Gentoo on 2nd HDD

Bubo · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 8:55 am Post subject: Gentoo on 2nd HDD

Hi All

This is my first real attempt at installing gentoo so please be gentle with me !

Anyhow, I have a question concerning setting things up on two drives. I have two 80 Gb drives in my box and previously dual booted Slackware with Win XP using Lilo in the mbr of /dev/hda.

I have removed Slack and I am installing Gentoo on /dev/hdb.(winows on /dev/hda). Whilst downloading/compiling etc I read ahead a bit concerning grub setup.

I have the following setup on my box:

KegRaider · n00b Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

Bubo,

You would be best to keep the /boot partition as that is also where your kernel is kept. Also, the /boot partition isn't mounted at system start so it is fairly safe from prying eyes (incompetent users/friends).

When you install grub, you should point it to the first boot drive. eg. /dev/hda (or hd0,0). From there, grub reads the list on the second hard drive and if you decide to use windows, it jumps back to the first drive.

I think this is covered in fairly deep detail in the install manual (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/2005.1/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=10), but rest assured, if you stuff it up, you can fix it with the CD.

If you cannot boot the system, boot via cd, mount the partitions, chroot into the system and modify the /boot/grub/grub.conf file and try again.

-- KegRaider
# mv KegRaider /dev/bed

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 10:28 am Post subject:

Bubo,

You can keep lilo if you want.
The /boot can be anywhere, having it seperate is a hangover from when a large HDD was > 528Mb.
It need not be seperate.

You can install grub/lilo on either MBR and have it start both Windows and Linux. The BIOS needs to be able to boot from the drive where you install it. Thats the only limitation.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Bubo · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 10:56 am Post subject:

Thanks for the replies.

I think I get it. So if I was install grub to the MBR on /dev/hda, does the grub.conf configuration posted above look about right.

Regards

Bubo
_________________
My Computer Once Beat Me at Chess, but it is No Match for Me at Kickboxing.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 12:42 pm Post subject:

Bubo

Close ... You got all the hard bits right. This line has an error

Bubo · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 12:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks or that.

Yep, I rolled my own 2.6 kernel. I didn't spot the typo though.

I will try again and report back if I get stuck.

Thanks to all for the input.

Regards

Bubo
_________________
My Computer Once Beat Me at Chess, but it is No Match for Me at Kickboxing.