SOLVED Need help with installing 2nd drive

[catilley1092]

Problem solved, I'm glad that I used my laptop to try this with. I was able to install Mint 8 (32 bit), but my system is now stuck with the same GRUB bootloader that I thought would be on the extra hard drive, not my laptop. I found this out by unplugging the drive from it and rebooting my laptop. Well, it wouldn't boot without that drive in place. Actually, thinking about it, GRUB is on the extra drive, but that drive has to be plugged in for the laptop to boot. I'm glad that I didn't install it on here now. I thought it best to try it out on the laptop, so that if anything screws up, it's the laptop, and not my desktop. It is faster than I expected, being it is connected by USB, in fact, it's faster than my laptop drive is. So I'm not disappointed, I got most of what I wanted, and nothing was screwed up in the process. I'm not doing bad, being that I've only been "hands on" with some hardware for less than four months. That's how you learn.

 

[catilley1092]

The partition (25GB and greater) must be preformated when installing windows 7. If not Windows 7 will create the 100MB partition.

My only guess as to why the 100MB partition is created on a version that does not support Bitlocker. Is that the 100MB partition already exist when customers purchase the Anytime Upgrade to a version that does support Bitlocker.

This would have to be the answer for this, as all files for all versions of Windows 7 are in place, even in Starter. You can take one of those netbooks with Starter, do the Anytime Upgrade to Ultimate, and have BitLocker, simply by purchasing and entering the key, as I did to get Pro. That partition has to be on any OEM install for that to occur.

 

[yodap]

Okay, so here is where we get back to my post to Ed.

I believe you can disconnect your hd on the desk top and just have the usb drive connected. Insert the livecd and see if it will install on the the usb drive. Linux want's to write grub to the windows boot loader but it wont be there. So Linux thinks it's the only OS. if this works, boot in and out of it a few times. Then reconnect the hard drive and find the Function key that gets you to the boot device menu. The usb drive should be listed in that menu as long as it is powered up and connected. From there just navigate to the hdd you want to boot to.

It's worth a shot.

 

[catilley1092]

yodap thanks, you have been of great help to me. I installed the USB drive to my laptop, and went from there. I was more familiar with it, and didn't want to do anything to mess up my desktop install. However, you do have a great idea here. I'd much rather have a 64 bit than a 32 bit install, if possible. I've worked on this for a day and a half now. I need a little rest. But tomorrow, I'm going to try this out, I know where the boot device menu on here is. You press and hold ESC at startup to access the boot menu. If all works like that, then I'll take my Vista disc, and repair my laptop, as the laptop won't boot without the hard drive in place. Something about GRUB shows up. I do want to get that drive on my desktop, tomorrow, I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[yodap]

More thoughts.

You could try to booting into the usb drive after disconnecting the hdd on desk top but I'm not confident it will work. Missing grub files and different hardware etc.

Should probably have the 64 bit version ready to go.

Maybe... you might need to take the drive out of the enclosure, install Mint and put it back in the enclosure. :dontknow:

If none of this works there is another app that I used to install Mint on the Thumb drive. Why wouldn't it work with external??? unless it only sees flash media.
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Good luck Chuck, and let us know if it all works out.

 

[catilley1092]

Is installing it on a flash drive (for 64 bit) going to put all that GRUB stuff on my desktop, and when the flash drive is out, it won't reboot? If so, I don't want to mess with it. I don't want Windows to be dependent on GRUB to boot.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Is installing it on a flash drive (for 64 bit) going to put all that GRUB stuff on my desktop, and when the flash drive is out, it won't reboot? If so, I don't want to mess with it. I don't want Windows to be dependent on GRUB to boot.

You're getting way too much info here.

Take it one step at a time. Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.

 

[clifford_cooley]

I don't want Windows to be dependent on GRUB to boot.

The operating system will always be dependent on the boot manager. Whether you are using the Vista Bootloader or a third party boot manager such as Grub, the OS will be dependent on the boot manager used to point the direction of the partition to boot.

There are different types of boot managers. Some are stored in the MBR (Master Boot Record) such as the F11 function key to start the Recovery Partition. Some are stored on the active partition such as the Vista Bootloader. There is also those that create a small partition to store the boot manager files. In any case the boot manager points to the appropriate partition that you are wanting to load.

