_KDE_2011
kernel (hd1,0)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=New_KDE_2011 root=LABEL=WDCB160R vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
initrd (hd1,0)/initrd.img

When I select that option, the following appears:
kernel (hd1,0)/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=New_KDE_2011 root=LABEL=WDCB160R vmalloc=256
M acpi=on resume=LABEL=WDCB160S splash=verbose vga=788
   [Linuz-bzImage, setup=0x3800, size=0x2358c0]

Error 25: Disk read error

Press any key to continue...

I press "any key" ("Where's the 'Any Key'?") & return to the text GRUB menu.


This was the source of the problem:
The ribbon cable which connects the optical drive & new HDD to the motherboard (IDE channel 0) is connected "backwards" - the end which would (should?) normally connect to the motherboard is connected to the new HDD & vice versa.
This was a very bad idea.

I have purchased an "IDE to SATA Converter" to connect the hard drive to an open SATA connection on the motherboard.  This did resolve my issue.
The rest of this post is now for reference only, so that others may learn from my mistake(s).


Following info transcribed from:
"Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS CMOS Setup Utility"
                "System Information"
Product Name   HP dx5150 SFF
Processor Type   AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+
      Rev. E6
Cache Size   512K
Memory Size   2048MB/DDR333/128bits
System ROM   Ver. 1.15 04/13/2006


Output of commands from LiveCD root terminal.

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf9762825

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048     1050623      524288   83  Linux
/dev/sda2         1050624     8390655     3670016   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3         8390656    83888127    37748736   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        83888128   312581807   114346840    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        83890176   312581807   114345816   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb53eb4ff

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    39070079    19535008+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2        39070080    78156224    19543072+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        39070143    41833259     1381558+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6        41833323    58492664     8329671   83  Linux
/dev/sdb7        58492728    78156224     9831748+  83  Linux

[root@localhost ~]# blkid
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="WDCB160B" UUID="7c4447bd-43d9-4653-8aae-a6efb4900474" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="WDCB160S" UUID="193451b2-bd17-402f-af0f-fd1907b2a7d6" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="WDCB160R" UUID="2aaa9cc8-0019-428e-9d6a-c3b006bf99f7" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="WDCB160D" UUID="1a9e5a7e-7337-4eab-a833-996a36fd5a62" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="Win_XP3" UUID="8A20F8AD20F8A0FD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb5: LABEL="Swap40Gs" UUID="237b4b80-04f1-4541-a2e4-b93081f0ee07" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdb6: LABEL="Home" UUID="5c42bb8c-8eeb-4c82-a32f-ae5d54118c2d" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb7: LABEL="KDE_2010" UUID="35770a2a-1a8c-4989-9ba8-0cfe4d567bb8" TYPE="ext4"


Output of commands from running system (original installation) root terminal.
[root@localhost ~]# uname -r
2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs

[root@localhost ~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 11)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 IDE Controller
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 [Radeon Xpress 200G Series]
01:05.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Xpress Series (RS480)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 20)

Edit 03-Feb-2012:
Updated description of problem with resolution.  Removed dmesg & modprobe info.

[kjpetrie]

If you look closely at the cable, you will see the far end connector has a little twist or cut in one of the cores in the ribbon cable. That is the cable select line. It can only work when the cable is connected correctly. If the drives are physically too far apart to connect them correctly, I would suggest moving them closer together.

It is usual, and I think necessary, when connecting a hard drive and an optical drive on the same channel, to connect the HDD as master. Many BIOSes will not function correctly if they are reversed.

I think that's likely to be the problem.