longgone Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Is there a software program out there (not part of an OS) that I can download that will enable me to select which hard drive I want to boot into that is not part of an OS, such as the boot menu that available with the Linux OS's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longgone Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 That is supposed to be Multi Hard Drive .... fingers were faster than brain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 (edited) A partition or hard drive with no OS on it will not be bootable. Please explain a bit further what you would like to do. I think I misread your question. You have a hard drive with several partition with OSes on them. You want something that allows you to boot without installing a program inside the OS. I've used this on a floppy http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/ when the computer I was using did not allow me to boot from the CD-ROM drive. I'll have to test to see if it can be put on a USB stick and work. Edited August 7, 2015 by zlim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longgone Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 What I am looking for, if it exists is some sort of program, software or otherwise that I can install that when I turn on the computer, it will boot up into that program and from there I can select which hard drive I ultimately boot into. Putting an OS on each one is not to difficult, since I would just unplug all except for the one I wanted to install the OS on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 (edited) Forget Smart Book Manager. I had to use RAWWRITE to install it on a floppy. I'm not sure I'd be able to write it to a USB stick. Grab this http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ install it on a USB stick and boot from the USB stick. If you look the apps it contains over, it has lots of Boot managers included. GAG, Plop, Smart Boot Manger, SuperGrub and Super Grub 2. I'd hesitate to install something that would mess up the MBR on a working hard drive. Better to boot from a stick. You can get one that is nano sized and simply keep it in the computer. I do have this on a USB stick. I only have one computer left with more than one hard drive. So I'll test it in that one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can't test it from a USB stick. That computer is so old that booting from a USB device is not an option. I can boot from either of the two hard drives, either of the 2 CD/DVD drives, a zip drive!, a floppy drive and a network drive. Let me check if I have it on a CD. I sometimes have two versions of a program. If I do, I can test it booting from a CD. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I had an old version of UBCD from 2006 on CD marked Basic; I suspect there was a Full featured version. Anyway, I booted from it and the menu choices were boot from first hard drive, boot from second hard drive along with other options. I selected boot from first hard drive by usinf the function keys in the front of each choice and it booted fine. Edited August 7, 2015 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longgone Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 I've got an old UBCD several years old I could look at and see what it has. It will be no problem to get the latest version of it. Thanks for the info/help. I shall give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Is something like this what you're looking for: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm I have used this software in the past and was always satisfied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Hiya, Dale!!! Your ears must be burning. I just mentioned somewhere around here the other day that you hadn't been around in a while. Good to see you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burninbush Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 What I am looking for, if it exists is some sort of program, software or otherwise that I can install that when I turn on the computer, it will boot up into that program and from there I can select which hard drive I ultimately boot into. Putting an OS on each one is not to difficult, since I would just unplug all except for the one I wanted to install the OS on. I'll just mention again the solution I discovered years ago, still use it today. In overview, make a usbstick that boots to a dos prompt, and on it place a copy of grub4dos, which is a grub-clone that will allow you to boot any other OS that can be found on your machine, either on a standalone drive or on a multi-boot drive. -- get a dos diskette 'image' file -- find it on the web or make your own from a dos boot diskette, msdos or freedos OK -- format your usbstick on a win7 [or xp] machine, vfat, and when asked if you want to include an image direct it to the diskette image just mentioned -- then test the usbstick to be sure it is really bootable in your machines; should come up to a C:\ prompt -- finally put a copy of grub4dos onto the usbstick - or just extract grub.exe and grldr from the zip file, those two are all that you need from the g4d zip file -- edit a copy of grub's menu.lst file to suit the systems you might want to boot; otherwise you'll have to run grub in command mode and enter the info manually each time Then you will leave the usbstick plugged in all the time, and have your bios set to boot first from usb. Even slicker is to put the same setup onto a tiny first partition on your hard disk(s) but that requires starting from a bare empty drive. Thereafter you can do anything you want with the rest of the drive, install any OS, rearrange partitions, etc -- as long as you don't allow a subsequent install to overwrite the mbr you will always be able to boot anything on the drive. Also works perfectly to boot XP or win7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longgone Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 @ ebrke ,,,, that appears to be just exactly what I want. I am going to guess that all those features that are listed in that article are on the disc or whatever medium they are using. Thank you I shall give that a serious look. @ Eric ,,, No burning ears, just the ongoing battle with the health issues. Those sometimes happen with advancing years, so far though I am kicking their booty right on down the road and over the hill. Should be around long enough to be a centurion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Dale, I don't know if it's still the case, but they used to give you a 30-day trial. If you didn't like the software and uninstalled it before 30 days were up, you didn't have to pay. I thought the price was very reasonable in the past, but didn't check to see what they're charging for this new version of the software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longgone Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 The cost is very reasonable, just $39.95 .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 @ Eric ,,, No burning ears, just the ongoing battle with the health issues. Those sometimes happen with advancing years, so far though I am kicking their booty right on down the road and over the hill. Should be around long enough to be a centurion. Keep on chuggin', Dale. Health issues can be a birch sometimes, but we find workarounds... just like in Linux. I figure as long as I keep reading other folks' obits and not my own, I'm still in the game. Enjoy every minute of it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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