Booting multiple BSDs.

[David Christensen]

On 2020-11-13 17:58, Weaver wrote:
> On 14-11-2020 10:48, David Christensen wrote:
>> On 2020-11-12 21:42, Weaver wrote:
>>> What's the best way of going about this?
>>> I've search engined around and all I can find most of the time is
>>> multi-booting with Windows, which I ,left behind when XP came out, or
>>> rambling non-specifics and vague references.
>>> Is installing gptboot the go, then hitting a key to gain interactive
>>> mode, then choosing a partition to boot from, or is there something a
>>> little more automated available?
>>> Thanks for any time and trouble entered into.
>>>
>>> Harry Weaver
>>
>> In workstations/ servers, I install 2.5" SATA trayless racks and have
>> a stack of SSD's with one OS each.  The only hassle is remembering to
>> reset the CMOS clock before and after running a Windows SSD.
>>
>>
>> In laptops with one drive, I install VirtualBox and have one VM for each OS.
> 
> This will be in a small tower with 4 different drives, each with a
> different OS on each one.
> I am just wondering if there's a bootable partition on each one, is
> there a boot-manager that will pick up each one and give me a choice as
> to which one to boot?


I am confident that there are several boot managers, likely one for each 
of those four OS's, that can find multiple bootable OS drives/ slices/ 
partitions and allow you to boot the OS of your choice.  But, my 
experience is that keeping them all running is an exercise in "infinite 
bug propagation"


I can afford US $45 mobile racks and US $20 SSD's.  My time and mental 
bandwidth are more valuable.


I would remove three of those drives and run one OS at a time.


David