Adding a second hard drive for PCLinuxOS

[ThirdOfSix]

We all talk about safety when installing multiple drives and operating systems.

Along those lines, keep in mind that when you install the second drive and go to install PCLOS on in, it may show as drive one depending on the hardware.

If you are not paying really close attention, you could see that and tell the installer to install PCLOS to what is now drive two and unintentionally overwrite your existing installs.

If your drives are both in externally accessible  bays, consider removing your existing drive before installing PCLOS on the new one.

That way you are guaranteed that you will not mess up your existing installs.

Also, it will guarantee that during the install and setup, it will be the one that boots so you will be able to do the entire install and setup without any confusing surprises.

Also, some may disagree, but when using an old drive for the second drive, I always create the partitions for the new install using gparted and then tell the installer to use existing partitions.

Otherwise, you frequently get the unexpected message to reboot the system so that the partitions can be created etc. I personally find this to be an annoying aspect of our installer that is no doubt carried over due to its heritage.


Have fun.

[horusfalcon]

We all talk about safety when installing multiple drives and operating systems.

Along those lines, keep in mind that when you install the second drive and go to install PCLOS on in, it may show as drive one depending on the hardware.

If you are not paying really close attention, you could see that and tell the installer to install PCLOS to what is now drive two and unintentionally overwrite your existing installs.

If your drives are both in externally accessible  bays, consider removing your existing drive before installing PCLOS on the new one.

That way you are guaranteed that you will not mess up your existing installs.

Also, it will guarantee that during the install and setup, it will be the one that boots so you will be able to do the entire install and setup without any confusing surprises.

Also, some may disagree, but when using an old drive for the second drive, I always create the partitions for the new install using gparted and then tell the installer to use existing partitions.

Otherwise, you frequently get the unexpected message to reboot the system so that the partitions can be created etc. I personally find this to be an annoying aspect of our installer that is no doubt carried over due to its heritage.


Have fun.

Some good tips here!  It also wouldn't hurt to have a backup of your other drive ready before you start (look at Clonezilla Live or Redo Backup if you need a quick, free imaging utility.  Of the two, Redo Backup is simpler to use.)

Later On,
D

[Yankee]

Hi,

Raimy could also install PCL while the second drive is
still in the other computer.   Boot it to test.    Then
install the second drive to the Alienware laptop.   Hit
F12, select drive 1 or 2, should boot right up.

Redo sure isn't a bad idea for backup, monthly, or before
a major installation like this one.

regards,

Y

[Raimy]

Thanks for the tips guys. I am going to backup at least the data from the Alienware. I don't mind reinstalling OS's from scratch now and again if I need to...get a clean start. In fact I usually did a clean install of both OS's whenever PCLinuxOS released a new iso anyway.

Hi,

Raimy could also install PCL while the second drive is
still in the other computer.   Boot it to test.    Then
install the second drive to the Alienware laptop.   Hit
F12, select drive 1 or 2, should boot right up.

Redo sure isn't a bad idea for backup, monthly, or before
a major installation like this one.

regards,

Y

I already have PCLOS installed on the 500gb, that laptop was my main computer before I got this one. But how would that work? When the OS installs doesn't it "see" the hardware that's in the computer and install accordingly? All the main components are very different between the two. Maybe that would solve the sound issues I have since it's works perfectly on the old laptop.

[Yankee]

I already have PCLOS installed on the 500gb, that laptop was my main computer before I got this one. But how would that work? When the OS installs doesn't it "see" the hardware that's in the computer and install accordingly? All the main components are very different between the two. Maybe that would solve the sound issues I have since it's works perfectly on the old laptop.

PCL scans basic hardware at every boot, then makes adjustment accordingly.
If the PCL is updated you already have it installed.    New ISO is supposed to be
the same as an updated older install.     Installing the newest kernel usually helps
hardware detection success.   

[Raimy]

I already have PCLOS installed on the 500gb, that laptop was my main computer before I got this one. But how would that work? When the OS installs doesn't it "see" the hardware that's in the computer and install accordingly? All the main components are very different between the two. Maybe that would solve the sound issues I have since it's works perfectly on the old laptop.

