Help! Multi-OS computer troubles.

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I recently set a multi-OS system using Disk Director and OSS. I was attempting to create another primary partition to install Windows 7 to and was not allowed the option to create another primary drive. It is my understanding that you can have four primary drives on a single hard drive. As far as I knew, I have three.

I have two primary partitions devoted to different XP installs (out of necessity), and one for Ubuntu as I have learned that GRUB2 doesn't like installing to a logical drive. Additionally, I have and extended partition with two logical drives. One is the Linux Swap, the other is for data. Reason dictates (and is apparently ignored) that I should still be able to make one more Primary drive. however in both Disk Director and Windows' Disk Manager, I am unable to do this. Does anyone have any idea why?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Sab, 07/10/2010 - 09:38
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Taylor,

There are only four partition table slots. This means you can have four Primary partitions or you can have three (or less) and any number of Logical partitions. You have three Primary partitions and a Logical partition so the table is full.

I haven't yet tried forcing GRUB2 into a Logical partition and haven't really read up on the problem(s). From what I have read, it seems like a step backwards for GRUB. Having easy Primary or Logical installations without needing to worry about it was nice. I also dislike that the Ubuntu installer doesn't give you any warning that GRUB didn't install correctly -- I always find out on the first boot.

Sab, 07/10/2010 - 15:34
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Taylor,

I have tested Ubuntu 10.04 in several different scenarios and it seems to work okay.

GRUB2 can be "forced" into a Logical partition successfully. While it's now apparently considered a "bad idea" to do this, the risk is no greater than with GRUB (meaning it may require a repair if the booting files get moved).

OSS 11 detected Ubuntu just fine on both Ext3 and Ext4. So, you can probably reconfigure your system to use Ubuntu on a Logical partition and also use Ext4 (if you wish). Remember that DD 11 doesn't currently support Ext4.

This is what I did to setup GRUB2 in the Logical partition:

  1. Install Ubuntu: Partitions were already configured and I manually selected the mount points. In my case, there were only the "root" (/) and the swap partitions.
  2. Select the Advanced option/button on the last wizard page and select the Ubuntu partition as the destination for GRUB2.
  3. After installation is done, GRUB2 isn't installed to the partition's boot sector (this happens with GRUB also [at least, for me]). GRUB2 must be installed manually.
  4. Boot to the Ubuntu Live CD.
  5. Mount the Ubuntu partition. This can be done easily by just browsing to it and letting Ubuntu open it (Places >> Computer and double-clicking on the partition). The partition will be mounted to media/##### where "#####" is a long number.
  6. Open a terminal and switch to sudo mode: sudo -s
  7. You can find the mount value by running: ls /mediaIf there is more than one, you may need to "ls" into it and verify the contents. For example: ls /media/482ff690-b033-466c-808c-704cf8140410Note that you don't need to type the entire number. You can type the first few and then press Tab.
  8. My Ubuntu partition was /dev/sda6 so my command to install GRUB2 was: grub-install --root-directory=/media/482ff690-b033-466c-808c-704cf8140410 --force /dev/sda6
  9. Ignore the warning. GRUB2 should be installed and OSS should find it.
Dom, 07/11/2010 - 18:08