3 OS on 2 drives?

Hello,

It is posible to instal 3 os on two drives? I have 2 SATA Drives and one IDE drive… On first SATA i have XP and VISTA on second SATA i have data/programs/music etc… Now i want to install SUSE on third IDE HD and have a 3 os… Should i put IDE HD as a secondary master or leve it as secondary slave? It is harmless to my data and other systems? For now i always install only 2 os (in exemple, XP and linux) on One drive… I’m worry that i will destroy something but in other way its best way for me…

Best Regards!
Thomas

Yes.

Linux won’t bother (in contrast to Windows).

Yes (if you don’t make any serious mistakes. If linux should not touch your “other OS” or their data partitions, then don’t tell linux to touch them, it only will if you tell it to do so).

The only thing will be to setup a correct boot loader configuration and let linux (or “a linux bootloader like GRUB” to be more precise) handle booting all OSes (there are also ways to do this via Windows bootloaders), both will work but both require accuracy.

Search the Web for tutorials on “Dual Booting” or “Multi Booting” in context with Linux and Windows and study them carefully.

Yes possible. 20 OS’s on 10 HDD’s as well. Just be very carefull during install and check whether the partitioner is doing what you want.
AND: BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP.

> It is posible to instal 3 os on two drives?

you might find this interesting:
“How to install and boot 145 operating systems in a PC”
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=147959


platinum

Made my Day!

aureum wrote:

> It is posible to instal 3 os on two drives?

Yes.

> I have 2 SATA Drives and
> one IDE drive… On first SATA i have XP and VISTA on second SATA i have
> data/programs/music etc… Now i want to install SUSE on third IDE HD
> and have a 3 os… Should i put IDE HD as a secondary master or leve it
> as secondary slave?

I think you can leave it as it is.

> It is harmless to my data and other systems?

You never know… I would disconnect the power cable of both sata disks
before installing to be sure they are not detected by the installer. And
also, make a backup of the most important files in both disks before
proceeding.

> For now
> i always install only 2 os (in exemple, XP and linux) on One drive…
> I’m worry that i will destroy something but in other way its best way
> for me…

The main problem you may face is “how” booting/reaching opensuse.

Currently, I guess sata hard disks have preference in bios for booting, so
unless you install grub under sata disk and destroy the windows bootloader
(something that I would NOT recommend) you will always get windows.

Another approach is to change the booting preference in BIOS to get IDE
device first (before sata) so linux boots in first place. This way you can
either install Grub bootloader into the MBR of the IDE disk or in the first
sector of a partition. Then, you can configure Grub for booting your
windows installations.

It is a delicate task, not for beginners, as some problems may arise. Always
backup all your data and be prepared for the worst scenario you may
imagine :stuck_out_tongue:

Greetings,


Camaleón

And that is a forum! No comments like use google or go to hell with newbie questions… Pure help :] Maybe there is some true about ppl who using opensource software that they think in diffrent way…

So, summary…

The best way is to unplug SATA’s drives, install suse and then configure the Grub…

Can’t find right now the option in bios to boot from IDE hymmm… Must check better…

But if even the bios will be adjusted to boot from ide what about MBR on SATA drive when i will connect them again? It will not crash all the work?

I will check thath to :smiley:

Thx for your patience and help ppl :))

ps. sorry for my english

> ps. sorry for my english

din engelsk er perfekt…


platinum

No, this is a loud call for trouble.

Akoellh wrote:

> aureum;2039593 Wrote:
>> The best way is to unplug SATA’s drives, …
>
> No, this is a loud call for trouble.

Or it can be a “lifesaver” :wink:

In the event you leave all the hard disks connected, you have to be very
careful
with:

a) Partitioning: manually selecting the openSUSE installation so it goes
under the desired hard disk (usually represented with some kind
of /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1 scheme.

Which one is the IDE one?

It is not so easy to figure what is the right and choosing the wrong one can
override you windows installation “at all”.

b) Installation of the bootloader: very careful with this one, as if grub
gets installed into the wrong place, you maybe unable to boot into windows
again. At least not in an easily manner.

If you have only one disk connected, you cannot fail as the installer will
only detect one disk so openSUSE will be installed in the right disk and
bootloader will go into the right place, no chance for failure. That was my
point :slight_smile:

openSUSE is by far more configurable in regards hard disk configuration and
detection and bootloader setup, so I think is better to keep the windows
installation untouched to prevent any unwanted result.

