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Dual booting with two HDDs

C

cheesetoast

Junior Member
I would like to know if it is possible to dual boot windows 7 and windows xp x64 from two separate hard drives. if it is possible are there any specific steps to be taken !!
 
Easily done with mobile racks. I have done it for years. You decide which drive to boot from by turning one off and the other on.
EZ-Swap3.jpg


The tabs marked 1 and 2 cover key switches. I actually have three of these for a hardware triple boot. Win 7, Vista, and XP.
 
corkyg said:
Easily done with mobile racks. I have done it for years. You decide which drive to boot from by turning one off and the other on.
EZ-Swap3.jpg


The tabs marked 1 and 2 cover key switches. I actually have three of these for a hardware triple boot. Win 7, Vista, and XP.
Click to expand...

yeap.
Though I have to laugh, how many times have you used that image here now Corky?
 
Many times - that's because related questions keep getting asked. 🙂
 
corkyg's idea works as a low tech choice also. Disconnect one drive, install the O/S(doesn't matter which), then unplug that drive and install the other O/S. Plug them both up, and use BIOS boot order to select which O/S you want to boot. Keep the default drive on the O/S you use most. That way you don't have to do anything special to boot to it.
 
Could also try EasyBCD if you want to use the actual bootloader. As others have mentioned, it's probably best to unplug the opposite drive during each OS install.
 
greyeyezz said:
Yes I'm triple booting across 2 drives.
Click to expand...

Very good! Personally, I always prefer hardware to software solutions, but you seem to have it worked out. What I would like resurrected (Newegg once had them) would be simple power switches on a 5.25-in case panel that would allow an easy power on/off selection of internal HDDs. The data lines would remain connected.

Anyway . . . good job!
 
I install each OS seperatly on each hard drive then use BIOS, once I reconnect all or both, to choose which I want to use. However, BSD is a good choice.
 
lxskllr said:
corkyg's idea works as a low tech choice also. Disconnect one drive, install the O/S(doesn't matter which), then unplug that drive and install the other O/S. Plug them both up, and use BIOS boot order to select which O/S you want to boot. Keep the default drive on the O/S you use most. That way you don't have to do anything special to boot to it.
Click to expand...

This is the technique I use. Just hit F8 on the BIOS screen whenever I want to boot from the other drive. No additional hardware or software needed.
 
greyeyezz said:
Windows will add its own boot loader for your OS's. You don't need to hit f8 or use the bios.
Click to expand...

The advantage of using F8/BIOS is that the two drives are truly independent. You can reformat one drive and install a new OS without affecting the other.
 
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