From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   Daniel47@teranews.com wrote:   
   > Adam wrote:   
   >> Remember, the MBR can only hold the boot sector for   
   >> one OS (whichever one you want).  For all the others, you'll need to   
   >> install their boot sector on their root partitions, and make sure they   
   >> have entries in the bootloader (e.g. GRUB) of whichever OS the MBR   
   >> points to.   
   >   
   > Would you believe, as I was doing the MD2009 "update", for the first   
   > time ever, on one of the screens I did notice that I'm asked where I   
   > want to install the bootloader, which defaults to /dev/sda.   
      
   That option seems to be part of every distro's install process, although   
   it's not always obvious.  Well, maybe not /every/ distro, but it ought   
   to be!   
      
   > So all boot-loaders have gone to /dev/sda!   
      
   Yep, since you didn't specify any other location.  Of course all except   
   the most recent one installed (IIRC you said Mdv 2009) were overwritten   
   later.  For (I think) any version of Mandriva that you can get running,   
   MCC -> Boot -> Set Up Boot System will let you specify where to write   
   the boot sector to, and what entries to put in the corresponding GRUB   
   menu.  For whichever distro's bootloader is occupying the MBR, you'd   
   want to have its GRUB menu have entries for each OS on your computer.   
   Most of the time, MCC can recognize other distros and OSs and   
   automatically add them to the GRUB menu.   
      
   > Yes, everything on one HD:-   
      
   Okay, that means that your HD is likely /not/ the problem.  My guess   
   (although I'm not an expert) is that there's no hardware problems at   
   all, just overwritten boot sectors.   
      
   > sda1 = Windows 7 C:\ (60GB)   
   > sda2 = D:\ (30GB)   
   > sda3 = E:\ (20GB)   
   > sda4 = Extended partition, which includes   
   > sda5 = Swap (4GB)   
   > sda6 = \MD2009 (10GB)   
   > sda7 = \Alt MD2010 (10GB)   
   > sda8 = \Home (360GB)   
   > sda9 = \MG2 (10GB)   
   > sda10 = \MD2011 (10GB)   
      
   Is 10 GB enough for each Linux installation for you?   
      
   > So, o.k., the next time I have to install any distro (tomorrow, maybe),   
   > I should make note to install its boot sector in its own partition.   
      
   Yes, although one distro (your choice which) should have its boot sector   
   in the MBR, because SOMEthing needs to be there or your computer won't   
   boot at all.  Nothing wrong with leaving Mdv 2009 there and having its   
   GRUB menu have entries for the other distros (and Windows) if that's   
   what you want.   
      
   Some folks (including me) like to use a third-party boot manager (I use   
   GAG) to take over the MBR, but that's certainly not a requirement.   
      
   Adam   
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