Anyway, this can lead to further issues, I know, but at least your current
data and windows installations are a bit more safe.

Greetings,


Camaleón

Congratulations.

You just volunteered in resolving all the issues which will be present if the other disks will be disconnected during installation and there will be quite a few, but I don’t want to spoil you all of the possible surprise(s).

At least one thing is for sure, configuring a convenient way of booting with one bootloader and not having to switch bootdisks via some BIOS functions (with any luck there is a F-Key giving a BIOS boot menu) is the least tricky one.

With a little luck the “so carefully” installed linux will be rendered directly unbootable after replugging the SATA disks (hopefully the disk-by id mechanism works for the device.map, if not have lots of fun in fixing that).

a) Partitioning: manually selecting the openSUSE installation so it goes
under the desired hard disk (usually represented with some kind
of /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1 scheme.

Which one is the IDE one?

The partitioner not only gives you the size of each disk (which will be one very good indicator) but also an identifier for each one.

It will even tell you if it is a SATA or an IDE disk, if you only have one IDE disk, then …

With a little careful reading the screen displays, one should easily be able to pick the right disk.

In my experience, people who “cautiously” removed their other disks during installation end up with more trouble than if they did not and just be careful (= open their eyes and read the help the installer offers).

Although…

… on second thought …

… on the other hand, …

=> go for it, I just saw I still have some popcorn left, so a good show is needed to go with that snack.

:slight_smile:

Addendum:

To be honest, there is one thing which will pose a potential problem independent of the method chosen.

Mixed SATA/IDE systems are always a little tricky, especially when trying to use the “classic” way of naming devices (/dev/sdX) for device.map/menu.lst.

The best way (no silver bullet) is invoking /dev/disk/by-id (IIRC 11.1 can not handle UUIDS for that yet in the device.map, while it will work in the menu.lst), IIRC 11.1 will use /dev/disk/by-id/ as default.

If doing that after installation (because of unplugged SATA devices) the convenient way (letting YaST => Bootloader do automatic detection) is pretty much the same procedure like the one during installation, so that potential problem of installing the bootloader to the “wrong disk” will not be avoided by unplugging the SATA disks, it will just be delayed to a later point (if one wants to use a bootloader for all OSes and not invoking BIOS switching).

As YaST is creating an automatic backup of the respective MBR (if it is written to a disk’s MBR), there is also little risk as you have a fallback solution (=backing up the old MBR).

Akoellh wrote:

> Camaleón;2039706 Wrote:
>>
>> Anyway, this can lead to further issues, I know, but at least your
>> current
>> data and windows installations are a bit more safe.
>
> Congratulations.
>
> You just volunteered in resolving all the issues which will be
> present if the other disks will be disconnected during installation and
> there will be quite a few, but I don’t want to spoil you all of the
> possible surprise(s).
>
> At least one thing is for sure, configuring a convenient way of booting
> with one bootloader and not having to switch bootdisks via some BIOS
> functions (with any luck there is a F-Key giving a BIOS boot menu) is
> the least tricky one.
>
> With a little luck the “so carefully” installed linux will be rendered
> directly unbootable after replugging the SATA disks (hopefully the
> disk-by id mechanism works for the device.map, if not have lots of fun
> in fixing that).

Hey, no method is perfect :wink:

But I’d say that fixing openSUSE is much easier than fixing any windows
install.

In the worst scenario, the user can boot with the dvd and make any change
from there (restoring grub, editing system files, etc…). But fixing
windows bootloader is not that easy. And loosing data is the worst it
could happen :frowning:

>> a) Partitioning: manually selecting the openSUSE installation so it
>> goes
>> under the desired hard disk (usually represented with some kind
>> of /dev/sda1, /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1 scheme.
>>
>> Which one is the IDE one?
>
> The partitioner not only gives you the size of each disk (which will be
> one very good indicator) but also an identifier for each one.
>
> It will even tell you if it is a SATA or an IDE disk, if you only have
> one IDE disk, then …
>
> With a little careful reading the screen displays, one should easily be
> able to pick the right disk.

I do not trust the automatic partitioner so I always select the expert way.
The partitioner can recommend the user to install opensuse in the current
windows hard disk, or in the second sata, who knows? The one it thinks it
has more free space, dunno.

