How to boot from slave?

Thanks! I looked for tags for OS and OpenSolaris but found none. Isn't switching boot drives something I would configure in the "options" screen after pressing "F12" setup after the Dell splash screen? Since I would be actually booting from the disk, I just need the system to recognize the slave, or auxilliary drive as the 1st option, and I haven't been able to set that in the options screen. I feel fairly confident that I can navigate the installation once I know that is indeed going to the correct drive.

The boot.ini file points to available operating systems, so you need to know how to edit and configure the boot.ini file. I can't tell you more since I have very limited experience with this, but take a look at this page for more information.

Thanks, but I don't boot into windows xp (although it is on the drive). Upon power up, I go from the splash screen to the GRUB on Drive #! which lets me pick which OS I want (either Windows XP, Ubuntu or Kubuntu). My issue is that I can access the 2nd drive (which is where I have Solaris) on power up. I have tried changing some options in the F2 and F12 menus in the BIOS screen, for whatever reason, I'm not seeing where booting from drive #2 is an option. Any ideas? Thanks for your help!

Don

I'm sorry, there were 2 errors in that post: it should read "Drive #1", and more importantly, "My issue is that I cannot access the 2nd drive..." Which was pretty much the issue! Please help!

Dell BIOS is a bit limited in what it will search for boot code.  Your computer has the ability to use either IDE/ATA drives or SATA drives.  If you have IDE/ATA drives you are using a wide ribbon cable having three connectors, one for the main board drive controller, one in the middle for the slave, and one for the master drive.  The BIOS will only look on the master drive for the initial boot code, which is why Osprey is pointing you toward the boot.ini file.  If you have SATA drives you have pretty much the same problem; the initial boot code must be on SATA 0, the first port on the controller.  To reach the OS on the slave drive your GRUB will need to be set up to load the necessary boot code from the slave drive.

There is one trick that you can use to boot from an IDE slave drive, and that is to go to system setup when you start the computer and set Drive 0 to off.  In that case the slave will be treated as the master and should allow you to boot from it.  I don't know if the same trick will work with SATA drives.

EDIT:  There is at least one exception to what I've written with regard to SATA drives; the BIOS can be set to boot from the RAID regardless of where they are attached.  My own system has the DVD/CD drive on port 0, nothing on port 1, and a RAID of two drives which are connected to ports 2 and 3.

You are very welcome, though I'm a bit uncomfortable with being compared to a deity.  There are quite a few here with more experience and knowledge than I.  I am very happy that in this case I knew something that would assist with your problem.

I wish you the best of luck.

Jack