Which boot loader boot manager to use for WinXP-Linux dual boot?

[Devinco]

Which is going to give me the least problems?
I will not be using anything like Go Back, Rollback, FD-ISR at this time.
Just plain imaging backup.
I've read some posts here and there about trivial changes in winXP screwing up the boot loader.
I've also read that if you image just the XP (or Linux) partition, it won't back up the MBR which may contain the boot loader (don't know). The only way that the MBR is backed up is if you back up the whole drive.
I would like to be able to back up/restore just one partition at a time and also protect the MBR and the boot loader.

So what will get the job done with minimal issues?
GRUB, BING, Acronis Disk Director Suite, something else?

[WSFuser]

when i had a dual-boot of Windows XP and SUSE, id just used SUSE's boot manager. maybe it was grub, idk but it worked fine.

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "when i had a dual-boot of Windows XP and SUSE, id just used SUSE's boot manager. maybe it was grub, idk but it worked fine." }-
Thanks WSFuser.
Better to learn from other's experience so as not to repeat the bad ones.
Were you able to backup and restore just 1 partition at a time without frying the Boot Loader?

[furballi]

If you're using BING to process the image file, then I would recommend that you checkout the BING boot loader. Send Terabyte an e-mail about your version of Linux to confirm my statement.

Limit the the MBR option to four primary partitions. BING can also backup and restore the MBR.

[WSFuser]

i never kept SUSE for long so i havent tried any backup. sry

[furballi]

Download the BING manual and review BING's boot loader starting on page 15. The software is fully functional for 30 days. I didn't have any problem working with an older version of Red Hat.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "Download the BING manual and review BING's boot loader starting on page 15. The software is fully functional for 30 days. I didn't have any problem working with an older version of Red Hat.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html" }-
Thanks furballi,

I'll study it. At the time you had a dual boot XP/Red Hat, what was the sequence of install?
WinXP, then Red Hat with GRUB, then BING? BING replaced GRUB without issue?
Or did you have WinXP, then BING, then Red Hat and during Red Hat install you told it not to install GRUB because you would let BING handle it?

I am rather clueless about dual booting unfortunately.

[Alphalutra1]

Grub, LILO, or even windows own nt bootloader will work. I recommend using grub personally, as I have become accostomed to it and it works for all of the OS's i have tried (bsd, linux, and windows).

The easiest way is to use the one included on your linux installation disk since it will require the least amount of configuration (all of the ones I have used have automatically detected my windows partition and created an entry for both the windows and new linux partition automatically)

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

[Devinco]

Thanks Alphalutra1.

Cheers!

[iceni60]

which distro are you going to install? if you are installing to the same HDD and you only have one HDD then you should be able to just do the install and tell the installer to install itself on a new partition after windows. the bootloader should then be installed at the beginning of the HDD, letting you pick what to boot at startup.

make sure you defrag first, then just do a search for dual-booting windows with the distro you are going to use to make sure it can be done with the installer in uses. you could make sure you know how to fix the MBR too.

google videos has videos showing how to install a dual-booting system.

[furballi]

Had three primary C partitions at the beginning of the HDD. W2K, WXP, and Red Hat (order of installation). Used BING to set one of the primary C partition active and boot to it. No GRUB. Default OS was WXP.

I used three C partitions because I wanted W2K and WXP to display the same letter for all extended logical partitions on my HDD (W2K and WXP shared the same data and program partitions).

There are many ways to multi-boot. I haven't tested LINUX for a long time, so I'm not 100% up to date about the latest tricks. David F of Terabyte support is quite an expert with BING. I'd send Terabyte an e-mail to see if there's any special requirement with your particular edition of Linux.

In any event, make sure you use BING to backup the MBR at various level of configuration. I would also recommend that you create a small 8MB FAT16 partition at the end of the HDD. Install BING and the EMBR into this partition. Keep a good image file of you OS in another extended logical partition or removeable media. That way, you can always restore and boot back to the OS partition.

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "which distro are you going to install? if you are installing to the same HDD and you only have one HDD then you should be able to just do the install and tell the installer to install itself on a new partition after windows. the bootloader should then be installed at the beginning of the HDD, letting you pick what to boot at startup.

make sure you defrag first, then just do a search for dual-booting windows with the distro you are going to use to make sure it can be done with the installer in uses. you could make sure you know how to fix the MBR too.

google videos has videos showing how to install a dual-booting system." }-
Hi iceni60,

I will trial several Live CDs and probably try installing a few different distros (one at a time). Right now I like SLED10 and SUSE10.1, but I am interested in others too. Whichever I choose though, I will stick with it and not give up easily.

Thanks for the good advice on defragging and researching dual booting. If I find anything really good, I'll post.

[Devinco]

Thanks furballi,

I'll read the manual and see if that or Terabyte support has the answers to all these questions.