XP & Vista HDD Swap

[Herradura]

Right now I am on a sata HDD with Vista. and next to me I have a formatted EIDE HDD with XP. My Question for testing purposes (3d mark scores) is it safe to just un plug my SATA and plugg EIDE just to run 3d mark? I have already done this swap once but I just want to make sure before doing multi tests. I have already formated XP with my MOBO drivers. What are the risks on my hardware if any?

 

[corkyg]

While SATA is hot pluggable, PATA (EIDE) is not. But, as long as you power down - make the switch, then power up - there is no problem at all. I've done this many times for years. (Switch hard drives with different OS's.)

Actually, my current Vista test bed has both HDDs connected and all I do is switch power connections.

 

[Navid]

You can leave both connected all the time and just change the boot device by pressing F12 or F8 or whatever depending on your motherboard during post and selecting the HD you want to boot.