That is risky.

If you want to prevent any data loose, then the safest way is not to make
available to the installer the other options. Afterwards, you will be able
to tweak your opensuse install, if there is any problem that opensuse
cannot handle.

> In my experience, people who “cautiously” removed their other disks
> during installation end up with more trouble than if they did not and
> just be careful (= open their eyes and read the help the installer
> offers).

Not an easy choice, yes.

> Although…
>
> . on second thought …
>
> … on the other hand, …
>
> => go for it, I just saw I still have some popcorn left, so a good show
> is needed to go with that snack.
>
> :slight_smile:

well, these days users have to make “hard” choices :slight_smile:

Greetings,


Camaleón

hymmmm… It’s look like is not so easy when i was thinking when wrote the thread… All my disk are full, no more then 1 GB free (the SATA disks). The IDE Disk is EMPTY, pure 80 GB free space so i think i must be blind to not see this disk in the installer =) The thing is that i can’t backup all 750 GB from sata xD

Akoellh i don’t have such knowledge to know what is " /dev/disk/by-id (IIRC 11.1 can not handle UUIDS for that yet in the device.map, while it will work in the menu.lst), IIRC 11.1 will use /dev/disk/by-id/ as default." but i’m sure that i learn this in near future :smiley:

I agree with Camaleón that fixing MBR on windows is not easy (have some expirience with that)…

So the winner is… Half By Half xD

I will unplug one SATA disk (one with data only without OS)… And i will try to install suse…

I will post the results no matter if i destroy something or not…

Thx for advices ppl…

Hello,

After all installation was the easy part :] I did not disconnect any of SATA disks but change the Boot option in bios to boot from IDE… I’ve installed suse on all ide drive (i choose automatic partitioning for all the disk) and after end of installation i have in grub boot loader windows option, it boot up windows bootloader and from there i have acces to my 2 win OS :slight_smile:

But that Was the easy part… After few hours of usage suse i was try to install Ati drivers to have 3D desktop… But everytime i try i have some error with packageskid or something like this… after last reboot i have lost my usb keyboard and can’t login to the system because i can’t type the password… I go to console and i have alots of errors about Fatal: IPtablest not found :(… Ok i run DVD and choose repair… In repair report i have message that swap have wrong area size i check to repair, then the sda2 has not valid ex3 and some about the disk is corrupted i choose to repair after that i have unverifid packages including kernel - default… i choose repair and have message failed to repair packages… Confused, what the hell? One day of using suse and so many problems? On IDE drive i was have a windows 7 for couple f months and everything was ok… I can’t even login to suse because of lost keyboard… What i was doing wrong?

my comp spec:
Intel Core 2 duo E4500 @2.2 GHz
2 GB Ram Goodram 667 Mhz Dual
samsung SATAII 500 GB
wd SATAII 160 GB
Maxtor 80 GB ATA 166 7200rpm
Ati Radeon x1650 256 GDDR3
MSI motherboard…

heh…

aureum wrote:

> After all installation was the easy part :] I did not disconnect any of
> SATA disks but change the Boot option in bios to boot from IDE… I’ve
> installed suse on all ide drive (i choose automatic partitioning for all
> the disk) and after end of installation i have in grub boot loader
> windows option, it boot up windows bootloader and from there i have
> acces to my 2 win OS :slight_smile:

Nice! :slight_smile:

> But that Was the easy part… After few hours of usage suse i was try
> to install Ati drivers to have 3D desktop… But everytime i try i have
> some error with packageskid or something like this… after last reboot
> i have lost my usb keyboard and can’t login to the system because i
> can’t type the password… I go to console and i have alots of errors
> about Fatal: IPtablest not found :(… Ok i run DVD and choose repair…
> In repair report i have message that swap have wrong area size i check
> to repair, then the sda2 has not valid ex3 and some about the disk is
> corrupted i choose to repair after that i have unverifid packages
> including kernel - default… i choose repair and have message failed to
> repair packages… Confused, what the hell? One day of using suse and so
> many problems? On IDE drive i was have a windows 7 for couple f months
> and everything was ok… I can’t even login to suse because of lost
> keyboard… What i was doing wrong?

As there are many topics you are covering, I would recommend you to open a
new thread to split and manage them all, but one by one.

Greetings,


Camaleón