should I use Disk Director for multiple OS ?

[leoliver]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a current user of AI 10 home on my windows xp pro system.
However, I have been thinking about installing a Linux version on my 80 GB. HD, on a separate partition, that I will need to create in order to accommodate two OS's.
Since I'm a novice at creating partitions and have no experience with multiple operating systems, I have been thinking about trying Acronis Disk Director to create a 2nd partition , handle the boot configuration and do what ever Else is needed to safely enable me to have a multiple OS computer.
Or perhaps I would install a 2nd hard drive for Linux and perhaps use Disk Director to manage that configuration.
So I would like to ask experienced users if the above mentioned issues are what Disk Director is designed to deal with. Or could I use windows xp to create and manage 2- partitions with two operating systems ?
Your feedback will be appreciated ! Thanks.

[MudCrab]

If you use Linux with GRUB you really don't need OSS. GRUB will usually install automatically to the MBR, recognize your XP partition and add it to the boot menu. Linux can be installed on another partition on the first drive or on a partition on any other drive. It's a lot more flexible than Windows in that area.

If you want to use OSS, make sure that GRUB gets installed to the partition that Linux is installed on and not into the MBR. If GRUB gets installed to the MBR, then OSS will have to be repaired and you'll still have to install GRUB to the Linux partition.

I have Vista, 2 XP Pro's, Ubuntu Edgy, Kubuntu Edgy and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn on my computer. I currently use OSS to boot into them.

You can setup the partitions using DD prior to installing Linux if you want. I've done it this way with no problems. Since Linux doesn't see my RAID array correctly in all situations, I feel safer using DD to do the partition work than trusting gparted/qparted/etc.

[leoliver]

{QUOTE-> If you use Linux with GRUB you really don't need OSS. GRUB will usually install automatically to the MBR, recognize your XP partition and add it to the boot menu. Linux can be installed on another partition on the first drive or on a partition on any other drive. It's a lot more flexible than Windows in that area.

If you want to use OSS, make sure that GRUB gets installed to the partition that Linux is installed on and not into the MBR. If GRUB gets installed to the MBR, then OSS will have to be repaired and you'll still have to install GRUB to the Linux partition.

I have Vista, 2 XP Pro's, Ubuntu Edgy, Kubuntu Edgy and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn on my computer. I currently use OSS to boot into them.

You can setup the partitions using DD prior to installing Linux if you want. I've done it this way with no problems. Since Linux doesn't see my RAID array correctly in all situations, I feel safer using DD to do the partition work than trusting gparted/qparted/etc. <-QUOTE}

Thanks for your reply, you gave me a lot of good info.