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From: Edward W. Thompson on 18 Jul 2006 02:58
My machine comprises 2 SATA drives and I presently use WINXP Pro. I
want to try LINUX and to avoid any possible problems I intend to
install an IDE drive and load LINUX on that drive. My questions

1. Are there any 'gotchas' I need to be aware of when installing
to installing an IDE drive with existing SATAs? I do appreciate the
fact I do not strictly need to install another drive but will feel
more comfortable with LINUX on a physically separated drive.

2. I need to set up a dual boot system. How is it best to do
this? On this topic I have Norton GoBack installed, should I
uninstall this before setting up dual boot or will there be no
problems?

3. Anything else I need to know before I embark on this
'adventure'?

Thanks for any advice
From: Conor on 18 Jul 2006 12:20
In article <l51pb2pgdpnh5hu15etkcd4h92r2v31t7e(a)4ax.com>, Edward W.
Thompson says...
> My machine comprises 2 SATA drives and I presently use WINXP Pro. I
> want to try LINUX and to avoid any possible problems I intend to
> install an IDE drive and load LINUX on that drive. My questions
>
> 1. Are there any 'gotchas' I need to be aware of when installing
> to installing an IDE drive with existing SATAs? I do appreciate the
> fact I do not strictly need to install another drive but will feel
> more comfortable with LINUX on a physically separated drive.
>
> 2. I need to set up a dual boot system. How is it best to do
> this? On this topic I have Norton GoBack installed, should I
> uninstall this before setting up dual boot or will there be no
> problems?
>
> 3. Anything else I need to know before I embark on this
> 'adventure'?
>
1) No.
2) THe Linux installer will install a boot loader. It works well.
3) Make sure your hardware is supported.

You might want to get hold of Microsofts Virtual PC which is now free
and install & try Linux on that before taking the plunge.


--
Conor

"I have as much authority as the pope, I just
don't have as many people who believe it" - George Carlin
From: coolsti on 19 Jul 2006 01:43
On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:58:36 +0100, Edward W. Thompson wrote:

> My machine comprises 2 SATA drives and I presently use WINXP Pro. I
> want to try LINUX and to avoid any possible problems I intend to
> install an IDE drive and load LINUX on that drive. My questions
>
> 1. Are there any 'gotchas' I need to be aware of when installing
> to installing an IDE drive with existing SATAs? I do appreciate the
> fact I do not strictly need to install another drive but will feel
> more comfortable with LINUX on a physically separated drive.
>
> 2. I need to set up a dual boot system. How is it best to do
> this? On this topic I have Norton GoBack installed, should I
> uninstall this before setting up dual boot or will there be no
> problems?
>
> 3. Anything else I need to know before I embark on this
> 'adventure'?
>
> Thanks for any advice

With today's Linux versions, setting up a Dual boot system is not much of
a problem. Just be aware of what your hard drives are called under Linux,
so as to get things set up where you want them.

You may have a problem if you go back the other way later, reinstalling
your windows again after Linux is installed. I am not sure how things are
today, but Windows has been notorious for believing that it is the only
operating system around, and wiping out any dual boot possibilities upon
install.

But for best info on how to dual install Linux, also check out internet
sites, like with a Google search such as Linux dual boot howto.

By the way, from my experiences, there is no real worry about whether
Linux is installed on the same or another drive. Perhaps the only issue
would be if you want to change your Windows hard drive at some point, you
wouldn't need to reinstall Linux again if it was on another drive, you may
just need to reinstall the boot loader (which would be located on the
computer's one and only bootable hard drive, presumably your Windows SATA
drive).

/Steve
From: htnakirs@gmail.com on 19 Jul 2006 09:17
Preferably install the bootloader on a floppy (if you have a floppy
drive). That way you need not worry about mending the XP boot record
(in case of gotcha)

From: Edward W. Thompson on 20 Jul 2006 00:56
On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 07:43:32 +0200, coolsti <coo(a)nospam.com> wrote:

>On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:58:36 +0100, Edward W. Thompson wrote:
>
>> My machine comprises 2 SATA drives and I presently use WINXP Pro. I
>> want to try LINUX and to avoid any possible problems I intend to
>> install an IDE drive and load LINUX on that drive. My questions
>>
>> 1. Are there any 'gotchas' I need to be aware of when installing
>> to installing an IDE drive with existing SATAs? I do appreciate the
>> fact I do not strictly need to install another drive but will feel
>> more comfortable with LINUX on a physically separated drive.
>>
>> 2. I need to set up a dual boot system. How is it best to do
>> this? On this topic I have Norton GoBack installed, should I
>> uninstall this before setting up dual boot or will there be no
>> problems?
>>
>> 3. Anything else I need to know before I embark on this
>> 'adventure'?
>>
>> Thanks for any advice
>
>With today's Linux versions, setting up a Dual boot system is not much of
>a problem. Just be aware of what your hard drives are called under Linux,
>so as to get things set up where you want them.
>
>You may have a problem if you go back the other way later, reinstalling
>your windows again after Linux is installed. I am not sure how things are
>today, but Windows has been notorious for believing that it is the only
>operating system around, and wiping out any dual boot possibilities upon
>install.
>
>But for best info on how to dual install Linux, also check out internet
>sites, like with a Google search such as Linux dual boot howto.
>
>By the way, from my experiences, there is no real worry about whether
>Linux is installed on the same or another drive. Perhaps the only issue
>would be if you want to change your Windows hard drive at some point, you
>wouldn't need to reinstall Linux again if it was on another drive, you may
>just need to reinstall the boot loader (which would be located on the
>computer's one and only bootable hard drive, presumably your Windows SATA
>drive).
>
>/Steve


Thanks to all for your very helpful advice
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