Vista and XP two different HD

[powerup]

I just built a Vista 64 system and still need XP for some things. I want to have two different drives for this. How do I set it up so that I can run XP or Vista? Do I have to change the boot order in the bios when I want a different OS? Will I be able to choose which HD XP will go on when I load it? Can this set up cause problems with the bios? Can I just plug one in and unplug the other as needed?

 

[postmortemIA]

you can do it with single hard drive
easy way is to install xp on first drive, and then install vista to wherever you want - then you don't have to switch boot order.

 

[powerup]

I have already instaled Vista and it doing great. If I unplug the Vista drive, can I plug in old drive and re install XP. Then when I want shut down and un plug XP and re plug Vista. Will this caise conflicts or will it be just like running two different computers in same box?

 

[postmortemIA]

no conflict, just a hassle. are you gonna open computer every time you want to use different OS? this is not how it is done, vista has capability to let you select between operating systems ; so does XP too, just order of installation matters.

 

[boomerang]

Type "Vista and XP" in Google and the first hit is how to dual boot with Vista installed first. There are quite a few tutorials out there. Just pick the one you feel most comfortable with.

You can do it with a single drive, multiple drives, Vista first, XP first whatever. It is easiest to set up with the oldest operating system installed first. In this case XP before Vista. But there is no need to wipe your Vista install out now to accomplish what you want to do.

I installed Vista before XP, I have them on the same drive and am presented with an option to boot either OS when starting the computer. Google EasyBCD.

 

[corkyg]

Get a mobile rack and two inner trays - or two racks. Put the Vista HDD in one and XP in the other - or whatever - yeah, even Linux. Then it is a simple key switch selection and you need not open your computer except to install the racks.

That's how I have this one configured:

Racks

 

[cboath]

Originally posted by: boomerang
Type "Vista and XP" in Google and the first hit is how to dual boot with Vista installed first. There are quite a few tutorials out there. Just pick the one you feel most comfortable with.

You can do it with a single drive, multiple drives, Vista first, XP first whatever. It is easiest to set up with the oldest operating system installed first. In this case XP before Vista. But there is no need to wipe your Vista install out now to accomplish what you want to do.

I installed Vista before XP, I have them on the same drive and am presented with an option to boot either OS when starting the computer. Google EasyBCD.

FWIW, i've done that and when do XP second, it knocks out one or two boot system files for Vista. You can easily re-add those files and then get something to visually edit the windows boot manager and you'll be good to go. No big deal.

 

[iniazi]

I know you were talking about two seperate drives, but when I built my new computer, I installed xp first, and then on the same drive, installed Vista on a new partition. The main requirements I had was that whatever windows i'm booted into, its Windows directory show up as "C:" drive. Which is what I get. I've mounted the non-running c: drive as z: or whatever in case I need files from it, I think. If this sounds like what you were trying to do, that is an option. You can copy your original xp partition onto the new drive (which is incidentally also what I did; had xp on a different drive, bought a new drive, copied the partition over, and then installed vista which got me dual boot etc.)