System with two operating systems in two disks

[Phil Schaffner]

On Tue, 2004-06-22 at 17:32 -0400, Jeff Ratliff wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 22, 2004 at 02:49:33AM -0500, Javier Perez wrote:
> > Hi
> > 
> > I am running Fedora in one computer and now I want to make some
> > tests. I have an 80G HD that I can add as a slave to the system.
> > 
> > I want to install the second HD with its own OS that I can play with
> > in such a way that my original OS is not disturbed. 
> > 
> > I know maybe this is a question for a GRUB List but I wonder if
> > somebody else have done this and if there is a good how-to that could
> > guide me in this.
> > 
>   When I installed FC2 I did exactly what you're describing. I
> left my FC1 install alone, and installed FC2 on a partition at 
> the end of the second disk. I told the installer to leave my 
> MBR alone, and updated GRUB manually. 

My approach would be to install FC2 and all current patches then clone
it to the 2nd disk by partitioning with fdisk, format mkswap/mke2fs,
etc...:

For example,

# mke2fs -j /dev/hdb1 ; mke2fs -j /dev/hdb2 ; mke2fs -j /dev/hdb3
# mkswap /dev/hdb4
# mkdir /alt ; mount /dev/hdb2 /alt
# mkdir /alt/boot ;  mount /dev/hdb1 /alt/boot
# mkdir /alt/home ;  mount /dev/hdb1 /alt/home  # (optional)
# cp -aux /boot /alt
# cp -aux /home /alt
# cp -aux / /alt

Edit /alt/etc/fstab to make it match reality, then see below....

> 
> Getting GRUB to work was rough, but I worked it out. The docs
> for GRUB are great, but not easy to quickly glance through for
> and answer. 

Should just be a matter of copying the correct stanza in
/boot/grub/grub.conf and changing the grub root device (probably
(hd1,0)) and the root device on the kernel line (probably
root=LABEL=/1).

> It really depends on what you're installing on the second disk, 
> but I'm sure someone here can help you get GRUB straightened out
> so the second OS will boot. 
> 

If you get stuck post specific details and request help.

Phil