Bootmanagers

[arijspieter]

i have 3 drives:
sata1: ssd with windows
sata2: hdd for storage
sata3: hdd on which i plan to install debian (linux os)

as you can see i would like to install debian on a seperate drive.
i chose to install it on a seperate drive as i want each drive and os to be completely independent of any other drive or os
--> i do not want the linux bootmanager to install in the mbr of my ssd with windows, everything must work independent
--> i will need to have a bootmanager on each drive with an os
anybody here who knows how to install everything independent as in my explanation?
thanks in advance,


Pieter

 

[Hawkeye22]

Boot managers always overwrite the MBR. You do not want a boot manager in the traditional sense.

Make sure that only one drive is conected to the motherboard when installing the OS. This forces the OS install to put everything on one drive since there are no other drives available.

Once you have all 3 OS's installed, you can install all 3 drives. You will now have to use the bios boot order to select which drive/OS to boot from. Some bios's have a boot shortcut on their start screen (F12- Boot). Use it to bypass having to actually enter the bios.

In short, installing any OS with another OS already on the system will have it's boot loader replaced. In the case of windows, you must install OS's in order from oldest to newest since the win 7 boot loader knows how to boot XP and Vista, but XP and Vista's boot loaders don't know about win 7.

 

[Alabalcho]

@Pieter,

When you install Debian, mae sure you tell the installer to write the boot manager on Debian's disk, and not to touch Windows disks (I would even disconnect them during installation). Then, use your BIOS "Where to boot from" as a boot manager.

 

[arijspieter]

thanks for the help
ill do it with only one drive connected then