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Thread: Dual boot with 2 HDDs

  1. #1
    Thermoelectroceramicist redddraggon's Avatar
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    Dual boot with 2 HDDs

    Currently got my OS installed on one HDD,

    I've got a spare 320GB hard drive lying around, so I thought I'd use it to dual boot with windows XP (32 or 64 bit)

    Is it possible to dual boot without having to play about unplugging stuff?

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    Yes it will work.

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    Senior Member Mithrandir's Avatar
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    I was thinking of doing the same using the following two OS

    Windows XP Home
    Suse 10.2

    Each on a partition and Im guessing onbootup it'll ask me which drive to boot from right?
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    SiM
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mithrandir View Post
    I was thinking of doing the same using the following two OS

    Windows XP Home
    Suse 10.2

    Each on a partition and Im guessing onbootup it'll ask me which drive to boot from right?
    Yes it will.

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    Thermoelectroceramicist redddraggon's Avatar
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    So I install XP on one HDD and Vista is on another totally seperate HDD.

    When It boots will it ask me which OS to boot?

    or will I have to play around with a boot manager to get it to work?

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    Quote Originally Posted by redddraggon View Post
    So I install XP on one HDD and Vista is on another totally seperate HDD.

    When It boots will it ask me which OS to boot?

    or will I have to play around with a boot manager to get it to work?
    You'd have to have the Linux on the first boot drive so it's boot manager could kick in and ask you which OS you wanted to pick.

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    Thermoelectroceramicist redddraggon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thoku View Post
    You'd have to have the Linux on the first boot drive so it's boot manager could kick in and ask you which OS you wanted to pick.
    Screw linux, I was thinking Vista and XP

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    Senior Member Mithrandir's Avatar
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    Sorry That was my bad!

    Sorry to hijack your thread.
    (Thanks for the answers though folks)
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    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by redddraggon View Post
    So I install XP on one HDD and Vista is on another totally seperate HDD.

    When It boots will it ask me which OS to boot?

    or will I have to play around with a boot manager to get it to work?
    you would have to use a boot manager - what else is going to ask you which OS to boot?

    vista includes a functional if slightly fragile boot manager called "BCD". there are a variety of tools to manage it.

    just remember that as far as your BIOS is concerned, it boots from the first disk in the system and leaves it at that - your bootloader will need to at least partially live there, which could potentially cause issues in the future if you remove a disk

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    TiG
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    Can i just recommend Easy BCD Edit, found it much easier to use this than the standard vista program.

    TiG

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    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
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    Both vista and xp automatically use their own boot loader unless you change it and use your own. They're perfectly functional and easy to edit.

    It's dead easy to set up - just leave your current disk in and install the second OS to the second disk, it'll do everything else for you.

    The point about the bootloader going on the first disk is an important one to remember though.

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    cat /dev/null streetster's Avatar
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    I've got dual boot between XP and vista, but XP is on my raid array, so if i want to boot vista (I havent done for a couple of months now...) I just change the boot priority in the bios

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    Quote Originally Posted by streetster View Post
    I've got dual boot between XP and vista, but XP is on my raid array, so if i want to boot vista (I havent done for a couple of months now...) I just change the boot priority in the bios
    I do that with Windows and Linux. When the machine starts it'll start Windows with no bootloader, but I can just press F8 during POST to bring up the quick-boot-select-menu-type-thing and select the other HD to boot Linux.
    $ cd /pub
    $ more beer

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    you should not have a problem whatsoever with what you need to be done.

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    I need a coffee jamena's Avatar
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    I had XP installed on one drive. Set that drive to slave, the new drive to master, installed linux (Ubuntu) on the new drive. It detected XP during the install and set up the boot manager to allow me 5 seconds to pick which OS (XP being on the slave drive). I've set XP up as the default from the linux bootloader, works fine. If I use the bios / F11 in my case I can set it either permanently or temporarily to boot from the slave (XP) drive. XP doesn't skip a beat and doesn't seem aware that there is another OS present typically.

    I'd imagine you can do similar with Vista and XP? That way the two OS and their respective bootloaders are on different drives too and won't interfere or overwrite one another? If you need to remove one drive the other will function without a hitch as they are functionally separated.

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    How do I install Windows XP on 2nd HDD?

    Hi all! This is my first post - please be patient with me.

    I have 2 HDDs - C drive has XP Home istalled and E drive I just save data to.

    How do I install XP on my E drive without wiping my data?
    I want to do this in case my C drive crashes etc.

    Any info would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Nickd
    Last edited by Nickd; 25-05-2007 at 08:41 AM. Reason: mistake

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