Re: Boot manager

In the bizarro world of Microsoft Vista/Win7 programming world and the
ancient world of x86 BIOSes the boot sector may not be installed on the same
drive as your primary operating system.
For most users this is not a problem.
For advanced users who frequently upgrade hardware and forget to perform the
necessary rituals it is a pain in the backplane.
The worst case scenario is if you reinstall/clone Vista or Win 7 to a
different hard drive and did not do the appropriate changes in the way your
hard drives are connected to the motherboard and the order of boot drives in
the mobo bios first.
Your primary OS may now reside on drive D but the boot sector remains on the
original hard drive. If you remove the original hard drive you cannot boot
your computer unless you understand the preceding sentence. You cannot fix
this problem with just the install disc or simply changing the SATA/PATA
connection.
It is not that difficult to fix but if all your SATA ports are used but the
cables are not labeled it will take hours to straighten out.
Don't ask me how I know this . . .

>Thanks for the responses.

>Saga

>If Linux is installed as a file under Windows would the pc recognise
>this as a second OS and therefore alert the boot manger that would
>then give options? Or would the pc just start Windows and I could then
>go from there? I suspect the latter.

>Thanks

"If Linux is installed as a file under Windows"

Can you elaborate? Are you referring that you have Linux installed on
a virtual PC? If so, no virtual installations, regardless of OS, will have
any effect on the boot manager. The boot manager is only affected
when you install various OSes and can multi boot on startup.

Are you referring to a live CD install where Linux runs off of a CD?
This won't affect the boot manager either. Regards, Saga

"c_atiel" <> wrote in message
news:4B99AF4A-56C8-49C3-B05E-...
> In the bizarro world of Microsoft Vista/Win7 programming world and the
> ancient world of x86 BIOSes the boot sector may not be installed on the
> same drive as your primary operating system.
> For most users this is not a problem.
> For advanced users who frequently upgrade hardware and forget to perform
> the necessary rituals it is a pain in the backplane.
> The worst case scenario is if you reinstall/clone Vista or Win 7 to a
> different hard drive and did not do the appropriate changes in the way
> your hard drives are connected to the motherboard and the order of boot
> drives in the mobo bios first.
> Your primary OS may now reside on drive D but the boot sector remains on
> the original hard drive. If you remove the original hard drive you cannot
> boot your computer unless you understand the preceding sentence. You
> cannot fix this problem with just the install disc or simply changing the
> SATA/PATA connection.
> It is not that difficult to fix but if all your SATA ports are used but
> the cables are not labeled it will take hours to straighten out.
> Don't ask me how I know this . . .
Awesome info there! Yeah, I also sometimes wonder how it is I know some of
the
stuff I know :-S. Osmosis maybe? <g> Saga