Hello. I need to install Windows 2000 SP4 on a second IDE HDD (hdb).
Debian (Kernel v2.6.8) and its Grub is already installed on the first
HDD (hda). I read that Windows will overwrite the MBR. I was told that
I need to make a boot disk so I can restore MBR after Windows
installation. How do I make a boot disk and be able to restore Grub on
MBR. I hope I am saying this right since it is a bit technical for me.


mkboot and lilo didn't work for me:
# mkboot

Insert a floppy diskette into your boot drive, and press <Return>.

Creating a lilo bootdisk...
Kernel is at /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-1-k7 in /boot
Matching initrd image is /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-1-k7
usr/sbin/mkboot: line 93: /etc/lilo.conf: No such file or directory
Could not find the requested kernel in your
current /etc/lilo.conf .
The mkboot script can probably do better.

Here is the proposed lilo.conf:

# floppy lilo.conf
boot = /dev/fd0
install = boot.b
map = map
root = /dev/hda1

You can install the boot-loader from this best guess,
or you can try to install from a `vanilla' lilo.conf .

Which do you choose? (Enter B for best, V for vanilla): B
Installing the best-guess lilo.conf...
/usr/sbin/mkboot: line 261: lilo: command not found

I was worried so I rebooted the box to see if it even works. Nope, I got
"DISK BOOT FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER."

I can confirm that same boot disk failed in VMware v4.5.1's Windows 2000
SP4 guest image on a Windows XP Pro SP2 host machine.


Here's my current disk setup:
a...@ANTian-AXP ~ =) $ more /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

#

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>

proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
/dev/hda1       /               ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0       1
/dev/hda8       /home           ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hda7       /tmp            ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hda5       /usr            ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hda6       /var            ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hda9       none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/hdb1       /stuff          ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hdb5       /storage        ext3    defaults        0       2
/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   iso9660 ro,user,noauto  0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto  0       0


a...@ANTian-AXP ~ =) $ df

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1               135468     93213     35028  73% /
tmpfs                   518288         0    518288   0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda8             20121812   2726656  16373024  15% /home
/dev/hda7               369000      8244    341096   3% /tmp
/dev/hda5              4807056   1871480   2691392  42% /usr
/dev/hda6              2885780    475916   2263276  18% /var
/dev/hdb1               861728     16432    801524   3% /stuff
/dev/hdb5              5336664    558388   4507184  12% /storage

ANTian-AXP:/home/ant# /sbin/fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 3647.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 30.0 GB, 30003240960 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3647 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1          18      144553+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2              19        3647    29149942+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5              19         626     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda6             627         991     2931831   83  Linux
/dev/hda7             992        1040      393561   83  Linux
/dev/hda8            1041        3585    20442681   83  Linux
/dev/hda9            3586        3647      497983+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

ANTian-AXP:/home/ant# /sbin/fdisk /dev/hdb

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hdb: 6448 MB, 6448619520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 784 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1               1         109      875511   83  Linux
/dev/hdb2             110         784     5421937+   5  Extended
/dev/hdb5             110         784     5421906   83  Linux


Please note that I am not a Linux/UNIX expert. Debian's Sarge installer
set up these partitions for me back in October 2004 since I had no ideas
how to configure my partitions. I am still learning my ways in it. Thank
you in advance. 
--
"An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox." --Mexican Proverb
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