On 2010/09/29 00:35 (GMT+0200) Stan Goodman composed:
Jan mentioned, by the way, that he believes recent Linux installers are problematic when there are multiple OSes on the system.
Most of them presume you want their Grub to be the master boot loader for the whole system, either by making other alternatives obscure or impossible to find (e.g. *buntu), or by setting checkboxes to same effect on various boot loader options with obtuse or inadequate explanations of the implications of choosing those options or not (e.g. SUSE).
Whether that is true or not, I intend to remove the 11.1 HD from the system when I install 11.3 (0r simply remove the Bootable flag from it),
Why do you think the presence or absence of a bootable flag would have zero impact on a new installation to some other HD? Method of "removal" is not without its own effects. Grub and the HD driver do not always agree on device assignments once repartitioning or controller port relocation (controller port changing/swapping and or BIOS boot device selection) has taken place. With SATA, it's just as possible via HD driver for an only HD to not be /dev/sda as it is with PATA, but arguably more likely to be something other than /dev/sdc. With Grub1, I don't think it possible for an only HD to be anything other than (hd0), but after a relocation /boot/grub/device.map is highly likely not to match the then current system state. The safest way is making sure both the installation target is literally the only HD in the system, _AND_ that it's connected to the first motherboard controller. Then if it will ever be booted from some other controller port, it will need to have had its boot configuration set to by-label or by-uuid, but only if you never ever literally clone a disk or partition (as with DFSee or dd) and subsquently boot without first removing either the original or the clone, and/or changing the label and/or uuid on the original or clone. The alternative options by-id and by-path can change with repartitioning and/or moving the HD to a different port. The old method of device name can actually work out easier, but only for those fully up to speed and aware of all the effects of repartitioning and HD shuffling, and able to apply varying techniques to deal with those effects, including knowing use of the Grub shell.
Historically, after a new OS is installed, I never look at the older one, and there is no reason to spin its HD.
Not here, but then most of my machines infrequently have more than one HD attached, no matter what the count or type of bootable partitions. After any new OS install I make sure each of at least several other OSes remain immediately bootable. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org