2nd HDD install

[Prometheus]

Ok guys, i dont know exactly what to do here, so ill ask. I got a hdd from a friend of my dads, and when it was in his computer it registered as a single 23 gig drive. I stuck it in my system just now, and it registers and one 23 gig drive and 1 7 gig drive... evidently it was partitioned, cause the 7 gig portion has NT on it and the 23 gig has nothin. When i go to install Fedora on it will it leave the partitions alone or will it screw em up? I dont really care, ill just install fedora on the 23 gig section and use the 7 gig as file transfer (my windows hdd is NTFS) if Fedora will leave it alone. I dont really feel comfortable having Fedora on the same hdd as windows. It kinda scares me, so i wanna move it.

Also, should the jumpers on the second hdd be set to slave? It cant be set to primary i dont think or windows will go nuts, but i dont know. This is bizarre. Anyway, will fedora leave the partitions or erase them, and what should i have the jumpers set on for the second hdd. Thanks in advance,

Prometheus

[gonzalo76]

I dont really feel comfortable having Fedora on the same hdd as windows. It kinda scares me, so i wanna move it.

Well, there's no problem having all your OS in the same disk, for example, I have Windows 98, Windows XP, Fedora Core 1 and Mandrake 9.2 in the same disk. I use the boot loader GRUB installed in the MBR (Master Boot Record) to boot any of this OS, and everything is OK.
Then, on the second disk a have all my music, videos, documents...

Also, should the jumpers on the second hdd be set to slave? It cant be set to primary i dont think or windows will go nuts, but i dont know. This is bizarre. Anyway, will fedora leave the partitions or erase them, and what should i have the jumpers set on for the second hdd.

The jumpers must be set to the correct place, if not, you'll not be able to boot. The first disk will be master and the second will be slave. I would recommend you to visit the webpage of your disk manufacturer and check the correct jumper options.
Forget about Fedora, I mean, you are the only one who can delete or create partitions. That's why you should choose "Manual Partition with DiskDruid", you have the command, not Fedora :)
Anyway, if you choose Automatic Partition, you'll have 3 or 4 options, I really don't remember, but they will be, "Remove all partitions on this system", "Keep all partitions and use existing free space" "Install Fedora in the free space of Windows partition", "Remove all linux partitions on this system"...

:( I'm really sorry but I don't know if you can have for example Windows XP in HDD 1 (hda1) and Fedora Core in HDD 2 (hdb1) . I really don't know if GRUB will admit this. I'll check GRUB's manual.

[Prometheus]

i never installed Fedora on my primary disc in this system, it was in a different one. I just dont want to put both on the same disc if i dont have to. But if i put FEdora on the second disc drive, it should be set to slave correct? I just dont wanna mess up.

[dholwerda]

yep - set it to slave. you will know straight away if it is wrong as your computer won't boot.

and there are really no problems at all with running 2 OS's on the same drive. they do get confined to the partitions taht you set, install Fedora into the 23gig free space.

[Prometheus]

thats what ill do then, thanks guys. I just feel better knowing theyre on 2 different drives.