PCL scans basic hardware at every boot, then makes adjustment accordingly.
If the PCL is updated you already have it installed.    New ISO is supposed to be
the same as an updated older install.     Installing the newest kernel usually helps
hardware detection success.   

That install is fairly updated, I think I stopped about 3 weeks or so ago when I started using Linux Mint on the new laptop. I know the latest iso (2012.12) was giving me the sound problems so maybe the install on the 500gb will have the sound working for the Alienware as it does on the older laptop.  I noticed when I installed the latest iso on the Alienware, alsa didn't seem to install completely/correctly and that's what was causing the sound issues (I think).

Here's a question...before I move the drive over could I install the latest iso in place of Windows and have both PCLOS installs on there? Then when I F12 to the second drive I'll get Grub showing both installs and I can see which works best, yes? Wiping Windows and installing the newest iso won't kill Grub, it would just reinstall wouldn't it?

[Yankee]

Here's a question...before I move the drive over could I install the latest iso in place of Windows and have both PCLOS installs on there? Then when I F12 to the second drive I'll get Grub showing both installs and I can see which works best, yes? Wiping Windows and installing the newest iso won't kill Grub, it would just reinstall wouldn't it?

Well you have to fully do the install routine on the ISO's install program.
Some manual adjustment might be necessary.   I haven't reinstalled
my machine in quite some time so my brain is a little lazy with those details.
But it's not hard to follow the PCL install routine.   Leave Windows there
and use a 3rd partition for a new install ?

I like the idea of grub2 on one drive and grub legacy on the other drive.
Why, because some options with grub2 are still considered "unreliable"
and some consider grub2 still in alpha.   

[pags]

...
Also, some may disagree, but when using an old drive for the second drive, I always create the partitions for the new install using gparted and then tell the installer to use existing partitions.

Otherwise, you frequently get the unexpected message to reboot the system so that the partitions can be created etc. I personally find this to be an annoying aspect of our installer that is no doubt carried over due to its heritage.
...

I don't think you need to limit this ideology to just older drives...also, you could accomplish this all from a PCLOS LiveCD (one boot), by using fdisk in a command prompt, prior to start the install.  fdisk will force a re-read of the partition table, so a reboot isn't (usually) required...

[Raimy]

Okay, I decided not to push my luck with a putting new install along with the old install on the 500gb. Leaving things as they were I moved the 500gb to the Alienware and booting was no problem. F12 gave me the option to boot from the second drive which I did and Grub came up as it always did. I picked PCLinuxOS and went for it. It started off normal but then there were a few problems along the way. Most went by too fast for me to catch but I did see something that seemed to be about the network card(s). It continued on and eventually stopped with this:

PCLinuxOS release 2013 (PCLinuxOS) for i586
Kernel 2.6.38.8-ockis3.bfs on an 8-processor i686/tty1
localhost login:

I was so hopeful and practically had myself convinced that it would all go without a hitch. Any ideas on this new development?

[Just17]

Okay, I decided not to push my luck with a putting new install along with the old install on the 500gb. Leaving things as they were I moved the 500gb to the Alienware and booting was no problem. F12 gave me the option to boot from the second drive which I did and Grub came up as it always did. I picked PCLinuxOS and went for it. It started off normal but then there were a few problems along the way. Most went by too fast for me to catch but I did see something that seemed to be about the network card(s). It continued on and eventually stopped with this:

PCLinuxOS release 2013 (PCLinuxOS) for i586
Kernel 2.6.38.8-ockis3.bfs on an 8-processor i686/tty1
localhost login:

I was so hopeful and practically had myself convinced that it would all go without a hitch. Any ideas on this new development?

It is likely that you did not change the video driver to  vesa  before you unplugged the HDD, and it is trying to use the wrong driver.

I do not know from where you got that kernel or if it is suitable for the hardware the drive is in now. 

This might work ......

log in as root, and at the prompt type

pcc

then select the 'Display' option, and from there select the correct video card driver .....  or alternatively select the   xorg-vesa  card driver.

A reboot should get you to a desktop after that.

