Booting to another OS on a Separate HDD

[W. eWatson]

If I want to create a removable (tray or USB drive) HDD to another OS, how
do I do that with my XP machine? Further how do I boot from one to the other?
--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, January 23, 2009 1:37:25 PM, and on a
whim, W. eWatson pounded out on the keyboard:

If I want to create a removable (tray or USB drive) HDD to another OS, how
do I do that with my XP machine? Further how do I boot from one to the other?

You won't have much luck with USB.

I have 5 OS's. I use Boot Magic which is the boot manager included with
Partition Magic. It works great. There are free alternatives and you
can use the XP boot.ini file to multi-boot similar OS's (not Win9x, etc).

Basics here of dual booting:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559


Terry R.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "W. eWatson" <[email protected]>

| If I want to create a removable (tray or USB drive) HDD to another OS, how
| do I do that with my XP machine? Further how do I boot from one to the other?
| --
| W. eWatson

| (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
| Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

| Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>


As noted, not with USB.

You can do this with SCSI by switching which drive (SCSI ID) on the SCSI bus is chosen to
boot from.

You can do this with E-SATA.

You can do this with SATA using a drive in a removable chassis.

You can do this with EIDE/PATA using a drive in a removable chassis.

 

[Lil' Dave]

If I want to create a removable (tray or USB drive) HDD to another OS, how
do I do that with my XP machine? Further how do I boot from one to the
other?
--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

Depends on your bios, any onboard interface, any add-on card interface
capabilities for true booting from a hard drive other than the onboard hard
drive you normally boot from. Its all hardware and bios capability related.

Capability of an OS within the hardware you have on your PC is another
matter in itself. Description as an "XP machine" is a very broad term. An
unknown OS booting from that is not known possible based on that data of an
unknown OS and a broad spectrum of hardware that XP can operated on.

Boot managers that use software manipulation to select the bootable device
and/or bootable partition are another matter entirely. And, in the
discussion of that within this thread, does not address your question at
all.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Saturday, January 24, 2009 7:08:55 AM, and on a
whim, Lil' Dave pounded out on the keyboard:

Depends on your bios, any onboard interface, any add-on card interface
capabilities for true booting from a hard drive other than the onboard hard
drive you normally boot from. Its all hardware and bios capability related.

Capability of an OS within the hardware you have on your PC is another
matter in itself. Description as an "XP machine" is a very broad term. An
unknown OS booting from that is not known possible based on that data of an
unknown OS and a broad spectrum of hardware that XP can operated on.

Boot managers that use software manipulation to select the bootable device
and/or bootable partition are another matter entirely. And, in the
discussion of that within this thread, does not address your question at
all.

Hi Dave,

Other than WW figuring out his "removable drive" issue, why does
suggesting a boot manager not address his question? I have separate
drives with 5 OS's on them and use a boot manager. Works perfectly.


Terry R.

 

[W. eWatson]

The date and time was Saturday, January 24, 2009 7:08:55 AM, and on a
whim, Lil' Dave pounded out on the keyboard:


Hi Dave,

Other than WW figuring out his "removable drive" issue, why does
suggesting a boot manager not address his question? I have separate
drives with 5 OS's on them and use a boot manager. Works perfectly.


Terry R.

Let me give a few more details. I have a removable tray that I can use. My
interest is putting Linux on it. I have vague memories that if I wanted to
install, say, Win98 (I don't!!) on the removable the install process would
ask me what HDD I want it on. The same may be true of Linux. I don't see how
BIOS comes into play here.

--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Saturday, January 24, 2009 10:51:29 AM, and on a
whim, W. eWatson pounded out on the keyboard:

Let me give a few more details. I have a removable tray that I can use. My
interest is putting Linux on it. I have vague memories that if I wanted to
install, say, Win98 (I don't!!) on the removable the install process would
ask me what HDD I want it on. The same may be true of Linux. I don't see how
BIOS comes into play here.

Linux will prompt you which drive, so you should be good to go.


Terry R.

 

[Anna]

Let me give a few more details. I have a removable tray that I can use. My
interest is putting Linux on it. I have vague memories that if I wanted to
install, say, Win98 (I don't!!) on the removable the install process would
ask me what HDD I want it on. The same may be true of Linux. I don't see
how BIOS comes into play here.

