I'm a bit behind on my replies as I have been spending my time trying
to install Debian & Ubuntu on the Secondary HDD. Master HDD is fine,
now has XP.

From your reply it appears that you've had actual hands on experience.
It has been suggested that Debian be installed first.

When it comes to Debian partitioning the HDD can be done auto or
manual. Haven't come accross "expert" but manual. It nicely uses Grub
as boot loader & where to install it. Ubuntu EMC the distro CD isn't
as forgiving. When you prepare to install it Ubuntu formats the entire
HDD. Haven't been able to get it right. Haven't been able to locate
the grub on the Distro either.

The Debian CD installs nicely as well as the Ubuntu by itself. It
appears to be a matter concerning the paartitions, correct labeling,
new, edit, resizing, etc. Would like to have both on the same HDD to
compliment each other and just to see if it can be done and how?? and
being able to choose which OS to use?
>
> I have had really bad experiences with the boot loader Lilo. If I
> find a distro that won't use Grub, I abort the install. Grub tends
to be fairly friendly and easy to work with once you find out that
they use a hd naming convention that is one lower than the convention
Linux uses. Sometimes installers write the Linux hd numbers to the
grub files. If this happens, use a live disk. Go to /boot/grub and
edit the files as root.
>
> As to the Debian/Ubuntu issue. There may be some small
differences based on the version of Debian you choose. If you install
a testing version, sooner than later the differences will be rolled
into the stable version. Installing KDE vs Gnome will produce a
larger differences in user experience than installing Debian/Ubuntu.
>
> You are correct about installing Windows on the first bootable hd
> and installing it first. Linux distros intall just about anywhere
and in any order. They will overwrite the MBR to allow you to see all
the installed OSs and choose which one you wish to boot.

I won't go into some of the glitches that can come up. Mayb just me.
The Master HDD installed using the NTFS files. I wasn't able to
partition that for FAT32 & NTFS. Would have liked to.