5 replies to this topic

[MikeSA]

I have just installed a second hard drive in my computer and now I have the Following drives:

Local Disc 500GB ©

DVD RW Drive (D)

New Volume 500GB (E)

 

On the C drive, I already have Windows 8.1. installed.  A friend has given me both the UBUNTU and MINT Disks and. purely out of curiosity,  I want to install either or both these Linux operating systems on Drive E without effecting Windows 8.1. in any way.  Can someone please guide me step-by-step how do I go about installing these on Drive E and then, after installation, how do I choose an operating system whenever I switch the computer on. Thanks.

[terry1966]

safest way is to temporarily disconnect the win 8.1 hard drive from the motherboard, just need to disconnect it's power or sata cable.

install your linux distribution of choice making sure it boots and everything is working.

reconnect the win 8.1 hard drive.

 

now when you start the pc it will always boot into the operating system that is on the first boot hard drive, probably win 8.1 so to boot into the linux operating system you need to find the correct key to tap on pc start up that will offer you the option to specify which device to boot first, usually flashed on the screen for a second during start up something like F10 or F12. so you'd start the pc tapping the correct F key until you get the option and choose the hard drive with the linux operating system on every time you want to use it instead of windows.

 

second way to select operating system (my choice) is to go into the bios (by tapping a different key on start up than the boot options key.) and change the boot order of your hard drives so every time you start the pc it always boots into the linux operating system, now when in the linux operating system add the windows os to grub2's boot loader, now choice will be on the main linux start up menu and you just choose it when you want to boot into windows.

do it this way and not by adding the linux os to the windows boot menu because if you/wondows format or delete the linux hard drive/os by accident/choice at a later date the windows hard drive hasn't been altered by you in anyway so will always boot just fine.

 

if you need more info, lets us know and i'll find links giving more detailed instructions for you to follow.

 

[MikeSA]

Many thanks for the prompt response. I followed your instructions and have
successfully installed Ubuntu on Drive E. Now I just have to disconnect the
C drive each time I want to boot into Ubuntu.

However, can you please clarify the second way to boot into Ubuntu without
having to disconnect drive C.

Currently the boot order is firstly the C drive and secondly the D drive.
Am I correct that I need to get into bios and change the boot order so that
firstly it’s the E drive and secondly the D drive. But then, once I have booted into Ubuntu, how do I “add the Windows OS to grub2’s boot order”. (I assume by
grub2, you mean the E drive on which Ubuntu is installed). Would a menu appear
upon startup asking me to which operating system I wish to boot into.

On drive E on which Ubuntu has been installed, can Linux Mint also be added
so that in all there will be three operating systems to choose upon startup.
Or would that just complicate matters and it’s best not to go that route.

[terry1966]

now it's installed correctly you don't need to disconnect the windows drive at any time to boot into ubuntu.

 

what you need to do is find the correct F key to tap and keep tapping when you start your pc until it offers you a menu on what devices you want to boot first then you just select the correct hard drive from the choices it offers with the ubuntu os installed on to boot it.

 

yes go into bios and change the boot order of the drives save the settings and exit, now every time it starts up, without you doing anything, if you've done it correctly it will boot into ubuntu.

 

to add windows to ubuntus boot menu it should just be a case of opening a terminal and running the command

sudo update-grub

this should look for and find all bootable operating systems and add them to the start menu, now reboot and you should see an option to boot into windows along with the other ubuntu boot options that were already listed.

 

 

yes you can add as many operating systems as you like to your new hard drive, i would always disconnect the windows drive first tho unless you know what your doing just so you never break/overwrite it's mbr or operating system, restore partition.

Edited by terry1966, 04 March 2014 - 01:33 PM.

[MikeSA]

Thank you so much for all the advice. Everything has worked out just fine.

[terry1966]

great, hope you have many trouble free hrs using all your different operating systems.