W. eWatson...
First of all let me say I'm quite unfamiliar with the Linux OS having worked
with it only a very few times in the past. I don't think my lack of
familiarity with that OS matters re my following comments but I wanted to
mention this just in case it would have some impact on your situation.

Using a mobile rack to house a removable HDD would seem to me an excellent
idea in your objective of creating a simple & straightforward process to
boot to different OSs. But I'm not entirely clear as to the precise hardware
configuration you have in mind.

First of all you mention a "removable (tray or USB drive) HDD". These are
quite different types of configurations. I'm going to assume that you would
be considering a removable HDD contained in a mobile rack that's affixed to
a vacant 5 1/4" bay on your desktop machine. I don't think you want to set
up the kind of dual-booting system you have in mind using a USB external HDD
(if that's what you meant when you referred to a "USB drive").

The system considers a removable HDD as an *internal* HDD. I'm assuming you
would be working with two HDDs - an internally-installed HDD and the
removable HDD. On one of those HDDs would be installed the XP OS; on the
other HDD the Linux OS. So that you could easily boot to whatever OS you
want. And the OSs would be physically/electronically separated from each
other.

Alternatively, you could use a removable HDD and have two separate trays
(caddies) one being used to house the XP OS, the other housing the Linux OS.

If you want I could provide you with more details re this type of hardware
configuration, however, before doing so you should provide more details re
the kind of system you'll be working with.

Are these PATA or SATA HDDs?
I assume there's an internally-mounted HDD in your present system, right?
And you do have a vacant 5 1/4" bay to house the mobile rack, yes?

I trust I haven't misunderstood your objective.
Anna

 

[Paul]

Let me give a few more details. I have a removable tray that I can use.
My interest is putting Linux on it. I have vague memories that if I
wanted to install, say, Win98 (I don't!!) on the removable the install
process would ask me what HDD I want it on. The same may be true of
Linux. I don't see how BIOS comes into play here.

I've got only one question for you. Do you know how to put
an MBR back on a Windows drive ? If you do, then you're ready to
install Linux Good luck.

The above does not apply, if the Linux target hard drive, is the
only hard drive present while the installer is running. I decided
it would be fun to leave three hard drives connected, and the
MBR on my Windows drive was wiped for me.

I wouldn't have tried as many Linux distros as I have, if it
wasn't for a positive experience with Knoppix. Knoppix is a LiveCD
distro. It works fine if run that way, but works less well if
you try to install it to a hard drive. Other distros have
been less cooperative, with some refusing to boot on my new
motherboard. Debian worked fine, but still had bad table
manners. I managed to crash the kernel in five minutes,
using nothing but a new webcam as an "instrument of torture".

Have I got my money's worth ? You bet

I still like Linux for hardware testing.

Another thing about Knoppix - it really likes to have
a swap partition installed on the hard drive. If the
OS is under memory pressure, the garbage collector
cannot keep up. And at times like that, some kind
of swap partition makes all the difference. That is
something I learned purely by accident, and wasn't
mentioned in the documentation I read. Most hard drive
installations, do that step for you.

Paul

 

[Andy]

Let me give a few more details. I have a removable tray that I can use. My
interest is putting Linux on it. I have vague memories that if I wanted to
install, say, Win98 (I don't!!) on the removable the install process would
ask me what HDD I want it on. The same may be true of Linux. I don't see how
BIOS comes into play here.

The way I see it, if you want to put an operating system on a
removable drive, then it should be self-contained, meaning that the
bios would boot from that drive.
The way to install the os is to physically connect the removable
drive, then go into bios setup to set the bios to boot from the
removable drive. Now when you install the os, the boot code will be
placed on the removable drive, and not on some other drive.

 

[W. eWatson]

The way I see it, if you want to put an operating system on a
removable drive, then it should be self-contained, meaning that the
bios would boot from that drive.
The way to install the os is to physically connect the removable
drive, then go into bios setup to set the bios to boot from the
removable drive. Now when you install the os, the boot code will be
placed on the removable drive, and not on some other drive.

The last 3 posts seem to make this a questionable enterprise. I'm going to
offer a different approach on another thread I plan to start momentarily. It
may be OT for this newsgroup though.

--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[W. eWatson]

W. eWatson...
First of all let me say I'm quite unfamiliar with the Linux OS having worked
with it only a very few times in the past. I don't think my lack of
familiarity with that OS matters re my following comments but I wanted to
mention this just in case it would have some impact on your situation.