{I hope I got that right ....  typing from a failing memory}  

[Old-Polack]

Okay, I decided not to push my luck with a putting new install along with the old install on the 500gb. Leaving things as they were I moved the 500gb to the Alienware and booting was no problem. F12 gave me the option to boot from the second drive which I did and Grub came up as it always did. I picked PCLinuxOS and went for it. It started off normal but then there were a few problems along the way. Most went by too fast for me to catch but I did see something that seemed to be about the network card(s). It continued on and eventually stopped with this:

PCLinuxOS release 2013 (PCLinuxOS) for i586
Kernel 2.6.38.8-ockis3.bfs on an 8-processor i686/tty1
localhost login:

I was so hopeful and practically had myself convinced that it would all go without a hitch. Any ideas on this new development?

Log in as root, then run pcc to set the display properly; monitor first, graphics card second, resolution last.

[Raimy]

Okay guys, I got to the desktop (I feel like I've come HOME!!!) but I had no internet so I tried to login to my network and my wireless card is not even there.

Also on quick check, the sound still isn't working but I can wait on that until I have the internet sorted out.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon. After I discovered that I had no internet I got out and went into the Linux Mint install so I could post here. I then decided to go back into PCLOS to look around and see if I could figure out the internet issue. I selected it at Grub and it then just sat at the loading screen. I finally shut down since it was obvious that was wasn't going to go to desktop.

UPDATE #2: I'm back in, at least for now. I did the fsck command from the live cd and was able to get to the desktop. Still no internet or sound. I'm heading to bed now and will tackle this again tomorrow.

I'm still hopeful that I'll soon be back with PCLinuxOS once again! 

[Yankee]

Next time you get to the desktop go to the
PCL Control Center hardware config

whatever doesn' work go to that hardware item
and configure the few steps req'd.

Post back.

You might need to install do-vesa from the command line
after logging in as root as such.

apt-get install do-vesa

after that  run do-vesa from the command line and reboot.

after that go to the PCL Control Center for hardware config
and work sound and network/internet

if so,   Post back.

Almost there, some options are still available.

[Raimy]

Next time you get to the desktop go to the
PCL Control Center hardware config

whatever doesn' work go to that hardware item
and configure the few steps req'd.

Post back.

You might need to install do-vesa from the command line
after logging in as root as such.

apt-get install do-vesa

after that  run do-vesa from the command line and reboot.

after that go to the PCL Control Center for hardware config
and work sound and network/internet

if so,   Post back.

Almost there, some options are still available.

Luckily do-vesa was already installed and I did run it from the command line (correctly I think) and nothing happened. I did it as both root and as my user.  The video isn't perfect and does need to be tweaked and that would be easier to do if I had the internet up so I could refer/post to the forum here without having to go back and forth. I tried the wired connection and although it said the network was up I couldn't connect. Now when this 500gb drive was in the original laptop both the sound and the wireless worked perfectly.

As for the sound/internet problems, I'd gone to PCC earlier today and did all the config tool things I could with no luck. When I try with the wireless card it tried to install a windows driver (via ndiswrapper) but even that failed.

The sound doesn't work at all and when I went into the Multimedia tab from the configure your desktop utility I got a pop up concerning modules not working. I took a screenshot to make sure I got it right. Now you'll notice it mentions Pulse Audio but I don't think that's even installed. All very confusing.

[sammy2fish]

Because you have doubts about whether PCLOS will remain on your drive, I suggest for the moment you leave Mint in control of booting.
If you get things working as you wish, and want to delete Mint, then it will be easy to put PCLOS in charge before you delete Mint, and all should be OK from there.

I was most concerned with whether or not adding a 500gb to an already existing 750gb would be too much.

Apparently the laptop is designed for two drives, so there should be no problem.
The capacity of the drive should make no difference, if that is what was concerning you.

I suggest you get PCLOS installed to the second drive, making sure Grub goes on the MBR of the second drive.
At that time it will not be on the boot menu, so will need to be added.
This can be done from Mint ......  there is likely some command to run or such.
There should be something on their forums about that.

Hey, there was a person a while back that showed a means of putting a second hard-drive into your optical bay.  Maybe do a search on it...