Multiboot Xp/2000/redhat 7.2

[yash]

Hi

If i am at the wrong forum plz forgive me. I am new to this place.

I need advice on how to multiboot win2000/XP/redhat 7.2

I did a google search on this and found 10000's of articles each saying something different. It would be nice if somone over here has done what i want to do and can give me advice.

My comp is set up in the following way:

1. HDD1(60GB) : I have XP installed on this. This is for my personal use and has all applications and files. NO other OS goes in here as i dont want to mess this up.

2. HDD2(40GB) : I have win 2000 already installed on it. This is basically the drive with which i try out all the stunts

I can MULTI BOOT 2000 and xp without any problems

I want to install redhat on the 40Gb hdd with win 2000.

I would like to know how to configure NTLDR/grub to multi boot 2000/xp/rh ??

What software should i use to multiboot ?? grub or through windows ??

Though many ppl suggested grub, my concern with this suggestion is: if in future i have to remove RH then grub would also be deleted and hence i would not be able to multi-boot 2000/xp. Is this true ??.

If it is then i would like to multi boot from windows side so that if i remove RH i can still multi boot 2000/xp without any problems.

Thanks for you help guys.

[gamehead200]

If I were you, I would partition the 40 GB drive with one partition that has 35 GB (for Win 2000) and one partition with 5 GB (for RedHat). Once you start installing RedHat, it'll ask you what partition you want to install it on...Choose the 5 GB one. Once you're done with that, you will probably start to use the Linux boot menu. It SHOULD display all three OSes. When you want to uninstall RedHat, go here and follow the instructions on how to get your old boot menu back...

[yash]

Ok this is how my 40GB is set up now:

1. a 2 GB primary partition for win 2000 and then the extended partition.

Now how do i partition the rest of the disk for RH ??

I have heard something about the 1024 sector rule, ie: that the boot partition for linux needs to be within the first 1024 sectors of the hdd. Is this true ??

Gamehead, the article talks about LILO but i want to use Grub.

thanks

[gamehead200]

Have you ever used Partition Magic? That might do the trick for the partitioning instead of fdisk...

I'm not too sure about Grub...

[XPerties]

Have you ever used Partition Magic?

stay away from that application. Trust me

[Aaron]

stay away from that application. Trust me

What's wrong with Partition Magic?

[gamehead200]

I dunno...Maybe XPerties would suggest using fdisk instead? w00t

Use Partition Magic...

[zipp51]

I have done something similar yash.I have 2 HD's.10gb with win 2000 pro and the other 20gb with redhat 8 and mandrake 9.The 20gb was installed as a blank primary master and the 10gb was connected (with win 2000 already installed) as the primary slave.Redhat went on first because I was instructed that mandrake will recognize and multiboot better so by loading it last you can set it up to be the bootloading OS.Mandrake was installed second and set as bootloader and recognized w2k as a boot option even as the seperate drive that it is on.I was told that if you are not familiar with linux then don't put it on the same HD as windows xp or 2k.Partition magic 8 recognizes linux partitions but there again you will have the OS's on the same drive.Mandrake 9 is cheap and I can send you the detail instructions as a word doc if you like.You could pick up a small drive also for the 2 linux os's cheap.You would end up with 4 operating systems in one box.