Duel boot from added HD?

[Doordie]

Can I add a second HD and edit the boot file to include this second drive? I Have win XP on my primary HD which is partitioned into one primary and 4 logical drives. I would like to add a second HD and be able to boot too it. I have my old drive with ME on it because my girlfriend likes ME and I also have some training course programs on the ME HD I would like to use. I no longer have the instillation CDs so I can?t install them on XP. This old drive has a primary and 3 logical drives. I can use partition magic on the old drive if it is necessary as long as I don?t wreck the OS. My question is can you boot to a second OS on a second HD. I can see the second HD from my computer in XP. The ME OS is on H drive. Is it possible to boot to a second OS buy editing the boot record if the second OS is on H drive? I would love to be able to boot to my choice of OS so my girlfriend can mess around w/ME and not my XP. I?m sure some of you out there know what I mean. Well this is a copy of my boot record. Anyone have a clue how to do this of if it?s wise?

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

I would also like to know how to edit the boot record if the OS will not boot. I am doing it the easy way from the properties of my computer in XP, but that won?t help me if I screw up the record and can?t boot after I attempt any kind of edit.

 

[Doordie]

I just got an idea! Can I reinstall XP while both drives are connected without destroying my XP programs? Will the instillation detect the ME OS on the second drive and setup the duel boot? :Q

 

[Savillian]

You should be able to just put the other hard drive in and it will hsow up, but in order to dual boot you will have to install your other OS first, then XP, or use a other Boot Loader such as BootMagic.

 

[KillerCow]

Most modern BIOSes let you choose boot devices during POST. I don't do this so I dont remember the correct key. I think that if you hit ESCape while the machine is posting, you get a menu that lists all of your bootable devices.

 

[Doordie]

I tried boot magic. No luck again! The program sees both operating systems on the proper drives, but for some reason it has them both listed as NT/2000/XP. When I try to boot to the OS on disk 2 which is ME it starts up as XP then crashes. I think ME needs to be the first drive or it just wont boot. I guess I could switch drive positions again so ME is first but I think that is going to mess up XP because all the drive letters will change. I would love to get any more suggestions you techs can come up with.

Thanks again!

 

[jmorrell]

How about a hardware solution? There is a system that allows you to choose which hard drive to boot from through the use of a switch. Go here for more info:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/01q3/010727/index.html

 

[Savillian]

Yeah ME generally needs to be installed as the first OS then Xp has to be installed on a different drive. You could try and set ME up so that it installs on the D: drive by changing the specifications in Setup. This might help but you will have to format all your hard drives. Try also going into the BootMagic setup and see what it is attempting to start. If it's not ME then play around with it a little!

 

[Doordie]

I tried everything in Boot Magic. That was a damn good idea. I was so close. I had the old ME drive duel booting w/2000 awhile back. I think that might have changed the boot record on ME and fooled Boot Magic. I still don?t get why it tries to boot XP from a ME drive. I never learned crap about boot records and now it?s coming back to haunt me.

I?m still thinking of possible solutions, but I my need to go with the hardware setup. Thanks for that input jmorrell!