Dual booting

[Octavarium]

Okay, here's the lowdown.

For a long time, I've been thinking about making a dual-boot system. Windows XP and Gentoo Linux, specifically. I want to know how to do this. I guess to make this easier, I'll list some things.

What I can't do-
Use Partition Magic
Have a CD/DVD that must be in the drive to boot any OS
Delete/lose all of the data I already have on my hard drive
Buy any new hardware that isn't a hard drive
Buy any software, although if you sell it to me enough I might

What I can do-
When loading, get a screen that asks whether I'd like to boot Windows or Gentoo
Buy a new hard drive (already have one in mind)
Put several hours into this


I know there's something I'm forgetting, but that's pretty much it. To sum it up, I have a hard drive with 50Gb of data on it that I want to keep. I'm willing to do anything to it that doesn't involve Partition Magic, because I don't want to spend $70 on it. I'm also willing to buy a new hard drive, if that's what's necessary. What I had in mind was having Windows on one, Linux on the other, although I've been told doing this (2 bootable drives) is impossible. However, if there's any way I can work with something like that, I'm fine. Blah. I guess I'm being vague here. If you need anything more, just ask.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: If this is impossible, that's cool too. Lead me to the cheapest and easiest way I can do it, and I'll decide for myself if I want to.

 

[xtknight]

Gparted is an open source version of Partition Magic that does more and you can get a LiveCD (bootable CD that runs the app) of it. I'd recommend getting the LiveCD and not running it within another Linux distro, just to avoid potential issues.

Are you using Gentoo for any particular reason? It might be harder to get dual boot working. I know with Ubuntu/Fedora/SUSE, they just autodetect Windows.

The first thing to do is install Windows. Then, install Linux. That will make things a lot easier with the GRUB boot loader.

 

[Bozo Galora]

http://www.devhood.com/tutorials/tutorial_details.aspx?tutorial_id=405
http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/dual_boot_fedora_xp.php
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-l...9-dual-installation-xp-suse-9-2-a.html

http://www.ghacks.net/2006/08/29/linux-windows-dual-boot-video-tutorial/

http://www.howtoforge.com/windows_linux_dual_boot

 

[Octavarium]

xtknight, I'm assuming you're saying I get a new hard drive, then install windows/linux.

Regarding Gentoo, I didn't choose it for any reason, I just vaguely remember about a year ago thinking I'd rather get Gentoo rather than others. Honestly though, I don't really know. I've never tried Linux before, and want to dual-boot it before I try using solely Linux.

Anyways, what I'm thinking of doing then is getting a beefy hard drive, setting it up to have 2 partitions, one Linux and the other Windows, and then using Norton Ghost (my dad has a copy laying around..) to copy all of my old Windows stuff over. Afterwards, I guess I could keep my old drives for faster stuff (it's set up in RAID 0), or just get rid of them. Does this all sound like it could work?

Sorry I haven't checked any links yet, by the way. That is, if I'm saying anything incredibly stupid right now.

 

[Raptor45]

I'd try Ubuntu. Very easy install, and you can install off the live disk. So you can try it out, and if you don't like it you just eject the disk and thats that, or theres one click and you can install with what I found to be a pretty easy installer. It'll set up a bootloader for you, so you just select which OS you want on startup. Don't need a new HD, but it might make it easier.

 

[Octavarium]

Okay, so just to make sure I have this perfect, let me run down what I plan on doing.

1. Buy a new hard drive, hook it up, etc.
2. Install Windows XP
3. Install Ubuntu Linux (Other way around?)
4. Copy all of my old Windows stuff over

Is this right?

 

[SleepWalkerX]

That sounds right. Then you can just do the file and settings transfer wizard in windows and it should let you copy all your data back.

 

[imported_shader]

ok, you have a few options:

you can dual boot from the same drive
dual boot from different drives

you said you are probably going to get another drive which would be a good idea IMHO for this type of setup.

as was mentioned earlier if you are going to use only one drive, gparted is a free program that can resize & create new partitions if you want to stick with one drive. if you do this, you should install windows first and then linux second (windows boot loader is not as easy to get working with another os, linux boot loader is relatively easier). which ever os is installed last will overwrite the MBR of your disk and "take control" from that point on.

if you choose to buy another drive (which i want to make clear is not necessary, but is certainly possible) then you will install windows first on one drive, then linux second (pref on another drive). this may be a little more difficult to setup in the grub configuration menu.

another note: from your posts you make mention that you are relatively inexperienced with linux, and with that in mind i would like to STRONGLY RECOMMEND NOT to use gentoo. that distrobution certainly does not have the inexperienced in mind and will most likely cause you hours of extra work. ubuntu is a good distro, also debian (from which ubuntu is based).

for more info on doing something like this, i would recommend ubuntu forums (www.ubuntuforums.com iirc) and/or debian forums (forums.debian.net).

 

[Octavarium]

Alright, this sounds good. I'm going with Ubuntu. I'm also getting a new drive, because I'd like the extra space, apart from this whole deal.

So then, I'm off to do this. Maybe in a few weeks...

Wish me luck!