grub

[Kostas Sfakiotakis]

Greetings Rob,

Rob Crittenden wrote:

> I'm in the process of upgrading my ancient RHL 7.2 system to FC 4.

Well i would advice against that . A Clean Install of Fedora Core 4
would be a much easier and better solution . Fedora Core 4 among
other things uses a 2.6.*  kernel and not a 2.4 kernel . Many things
have changed between those two kernel trees . So i would ask you
to reconcider .


> 
> What I've done is install FC4 on a new disk on another machine and 
> gotten it fully updated. Now I'm ready to replace the RHL 7.2 system 
> disk with the FC 4 disk but I have a question about grub.

Well i guess you mean that you have 2 identical machines . You have
installed and updated the first one and now you want to move the hard
disk from the fully updated Fedora Core 4 to the other one .
> 
> My current system consists of many hard disks on 4 controllers (don't 
> ask). The primary goal is data and OS separation.
> 
> The relevent layout is as follows:
> 
> hda - boot drive with NTLDR to boot

We don't care about the NTLDR file , only the bootstrap loader
needs that file . NTLDR has nothing to do with the whole proccess .
Just let it rest where it resides .

> hda1 - Windows 98
> hda2 - Windows 2000
> 
> hde1 - /
> hde2 - /boot
> hde[3-8] rest of system
> 
> hdfx - data
> 
> Right now I'm booting kernel 2.4.30 off a boot floopy. 

May i ask why haven't you installed grub on the MBR of
hda ? Grub has nothing to do with the rest of the computer
but the MBR .



Not the best
> solution but workable for me since I rarely reboot.
> 
> So I'd like to keep the NTLDR as the boot mechanism for the windows 
> partitions. I was hoping to have that launch grub which would let me 
> boot FC4 on hde.

You are making your life terribly difficult . The only thing you had to
do is . First install whatever windows you like  ( Windows 2000 and
Windows 98 , you have a boot menu don't you ? ) .
Then make a clean install of Fedora Core 4 where ever you like it
( even Valhalla is good enough , for as long as you are not using
any SCSI or SATA controller but even then things can be worked
out. ) . At some point during the installation the installation proccess
will ask you about where to place the boot loader . At that point
ask it to place it at the MBR of the Primary Master hard disk
At that very screen you should see grub providing two options
one named Fedora Core 4 and the other one with the bogus
name "DOS" . It will also ask you about the default OS to boot .
What happens is this . Grub will replace the existing bootstrap
loader with it's one code . That code will provide you with 2
options 1. This options will boot with the Fedora Core 4 system
2. DOS . This option will sent you to another menu which will
let you choose between Windows 98 and Windows 2000 and
you are done . Grub is totally unaware about NTLDR and will do
nothing against it .

>  From what I've read, to do this I need to have /boot on the first disk, 
> hda.

Yes , that's a perfect choise . Although i might be of error that is
correct .

  I'd really rather not mix things up like this.

Which mix you mean ? Mixing the place where Fedora Core 4
and Windows boot ?  There is no way that those two get mixed .

Is there another way?

Probably , but i don't know him .
> Assuming I break down and install grub 

Am telling you nothing is going to break down if you install
grub on /dev/hda

on hda can I still keep my boot   and root on hde?

You can keep them wherever you like .


> thanks

Your Welcome,

> 
> rob

Kind Regards,
   Kostas