Help! I lost my Ubuntu!

[Bill Stanley]

Cliffer Benny wrote:
> I reformatted my Windows HD and reinstalled Vista on it. My Ubuntu (10.10)
> is on a separate drive (external USB 2.0).
> Now when I start my computer, I can no longer choose which OS I want to use.
> Neither the GRUB screen, nor the other Windows selection screen come up. It
> just starts right into Winblows.
> Is it possible to recover from this?
> At the moment, I'm downloading the Wubi installer, hoping it will at least
> let me access the Ubuntu drive.
> 

The same thing happened to me when I reinstalled Windows.  The reason for this 
behavior is simple...

Microsoft likes to think that the only OS out there is Windows.  When you 
reinstall Windows, it overwrites the boot manager (Grub in this case) and 
installs a Windows only boot loader.  You lose the ability to multi boot.  The 
reinstall of Windows does not erase any of the Linux partitions.  You just have 
to reinstall Grub.  The Linux install disk can do this.  Unfortunately, I 
haven't had to do this in some time but one of the experts out there can tell 
you what to do.  I found it to be rather simple.  Don't worry, you have not lost 
anything on you non-Windows partitions.