vista + Ubuntu

C

chriskmee

New Member
I have been searching on the web for quite a while now and i just want some more opinions. I want to duel boot vista home premium 32 bit (no install disk, hpdv9500t laptop, came with recovery cd) and ubuntu 7.10. I want to duel boot to where i can easily uninstall ubuntu if i want

There is a few things I'm thinking about. I don't know if i can restore vista boot loader, although i did download a vista install disk from a website ( only has recovery portion of disk) because it had a good guide to repair vista boot loader. I just downloaded easybcd as well, haven't done to much but look around with it and back up the vista boot loader. I have also made a backup of my c drive on my external UBS maxtor one touch mini 160GB HDD in a hope to restore it if needed.

Here is my question. i have the luxury of 2 hard drives (about 160gb ea). for simplicity, ill call the first drive ABC and the second drive DEF. I was wondering if i could take out both drives, put drive DEF into slot 1, boot off Ubuntu 7.10 live cd, install Ubuntu on the 15GB of unallocated space on drive DEF (this is so that grub wont harm vista boot loader) and switch the drives back to original positions (ABC as first and DEF as second) and tell vista to recognize Ubuntu. The thing i'm worried about is the fact that Ubuntu might be confused moving from being master drive to slave drive.

The other option i was thinking about is easybcd. Has anyone used it before? will it work for what i want? can anyone think of another option?

Thanks in advance.
 
While GRUB will simply overwrite Vista's bootloader, Vista will delete GRUB and make booting Ubuntu very hard. Why not simply install Vista first, then Ubuntu, and just use GRUB?

What you want to do will be difficult and you'll be wasting a lot of time changing things that don't need to be changed if you do it the above way.
 
this is something i have considered, but if i decide to get rid of Ubuntu, then what? I want try out Ubuntu, but have the option to get rid of it if i need or want to. thats how i found easybcd. It says you can easily rewrite the vista boot loader and uninstall Ubuntu easily.

(vista is pre installed on my machine, all i can with my recovery CD is reformat everything and reinstall vista)
 
Well, Ubuntu can be used as a Live CD, meaning you can run the entire OS on your system without installing it. If you install Ubuntu and decide after a few weeks that it's not for you, then you can simply format the partitions it's on and load up the Vista CD and repair the MBR.
 
This is one option i thought about, but HP decided to make a special deal with microsoft and not offer install cd's. the repair cd has one option; reformat everything, delete everything, and start over. not exactly what i would hope for in a repair cd. And although i downloaded the real install cd only with the repair section from a website, i don't exactly know if it is legit. I can boot from it and it looks legit, but even though its not my install cd, will it still repair my mbr?( the guide said to open cmd and type "bootrec/fixboot" and "bootrec/fixmbr")

I was also thinking of just using grub, then using easybcd to rewrite the vista bootloader if i want to. although i haven't found any users reviews confirming this works.

and other thing i heard, someone somewhere said that vista needs vista bootloader to hibernate? they said if you duelboot with grub you will loose hibernation. That is why i was thinking about getting vista bootloader to recognize Ubuntu. I want to use hibernate because i take my laptop to school, a full reboot takes about 5 minutes compared to 20 seconds with hibernation.



and although i have used the live cd (that is how i plan to install it as well) you dont get the full thing, only a "demo". you can do most tings the normal system can do, but you cant use anything that required reboot. a reboot deletes everything you did, installed drivers, settings, programs..etc. part of the whole "use the live CD and don't harm your computer" thing


i appreciate the help you have given so far
 
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What website did you download the repair section of the CD? If it was HP, then you're fine. if it was another, PM me or post the link here so we can see.

So long as it's a legal download, and it contains the proper files and you can boot from it (which you mentioned you can), then yes, it will work. My main concern for you at this point would be to verify it's not stepping over any laws to have it.

Not sure about Vista's Hibernation, but Standby and Hibernate both work fine on my system (see below).

Well, you're right and wrong about the Live CD. No, it's not a demo version - its the entire OS. People actually use the Live CD on a daily basis and never install it. You are correct in saying that it won't hurt your system. When you install drivers/whatnot using a Live CD, they are installed to your RAM, not your HDD, so when power goes off, data is lost. Hence, the people that use the Live CD for daily use tend to work from command lines rather than a GUI.
 
here is where i got the install cd (repair section only)
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD

and i looked at this guide, and as you can see, it worked for A LOT of people. i planned on using tis guide with the above cd
http://auscoder.com/2007-05-18/restore-vista-mbr-bootloader.html

i know Ubuntu live CD isn't a demo, i just couldn't think of a better word.....demo just seemed to fit, because like a demo it has limitations, anyways.....

Thanks for the reply, and thank you for offering to look at the CD i got.
 
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cool, ill go ahead and do that when i get the chance to, then if i have a problem, ill ask you guys. i love this forum, lots of nerds with lots of experience and answers!

thank you very much for the advice
 
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