[plug] grub.?

[Arie Hol]

On 29 Dec 2007 at 9:30, James Elliott - WA Rural Computers wrote:

> I have two hard disks, one running under Windows XP
> and the other Ubuntu Linux.

IMHO - This is the best way to have dual boot operating systems.
 
> I want to replace my Windows XP HDD with a bigger one.

This is not a difficult task - just time consuming.

First Install your new/blank HDD on a spare channel/cable.

Then, copy your partitions across to it

There are two ways to do it :

1 - The linux way - 

Use a live CD to boot the system, then use dd to copy your partition 
images across to the new/balnk drive. 

You will need to tell dd what block size to use for the "copy" process - 
see man dd on this one - I suggest at least 1Mb blocks.

This method is slow but you will end up with two copies of your system.
(You could try Partimage or other Linux GUI partitioning utilities - if 
they are on the live CD.)

When complete - shut down system - remove original HDD and swap the newer 
drive into the position that the original drive was in.

Do not wipe the original system disk until you can safely reboot your 
system using the new drive.

2 - The other way -

Use emergency boot disks created by Partition Magic (in Windows) this 
will give you a GUI view of the operations - copy across the partitions 
one at a time - in the same order that they exist on the original drive.

When finished - do the drive swap over as noted above.

Note: If you want to resize the Windows partitions - resize each one 
immediatley after you have copied each one across to the new drive.

Warning - do not use Partition Magic to move or copy Linux partitions 
unless you have the latest version available - if you are using LVM on 
your linux drive - DO NOT USE PARTITION MAGIC TO COPY/MOVE YOUR 
PARTITIONS.

Only use  Partition Magic to copy your Windows partitions.

> For this purpose I temporarily replaced my Linux HDD with a new 250MB 
HDD,
> with a view to cloning my old Windows HDD onto the new HDD.
> 
> Trouble is that I use GRUB boot manager to choose between Windows and
> Linux, and when I remove the Linux disk and attempt to boot, I get a 
black
> screen error message saying something like:
> 
> GRUB boot error 5 ... please wait

When you install GRUB in the the MBR of a Windows drive - GRUB only 
installs enough data so the system can find the GRUB binary to run GRUB 
and display the menu that you usually get - by removing your Linux drive -
the system cannot locate the GRUB binary to display your menu - hence the 
error message.

 
> To enable me to boot my computer again and send this message, I have 
had
> to reinstall my Linux HDD. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of GRUB, 
at
> least for the time being.
> 

There is no need to remove GRUB or anything else for that matter - if you 
use some form of boot disk to access the system.

Think before you jump into the deep end. Just do one step at  a time and 
you will minmise the risk of trauma.

Make a plan of what you want to do, write down and think about it.

Good luck and have fun.


Regards Arie
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