What are the advantages/disadvantages of installing a dual boot system
on a partitioned hard drive vs. two separate hard drives? Is one
way or the other a lot messier to install than the other?


Max
--

Hello

Max Chuang (<mach@[nospam]csua.berkeley.edu>) wrote:

> What are the advantages/disadvantages of installing a dual boot system
> on a partitioned hard drive vs. two separate hard drives? Is one
> way or the other a lot messier to install than the other?

Because of the different partitions both systems can be kept separate,
even on one hard disk. However installing Linux on the same disk that
Windows is installed to normally means that you have to shrink the
Windows partition, because in most setups it uses the whole disk.

The chance of loosing data because of the shrinking is higher than when
you install Linux to a separate disk, so you should make a backup.
Well, you should make backups anyway, because your Windows system can
be damaged even without installing Linux.

best regards
Andreas Janssen

--
Andreas Janssen <andreas.janssen@bigfoot.com>
PGP-Key-ID: 0xDC801674 ICQ #17079270
Registered Linux User #267976
http://www.andreas-janssen.de/debian-tipps.html

In article <cebi3k$rj4$03$1@news.t-online.com>,
Andreas Janssen <andreas.janssen@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>> What are the advantages/disadvantages of installing a dual boot system
>> on a partitioned hard drive vs. two separate hard drives? Is one
>> way or the other a lot messier to install than the other?
>
>Because of the different partitions both systems can be kept separate,
>even on one hard disk. However installing Linux on the same disk that
>Windows is installed to normally means that you have to shrink the
>Windows partition, because in most setups it uses the whole disk.
>
>The chance of loosing data because of the shrinking is higher than when
>you install Linux to a separate disk, so you should make a backup.
>Well, you should make backups anyway, because your Windows system can
>be damaged even without installing Linux.

I appreciate the response.

Yeah, I kind of figured, though I'm asking mainly because I'm considering
getting a new PC, and installing linux as a dual boot right away, so
I won't have to worry about losing anything of real consequence since
it'll be a fresh Windows install anyway.

But if having 2 hard disks is better/easier/etc., then I might just get
an extra hard drive when getting the new PC.


Max
--

"Max Chuang" <mach@[nospam]csua.berkeley.edu> wrote in message
news:cebgfe$2ji6$1@agate.berkeley.edu...
> What are the advantages/disadvantages of installing a dual boot system
> on a partitioned hard drive vs. two separate hard drives? Is one
> way or the other a lot messier to install than the other?

The big risks are two-fold.

1: The drivers for some controllers, especially old ones, disagree about how
the heads/sectors/cylinders should be set under different OS's. This way
lies madness as they complain and argue with each other.

2: It's easier to accidentally make a mistake and over-write an important
partition on the same disk when installing another OS, especially since you
can't be *really* paranoid and disconnect the power to one disk while
installing the other. This is why I like hot-swap bays for this.

3: If the disk fails, you lose both OS's, and disks do fail.

"Nico Kadel-Garcia" <nkadel@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:372dnXB9ovphLZTcRVn-hw@comcast.com...
>
> "Max Chuang" <mach@[nospam]csua.berkeley.edu> wrote in message
> news:cebgfe$2ji6$1@agate.berkeley.edu...
> > What are the advantages/disadvantages of installing a dual boot system
> > on a partitioned hard drive vs. two separate hard drives? Is one
> > way or the other a lot messier to install than the other?
>
> The big risks are two-fold.
>
> 1: The drivers for some controllers, especially old ones, disagree about
how
> the heads/sectors/cylinders should be set under different OS's. This way
> lies madness as they complain and argue with each other.
>
> 2: It's easier to accidentally make a mistake and over-write an important
> partition on the same disk when installing another OS, especially since
you
> can't be *really* paranoid and disconnect the power to one disk while
> installing the other. This is why I like hot-swap bays for this.
>
> 3: If the disk fails, you lose both OS's, and disks do fail.

Excuse me: three-fold. This is what I get for editing after writing my
opening line....

In article <HfydnXY5qc6TqpfcRVn-gg@comcast.com>,
Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel@comcast.net> wrote:
>> The big risks are two-fold.
>>
>> 1: The drivers for some controllers, especially old ones, disagree about
>how
>> the heads/sectors/cylinders should be set under different OS's. This way
>> lies madness as they complain and argue with each other.
>>
>> 2: It's easier to accidentally make a mistake and over-write an important
>> partition on the same disk when installing another OS, especially since
>you
>> can't be *really* paranoid and disconnect the power to one disk while
>> installing the other. This is why I like hot-swap bays for this.
>>
>> 3: If the disk fails, you lose both OS's, and disks do fail.
>
>Excuse me: three-fold. This is what I get for editing after writing my
>opening line....

And here I thought you were going to say something about an almost
fanatical devotion to the pope.


Max
--

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 21:12:40 +0200, Andreas Janssen wrote:

>
> The chance of loosing data because of the shrinking is higher than when
> you install Linux to a separate disk, so you should make a backup.
> Well, you should make backups anyway, because your Windows system can
> be damaged even without installing Linux.

The other concern is that when Windows crashes and needs a rebuild (this
will happen), Windows automatically overwrites the bootloader, and makes
the Linux OS "disappear". Not a huge concern, since it can be corrected,
but make sure you have a boot disk available (fedora has a boot CD, as I
am sure many others do now).

You may also want to make a diskette with your grub or lilo config, just
so you have it handy...