Okay, currently I am faced with a difficult scenario, for a myriad of reasons, to which I am unable to locate a solid solution for, therefore, here I am. I am currently migrating towards placing a fairly high-end SSD into my system, making it my master drive, and slaving my current primary 3.5” HDD drive. However, I want to see if I can not only maintain the programs and information that currently reside on this drive, but I would also like to maintain the OS, which is currently Windblows 7. The SSD will be loaded with Linux, however, I face another problem there as well, because there are not that many distributions that install well under a motherboard sporting an UEFI BIOS, unless you are willing to place it into legacy mode, which I would like to avoid.
I have located a few distros, to which I ‘should’ be able to install upon onto this SSD, with minimal problems, however, I really cannot afford to have much down time, and if I wipe everything, and start installing ‘everything’ from scratch, it could cost me, severely. What I would like to do is this:
1. Install SSD as my Master Drive
2. Slave my 3.5” HDD, which has both Windows 7 and Applications installed
3. Somehow, add a reference to Grub 2, to allow me to boot into Windows 7, without compromising any of its contents, or data.
4. Then setup the Linux Distros that I choose to install upon my master drive (the SSD), and tweak them at my leisure, which would also enable me to continue school, and my day job, instead of halting everything for a few days while, I sort out and install everything from scratch.
I have done this before, however, when I did, I was working under very different circumstances. 1) I was not working with an SSD drive, and I do not see how this will make any difference, however, I am not completely sure yet. 2) I have never had to install Linux on a Motherboard with a UEFI BIOS before, only legacy Basic Input and Output Systems, therefore, I am expecting a headache. 3) When I installed multiple Operating Systems, including Windows, I would always install everything fresh, and Windows first, allowing Windows to write to the MBR, and then I would install Grub, and configure Grub from within Linux to add Windows as an accepted boot option. That was then, and this is now. Not only am I dealing with different technology, but I am also attempting to net a different result.
Any assistance regarding this matter would surely be appreciated, and if anybody requires me to clear up any details, feel free to ask.
Thank you.
I have located a few distros, to which I ‘should’ be able to install upon onto this SSD, with minimal problems, however, I really cannot afford to have much down time, and if I wipe everything, and start installing ‘everything’ from scratch, it could cost me, severely. What I would like to do is this:
1. Install SSD as my Master Drive
2. Slave my 3.5” HDD, which has both Windows 7 and Applications installed
3. Somehow, add a reference to Grub 2, to allow me to boot into Windows 7, without compromising any of its contents, or data.
4. Then setup the Linux Distros that I choose to install upon my master drive (the SSD), and tweak them at my leisure, which would also enable me to continue school, and my day job, instead of halting everything for a few days while, I sort out and install everything from scratch.
I have done this before, however, when I did, I was working under very different circumstances. 1) I was not working with an SSD drive, and I do not see how this will make any difference, however, I am not completely sure yet. 2) I have never had to install Linux on a Motherboard with a UEFI BIOS before, only legacy Basic Input and Output Systems, therefore, I am expecting a headache. 3) When I installed multiple Operating Systems, including Windows, I would always install everything fresh, and Windows first, allowing Windows to write to the MBR, and then I would install Grub, and configure Grub from within Linux to add Windows as an accepted boot option. That was then, and this is now. Not only am I dealing with different technology, but I am also attempting to net a different result.
Any assistance regarding this matter would surely be appreciated, and if anybody requires me to clear up any details, feel free to ask.
Thank you.