Using a mobile rack to house a removable HDD would seem to me an excellent
idea in your objective of creating a simple & straightforward process to
boot to different OSs. But I'm not entirely clear as to the precise hardware
configuration you have in mind.

First of all you mention a "removable (tray or USB drive) HDD". These are
quite different types of configurations. I'm going to assume that you would
be considering a removable HDD contained in a mobile rack that's affixed to
a vacant 5 1/4" bay on your desktop machine. I don't think you want to set
up the kind of dual-booting system you have in mind using a USB external HDD
(if that's what you meant when you referred to a "USB drive").

The system considers a removable HDD as an *internal* HDD. I'm assuming you
would be working with two HDDs - an internally-installed HDD and the
removable HDD. On one of those HDDs would be installed the XP OS; on the
other HDD the Linux OS. So that you could easily boot to whatever OS you
want. And the OSs would be physically/electronically separated from each
other.

Alternatively, you could use a removable HDD and have two separate trays
(caddies) one being used to house the XP OS, the other housing the Linux OS.

If you want I could provide you with more details re this type of hardware
configuration, however, before doing so you should provide more details re
the kind of system you'll be working with.

Are these PATA or SATA HDDs?
I assume there's an internally-mounted HDD in your present system, right?
And you do have a vacant 5 1/4" bay to house the mobile rack, yes?

I trust I haven't misunderstood your objective.
Anna

It's a removable tray for an IDE HDD. Yes, 5 1/4". Terry's post above yours
suggests this is pretty easy stuff.

--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[W. eWatson]

I've got only one question for you. Do you know how to put
an MBR back on a Windows drive ? If you do, then you're ready to
install Linux Good luck.

The above does not apply, if the Linux target hard drive, is the
only hard drive present while the installer is running. I decided
it would be fun to leave three hard drives connected, and the
MBR on my Windows drive was wiped for me.

I wouldn't have tried as many Linux distros as I have, if it
wasn't for a positive experience with Knoppix. Knoppix is a LiveCD
distro. It works fine if run that way, but works less well if
you try to install it to a hard drive. Other distros have
been less cooperative, with some refusing to boot on my new
motherboard. Debian worked fine, but still had bad table
manners. I managed to crash the kernel in five minutes,
using nothing but a new webcam as an "instrument of torture".

Have I got my money's worth ? You bet

I still like Linux for hardware testing.

Another thing about Knoppix - it really likes to have
a swap partition installed on the hard drive. If the
OS is under memory pressure, the garbage collector
cannot keep up. And at times like that, some kind
of swap partition makes all the difference. That is
something I learned purely by accident, and wasn't
mentioned in the documentation I read. Most hard drive
installations, do that step for you.

Paul

I don't see why if Linux asks for a HDD to install it on, it's going to
attack other MBR on other drives. Knoppix. A nice memory jog. I happen to
have a version from about 3 years ago. Maybe it has a C compiler on it.

I'm doing all this for the sake of running a potentially useful C program.
It's beginning to sound a bit much. However, I think Terry is likely right
and there is no problem. However, I've certainly had dual boot systems with
Linux and Win, and something has always gone wrong.

--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "W. eWatson" <[email protected]>



| It's a removable tray for an IDE HDD. Yes, 5 1/4". Terry's post above yours
| suggests this is pretty easy stuff.

Very easy !

 

[W. eWatson]

Before someone picks an issue with "removable drive", I have each of
the drives in its own drive caddy.

I'm just not keeping up with the technology. I think of my old tray from
5-6 years ago as the only removable HDD. Of course, that's no longer true.
Caddie, tray, ... Mine accommodates an internal HDD, IDE.

--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 

[Lil' Dave]

I'm just not keeping up with the technology. I think of my old tray
from 5-6 years ago as the only removable HDD. Of course, that's no longer
true.
Caddie, tray, ... Mine accommodates an internal HDD, IDE.

--
W. eWatson

(121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
Obz Site: 39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

Other respondents have managed to bleed some critical information from you
that is critical to giving an appropriate answer to your specific situation
At this point, I 'm not satisfied if its onboard ide or via an interface
card, and if your onboard bios allows booting from such. Likely, you'll be
okay.

If I were intending to do exactly what you're doing, I would have to know in
advance before proceeding. My previous response was reflective of my
typical concerns before proceeding with such an undertaking.