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2 hd's, xp one one, vista on the other

M

MarcVenice

Moderator Emeritus <br>
So I've got a 120gb WD with XP pro on it, OEM, so no reinstalling it, it has to stay for several reasons. I've also got Vista, retail version. I've added a new Harddrive, 500gb samsung t166 spinpoint.

I want Vista on it and when I start the PC I would like to be able to pick between either OS. I've seen people say, unplug 1 HD, and leave the HD plugged in you want the new OS on. So unplug the WD 120gb HD, keep the Samsung plugged in, install Vista? What happens when I plug the WD back in?

On a sidenote, I have Vista and XP installed right now on the 120gb WD, 2 different partitions. I need to get rid of the second partition with Vista on it. How to uninstall Vista and 'merge' both partitions so I get one 120gb partition again?

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can offer,

Marc
 
I'd tell you to swap boot order in BIOS every time you want to switch OSes, but I don't think that will work unless the HDDs are on different controllers...

See here or here maybe?

Interesting question though...
 
Oh man I read the first one, but it doesn't really apply to my case. The second does sound like something I could use but it confused the hell out of me. I'd like some clear instructions/suggestions on what to do. I can reinstall Vista as many times as I want, but I don't wanna lose this XP installation since it's OEM.
 
It's actually pretty simple. This is your classic dual boot situation. You have XP running on the 120 already. Now, with the 500 GB drive installed and unformatted, boot from your Vista DVD. Follow the normal install steps, just make sure you point Vista to the 500 GB drive. When you're done, you'll have a menu to choose which OS you want to boot from.
 
I had XP 64 installed on an IDE drive, then installed Vista on a SATA drive. Mine dual boots with the Vista selection screen. Primary boot device is the IDE but Vista is highlighted anyway and will default to it.

Have you tried it to see what will happen, this has been my case on 3 different times
 
Okay, now I'm gonna see if I can just savely wipe the whole partition clean that Vista is currently installed on, which is on the 120gb HD.

Thanks, and yeah djnes, it actually is pretty simple when you think about it like that, I really wonder why I was thinking so hard about it.
 
I prefer a good hardware solution to dual boot. Install a mobile rack, and get two trays. Put one drive in each tray and then boot normally to whichever you choose. With a pair of mobile racks, you can select which drive by the key switches.
 
My p182 does have 2 racks. What exactly are you suggesting though ? Pull the power from the WD 120gb HD with XP on it, and plug in the Samsung 500gb and install Vista. And then keep plugging in and out all the time? Sounds like to much work to me. Those annoying IDE cables suck. No idea how different trays work. They need to be replugged all the time, right?
 
I think he means something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817122108

I have one of them in a tower at work, with 4 total cages. I can have any one of four OSes running on that computer for testing. I have each cage labeled with the OS, so I can put on Vista, XP, Server 2003, or Ubuntu anytime I want.

I'm also getting one for home, so I can run XP x64 to get some of my older games running, that don't work in Vista.
 
Oh wait, I think I got it. You leave the rack in place, you hook the power and the connectors up to it, and you can slide in a HD and it will connect right away, no fiddling with cables. Then you can remove the HD again and plug in another one, right? Hmz, not a bad solution BUT, I've got 1 IDE and 1 SATA harddrive 😛 With 2 of them you can power on or power of 1 of them to select which one you want to boot of? That's what he ment, right?

I'll be software dualbooting, but I like the overall idea. Going to keep it in mind for the future.
 
Close. Most people keep one rack in place, and then just slide in the cage holding the OS they want to boot from. You could keep the IDE drive installed in your case as a storage drive, and use the Vantec rack to hold one of your two SATA drives, that would hold each OS. Just be sure to disconnect the IDE drive while you install each OS, so that your sstem drive will be C. Then, if you are wanting to switch OSes, you just power down, replace the cage and power back on again.
 
No need to disconnect the IDE drive or so it seems. On vista right now, and the system drive is C anways. Heres a thing though, don't just format the partition Vista is on. It's gone allright, but when booting I can pick between 3 OS's, 1 XP, 1 Vista, 1 Vista 😛

Looks messy but it works nonetheless. Perhaps find a way to get rid of the useless one but that's it. Now it's Vista Tweaking time. Most important is how to get clickable bookmarks in a toolbar like I am used to in FireFox.

And once again, thx for the help 🙂
 
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