Bootloader question (SOLVED)

[boehmb]

My computer is currently configured like this: hard drive 1 (sda1) is WinXP, hard drive 2 (sda1) is Win Vista, and hard drive 3 (sda3) is PCLOS 2009.  the Windows bootloader is on sda1 and sees WinXP and Win Vista.  I originally loaded PCLOS 2009 with Sda 1 and 2 disconnected, so it doesn't know Windows is there.  If I install PCLOS 2010 with the two Windows drives connected, and install Grub on sda1 (where the Windows bootloader is now), will I have a Grub menu with 3 choices (WinXP, Vista and PCLOS)?  Or, will Windows be goofed up?  I have important stuff on the Vista drive.  By the way, both Windows drives are formatted NTFS, and I intend to use EXT4 for PCLOS.

[scoundrel]

It should see them.. but be AWARE 2010 is in beta testing..

[boehmb]

Thanks.  I'm not going to load PCLOS 2010 until the final is out.  I have Beta 2 on another computer and it works like a charm.  I found some other posts similar to mine and it seems it should work fine.  Saves opening up the computer and unplugging things again.

[shrinivas]

You could install PCLinuxOS in the third hard drive, install the bootloader in its own root partition. Then install EasyBCD 2.0 (or later version) in WinVista  and use it to add PcLinuxOs to it.
It works . That way booting is controlled by Windows, easy to remove Linux. I have been doing this with Win7 in HD1 and PcLinuxOs in HD2.
http://neosmart.net/

[boehmb]

I just installed PCLOS 2010 beta2 on the third drive.  Grub sees both Windows drives and has a "windows" entry.  When I click on that, it starts the Windows bootloader with XP and Vista and it works perfectly.  Thanks for the suggestions.  Now, just to wait for the final release!

[scoundrel]

glad you got it working dude..

and lets not forget that, if there are other betas or final ,,all you need to do is reinstall / and leave out /home ..

could you please go to your original post and click on modify and add (SOLVED) to your header ..

[Was_Just19]

My computer is currently configured like this: hard drive 1 (sda1) is WinXP, hard drive 2 (sda1) is Win Vista, and hard drive 3 (sda3) is PCLOS 2009.  the Windows bootloader is on sda1 and sees WinXP and Win Vista.  I originally loaded PCLOS 2009 with Sda 1 and 2 disconnected, so it doesn't know Windows is there.  If I install PCLOS 2010 with the two Windows drives connected, and install Grub on sda1 (where the Windows bootloader is now), will I have a Grub menu with 3 choices (WinXP, Vista and PCLOS)?  Or, will Windows be goofed up?  I have important stuff on the Vista drive.  By the way, both Windows drives are formatted NTFS, and I intend to use EXT4 for PCLOS.

I would have suggested that you set the BIOS to boot from the third HDD and install PCLOS on that and Grub to its MBR.
That would have kept PCLOS completely independent of the Win bootloader, while allowing you to boot Win from the Grub boot option page.
In case of failure of the PCLOS disk you could then reset your BIOS to boot from the first HDD and be back to the original setup.

IMO, it is a much better option for anyone with two or more HDDs.

Just as a matter of interest I would point out that your disks are not numbered sda1, sda2, sda3 but most likely
sda, sdb, sdc  and the first partition on each would be sda1, sdb1, sdc1.
That info is added for anyone else reading this thread and wondering about the hard disk numbering

regards.

[shrinivas]

I would have suggested that you set the BIOS to boot from the third HDD and install PCLOS on that and Grub to its MBR.
That would have kept PCLOS completely independent of the Win bootloader, while allowing you to boot Win from the Grub boot option page.
In case of failure of the PCLOS disk you could then reset your BIOS to boot from the first HDD and be back to the original setup.

IMO, it is a much better option for anyone with two or more HDDs.

regards.

Thank you for this, I hadn't known this. I need Windows for games, and all along was using EasyBCD from Windows. This is a better option.