On Fri, 13 Dec 2002, Weber Walter M wrote: > Hi All, > > I don't see anyway I'll be able to buy a PC next year for home use; so, I > wonder whether this idea will work? > > My wife has a PC at home, with Windows on it. Can I move the current hard > drive to another drive bay and have a new hard drive installed in the > original's place, having Linux installed on it plus a program launcher which > offers the choice of booting up with Linux or Windows? If my wife chooses > Windows, wouldn't the launching program boot from the old C drive which > would now be given another letter? In other words, there's nothing on the > current C drives which irrevocably mark them as C, is there? Windows AFAIK insists on being on the first drive on the first IDE controller, and it also insists on being installed on a primary partition. This means you can't do exactly what you say. What you can do is install a second hard drive, either as the second drive on the first controller or (depending on the BIOS) on the second or even an added IDE adaptor. You can install Linux there and run it without any drama. When you install Linux, install grub or lilo on the MBR of the Windows disk, and configure it to boot either Windows or Linux. I suggest you actually have a friend who knows Linux help you because the friend will understand how to do this. A good alternative, if the case allows it, is to get a couple of disk caddies. You install a carrier in the case, and mount the disks in the inserts. The result is a bit like drawers in a filing cabinet, but easier to pull one out, push another in. This way, the Windows computer is completely unaffected by the Linux computer, and if you want to install Linux yourself, it may take a while but you will know you're not going to damage the Windows computer (provided you have the right hard drive installed). _______________________________________________ Blinux-list@redhat.com https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list