want to use a different hard drive to install vista

[Ksyder]

I've got an athlon 64/nforce 6150 based rig and have XP on it... I'd like to install vista on a second hard drive in order to "test the waters." I have no interest in partitioning my existing hard drive as my XP build is crucial for my business and I can't risk breaking anything with regards to it. However, I'd like to run Vista to try it out and I feel that the most conservative option would be to install it on a second drive.

My board has 4 sata and 2 ide. I think either is available for hooking up another drive. Can I set it up so that I can choose which drive to boot to from the bios? Its a foxconn board by the way. I forget what bios vendor it has but if thats pertinent I'll reboot and let you know.

thanks in advance.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: Ksyder
... I'd like to install vista on a second hard drive in order to "test the waters."

,,, my XP build is crucial for my business and I can't risk breaking anything with regards to it.

Those two statements are mutually exclusive. And the method you propose (installing Vista on a second drive) won't do what you want ..."I can't risk breaking anything"

When you install any MS OS it modifies the boot sector of the boot drive, so when you install Vista (even to a second HDD) it will change your XP install. Vista and XP will boot from the same drive, no matter where you put Vista's files (ie. no matter where you install Vista).

You can physically separate the drives. Just pull the XP drive out, put in the new drive and install Vista to the new drive. But, to keep the OSs separate, you'll need to have only the drive installed that has the OS you want to use. Every time you want to change OSs, you'll have to swap out the drives.
...Why?
Because if Vista can 'see" the other drive (ie. read/write to it) it can corrupt it.
Then there's also "operator error" to consider! Things like with two drives and two OSs, the will be two My Documents folders, two Pogram Files folders, etc. Are you (or anyone else that uses the computer) going to be able to keep straight which folder goes with which OS?

Save yourself a lot of risk. Get another computer on which to play with Vista. Got an old P4 machine laying around (or know anyone who does)? You may have to up the memory to 1 or 2 gigs and install that new HDD in it. But think of the alternative...

Looking a a black screen with small, white letters saying
"OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND"
...just as your best customer rings the phone!

On a side note, You'll like Vista!

 

[Ksyder]

sounds good. I'm sure I can live with switching between 2 drives temporarily before I go ahead and fully upgrade my machine. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Eric998765]

i suggest going to ebst buy and buying a computer thats on sale. they all have dual core processors or better, and they all have some form of vista on them, and best buy typically has a cheap 400-500 dollar pc on sale each week, and thats with monitor mouse and keyboard etc. so you might as well buy one of thsoe, test out vista (which i agree with the first repliers statement, you'll like it. i'm huge on windows, been using it since 98, and as much as people complain about vista, i personally have only had trouble running a few very old games (and its because i have 64 bit version), but i can usually find a way to work it out and get them to play.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: Eric998765
i suggest going to ebst buy and buying a computer thats on sale. they all have dual core processors or better, and they all have some form of vista on them, and best buy typically has a cheap 400-500 dollar pc on sale each week, and thats with monitor mouse and keyboard etc. so you might as well buy one of thsoe, test out vista (which i agree with the first repliers statement, you'll like it. i'm huge on windows, been using it since 98, and as much as people complain about vista, i personally have only had trouble running a few very old games (and its because i have 64 bit version), but i can usually find a way to work it out and get them to play.

QFT... too many people bitch about vista. I've been loving home premium 64... and I definitely prefer it to XP. Vista has had a bit of time to mature... and it's definitely not a bad OS by any means (nowhere near windows ME... hehe...ehe..ehehehe).

 

[Ksyder]

Originally posted by: Eric998765
i suggest going to ebst buy and buying a computer thats on sale. they all have dual core

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think I'll be buying a pc from best buy just to try out vista. I ran vista in the past and its fine. The main reason by the way is because when I do tech service calls alot of people have vista and it is embarrassing when I don't know it inside and out.

I do agree with the statement about the sale prices with dual core, etc. The specs you get for the money today are amazing. My tech dollars, however, will be going towards a new motherboard/cpu/video card etc. I don't want any cut rate parts in my system and that is what you will get when you buy a $400 compaq.