Grub1

The old school basics:

http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/grub/grub.htm

The Full Monty:

http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/grub/grubpartition.htm

Which boils down to:

mkdir /mnt/buildgrub
mount /dev/<yourgrubtarget> /mnt/buildgrub
mkdir -p /mnt/buildgrub/boot/grub
cp -p /lib/grub/<folder with all *-stage files>/* /mnt/buildgrub/boot/grub

NOTE

I used Mint 7 Live last time, but Mint hasn't got a /lib/grub folder; 
For this standard, live occurrence of Mint it's in /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/
Use sudo find / -name e2fs_stage1_5 to find where your distro is hiding the grub files.

Then make your menu.lst from the OS' /boot files (initrd-<version number>, vmlinuz-<version number>) and:

# grub
grub> root (<grub target in Grub Speak>) - for me /dev/sda2, where I set up my mini boot partition is (hd0,1)
grub> setup (<drive to write the mbr to>) - for me, /dev/sda is (hd0) then.
grub> quit
# reboot

Grub Speak is always one below: /dev/sda3 will be (hd0,2) and /dev/sdc1 = (hd2,0)

And that works with a Live CD :)

My current Special-boot-partition on /dev/sda2' menu.lst file:

## default num
default         0

## timeout sec
timeout         5


title           Slackware 13/64 (Huge 2.6.29.6) (on /dev/sda5=hd0,4)
root            (hd0,4)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=791 video=vesafb 
boot

title           Debian RT NOISER GNU/Linux, (2.6.31-9-rt) (on /dev/sda3=hd0,2)
root            (hd0,2)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-9-rt root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=791 video=vesafb
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-9-rt

That's it, nothing else: My Slackware Desktop Workstation, and my RealTime Audio Workstation.

Enjoy the power of simplicity: GrubLegacy rules!