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Is this possible? (dual-boot question)
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Posted by: Canis Lupus
I haven't tried this before so I wanna ask if this is possible before I do it to save me some trial-and-error:
I am gonna be reformatting my computer and going full NTFS Windows 2000 .... I have heard that dual-booting to Linux when using NTFS is dicey at best, but I wanna try running Linux on the comp anyway, yet I don't wanna go FAT32...
I currently have 3 physical hard drives on my computer (probably a 4th if I remove the Live Drive)...
My question is: is it possible to install Linux on one of my other hard drives, and still find a way to "dual-boot"? Like, is there a way for me to have an option during startup to choose to run Linux from my other hard drive? Is it even possible to run an alternative OS that is not located in the same hard drive as the main OS?
As I said, I haven't tried this before so I'm asking those who have done or considered doing it before. Thanks in advance 
Posted by: Null Actor
It's possible. I'm not sure if the restriction is still around, but a few years back, most linux bootloaders needed to be located in a certain area on the harddrive, which could be troublesome when installing linux AFTER windows. If you are starting with a blank system, just making your partitions in the right places should help you fine.
Worst case of using NTFS is that your linux stuff may not be able to read it. I might have heard of a linux program that lets you access ntfs file systems, but I'm not 100% sure. Traditionally NTFS hasn't been accessible from anything other than NT.
Posted by: Canis Lupus
Hmmm, I'm thinking about getting System Commander 7 just make things easier and automated ... It supports multiple file systems and claims to be able to boot from any drive ... I'll have to do further research before I shell out $60 ....
Posted by: slugo3
theres a few different ways to do this.
linux has no problems booting off of a drive other than the primary so you can load linux on any of the other drives. as for the boot loader you have 2 free choices. you can use LILO which comes with linux. it installs to the MBR and gives you a choice between your windows and linux disks. I've done this before with windows2000 and linux with no problems. The other way is to use a boot disk which most distributions will give you the option of creating during the installation. with the boot disk you dont have to install the bootloader but when you want to boot to the linux partition you boot with the boot floppy.
I know you can read NTFS from linux but not sure if they have added write support yet.
IMHO sys commander is overkill unless you need some of its other features.
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