You don't need to. Just plug and play. (Or set in bios which to load up first)
Boot your desktop first then plug the laptop drive in once the system is up.
I think removing the boot flag would be the quickest way to make the drive unbootable. Don't remember how to do that in Windows. It is super easy with G-Parted...
ok if i load 2 hard drives with operating systems its going to screw up both hard drives isnt it?
NOT TO SOUND RUDE....
but youre telling me to turn my computer on, THEN plug in a piece of hardware equipment?
do you really want me to fry 5 years worth of work? cmon man
to be honest i appreciate the help guys, but i need to make sure i get it running on my computer, i cant afford to test something out and ruin the equipment, can you provide any more resources for me to look at maybe a website or tutorial? i notice alot of people are sarcastic with information while i appreciate yours im not sure if youre trolling me or not.
These guys aren't trolling. Hook up the power to both your HDDs, boot your main computer, and you can connect the SATA cable to your computer after its booting. Additionally, having two boot-flag hard drives connected at the same time, does not do anything to the data on either.
That being said, I dont notice a single sarcastic post in this thread. Also, you're being silly getting unnecessarily rude with these guys when you couldn't be bothered to backup your "5 years worth of work." :|
In your own words, "cmon man."