Triple BOOT XP - XP - Opensuse

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi everyone

I have 2 hard drive (Sata) on my pc

On first Drive, i have 2 XP Partition installed on 2 primary parition and i have 1 logical partition for sharing files.

I’m actually using OSSelector from Acronis and i can BOOT fine with the 2 XP OS(And both OS have C:\Drive when I boot with it)

MY question is : It is possible to install Opensuse on the 2nd hard drive ?

If yes, how should i do it ? Do have have to get rid of OSSelector ? If I use GRUB, i’m gone still be able to boot with my 2 XP partition) ?

I would like to have 3 choice to Boot, XP1 - XP2 and OpenSUSE

Thanks

Sorry for my bad english, im french canadian

Rick

2

If you want to use “OSSelector from Acronis” you will need to read its Documentation to see if it will boot a OS from 2nd hdd. Some will and some will not. Is there anything on the 2nd hdd ?

There is no problem installing linux to a 2nd hdd, but you must decide between OSSelector or gurb for boot manager unless sentence below.

If you bios permits selecting which hdd to boot from , you can put grub in MBR of 2nd (linux) hdd and leave OSSelector in the MBR of XP drive.

3

Hi LostFarmer

Actually, I dont mind to get rid of OSSelector, all I want is to be able to boot the 2 XP on the 1st sata HDD drive and to also be able to Boot OpenSUSE from the 2nd sata hard drive (Wich is totaly empty at the moment)

One concern that I have, if I let Grub be the Boot manager, can I choose to hide the 1st primary partition (XP 1) when I boot with (XP 2) and hide primary (XP 2) when booting (XP 1). The reason is that I wish to have the C:\ for both XP 1 and XP 2.

Config :
1st Sata HDD (Actually working):
Boot manager : OSSelector
-Primary1 : XP1
-Primaty2 : XP2

2nd Sata HDD (Not setup yet):
-OpenSUSE 11.1

Thanks for the help guys

Richard

4

One concern that I have, if I let Grub be the Boot manager, can I choose to hide the 1st primary partition (XP 1) when I boot with (XP 2) and hide primary (XP 2) when booting (XP 1).
that is no problem, grub does have the hide/unhide partition commands.

If your bios permits selecting which hdd to boot from, will permit installing grub to the linux hdd and leave OSSelector on the XP hdd. That way if you need/want to remove linux/( hdd), you will have no problem booting into XP or if the XP hdd goes bad linux will still be bootable. Need to know if your bios permits.

5

Hi LostFarmer

Thanks for the input, I tried changing the HDD order for boot in BIOS and worked really nice. I wish I had a menu tho when starting PC to select the HDD (Similar when you want to select an OS to boot with). At the moment, I have to hit the “DEL” key when PC boot to enter bios setup and go change the HDD boot order, save and restart. I kept OSSelector on 1st HDD and OpenSUSE got all the 2nd sata HDD

You know any kind of “addon” to BIOS for selecting HDD to boot with without having to enter bios config each time (Something you can put a timer on and put a default HDD)?

Thanks

6

If when you install Suse and had the XP hdd connected, it should have added XP to Suse’s boot menu.

Do not use Yast-bootloader till after updates.

I’m assuming XP,s are on partition 1 and 2. The ‘XP 1’ and ‘XP 2’ can be changed to anything you like.

add to /boot/grub/menu.lst --l=small L

title XP 1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
unhide (hd0,0)
hide (hd0,1)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title XP 2
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
unhide (hd0,1)
hide (hd0,0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

The above will hide the non booted XP.

You must edit with root privileges, I’m logged into XP and do not remember off top of head how.

You can try to enter Suse to the OSSelector boot manager.