The only way I can see breaking this dependency is to setup a secondary boot manager from CD/DVD/USB media or place a second Boot Manager on a second Hard Drive. CD/DVD/USB media would allow you to use which ever Boot Manager you have placed in the CD/DVD drive or USB port. A second drive would allow you to switch boot drives in the system BIOS effectively switching Boot Managers.

 

[yodap]

Is installing it on a flash drive (for 64 bit) going to put all that GRUB stuff on my desktop, and when the flash drive is out, it won't reboot? If so, I don't want to mess with it. I don't want Windows to be dependent on GRUB to boot.

I thought you were installing on an external hdd. Why now a flash drive?

 

[Nibiru2012]

A friend of mine just installed Windows on one hard drive and Linux on another hard drive.

He would just change the Boot Device priority in the BIOS when he wanted to change the OS. It would take an extra minute or two, but it worked and no GRUB loader.

When loading Linux, he unhooked all the hard drives except the one he wanted to install Linux to, then did his install. Same with the windows install. Then he hooked all the hard drives back up and just change as described above to boot to either linux or windows.

 

[yodap]

That's what I do.

I just had a slight question as to whether Linux would install properly on a usb connected drive enclosure or would he need to hook it directly into the desktop and install and then put it back into the usb device. Either way the other Windows disk needs to be removed.

The only reason that we're discussing it this much is because he can only hook up 1 hdd at a time (1 sata connector)

To answer Charles question about installing Linux on a usb flash drive or thunmb drive, no grub does not get installed, but if you are worried about it, the same thing applies. Take out the windows drive.

 

[catilley1092]

I thought you were installing on an external hdd. Why now a flash drive?

You brought up the flash drive, yodap. What the deal is, I didn't want to chance screwing up my desktop anymore, so I decided to try it out on my laptop. I've already explained what happened after that, my laptop is dependent on that drive to be there now. I'll fix that. Being that Vista SP2 is the last OS on it, I'll pop in the disc and do a startup repair, and hope it works. If not, I'll reinstall and be done with it. There has been a lot of information given to me the past two days, and I'm trying to take it in. At the same time, I had to clean install Ultimate today, I found out that I couldn't configure my restore point space, there was something missing. Remember, at first I used the image that I created with Macrium to restore it on here. I've done a few system recoveries that were already in place with Windows backup & Macrium, but never (until two nights ago) restored to another disc (except the recovery partition). That problem is now fixed. Now, for the hard drive. Forget the flash drive, I don't want to run an OS that way. I need to study a few of the posts made on this thread, and plan some course of action. There is a lot to think about here, and I thank all of you who have contributed. I've worked on this desktop for three days now, and am getting wore out. I just need to go over everything again, and go from there.

 

[catilley1092]

OK, the hard drive has been removed, Linux Mint has been installed on the other one, and is now updating. This process of updating is supposed to be faster than this, on Thursday, I got in internet speed upped from 1.5 (Road Runner Lite) to 7.0. That's a huge increase! But a couple of weeks ago, my modem was giving trouble, they said that the particular batch was bad (a familiar story), so they came back and all they had was a older modem. My internet speed is way up one minute, way down the next. It's not my computers, because they both react the same to the signal. I'm calling them back out here tomorrow. I want a new modem, like the one I had (Netgear wireless). My download speed is supposed to be around 600KB/sec, before that it was 180KB/sec, right now it's running 43KB/sec. I only had to pay an extra $12 for that extra speed, but what good is it now? Anyway, as soon as this OS finishes updating, I'll reinstall my regular drive, and hope for the best. I know how to select between boot devices.

 

[catilley1092]

Thanks to you all, I got it done! yodap & Nibiru pointed me in the right direction. It wasn't said, but I just assumed it best to have it turned off and unplugged while I'm in Windows, I don't want it to try to install itself. It's really simple to choose which device from which to boot on here, just press ESC at startup, and the boot options are listed. I'm glad I'm finally setup the way that I want, for now. This was beginning to get frustrating to me. Now, all that I have to do is call Time Warner and tell them to get their act together.

 

[JessicaD]

Catilley1092,
Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 Support Forum located here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/w7itpro/.
It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to also check the threads available there for additional assistance and guidance.
Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team