can i have two physically separate OS drives in one machine? 8.1 and XP

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
so i have my machine with 8.1 already set up just as i like it on a 120G SSD. it's perfect, i love it, don't want to change it.

but i want to add WinXP for some older stuff and as my "sandbox". my chassis layout would work perfectly if i could put XP onto another separate 120G SSD, and then use a third plain HDD for bulk shared data storage.

so, um, can i unplug the 8.1 SSD, install XP onto the other SSD, then plug them BOTH IN AT THE SAME TIME and use the bios F12 boot selector to pick which OS i use each time? would there be any chance of "fighting" between the two SSDs or OSes once i am booted into 8.1 or XP?

------- OR -------

can i somehow set up the XP SSD and make its bootloader be the primary all the time, which would give me the selection table and would either keep control or pass it over to the 8.1 SSD if i make that selection? this way bios would always boot into the XP SSD, and that boot loader would then redirect...
 
Solution
USAFRet
Either 2 partitions, or 2 different drives.

The older OS needs to be installed first, if you wish some sort of dualboot menu.
If two different drives and you are choosing which one from the BIOS (F12) doesn't matter which one is installed first. Just do it with only that drive connected.

And you don't have to be going to shady sites with that XP. Just existing may be enough.

Have you considered running it in a VM, instead of on the native hardware? What are you using XP for?
Sort by date Sort by votes
Hawkshot

Hawkshot

Admirable
Aug 19, 2014
1,772
0
6,460


yes you can have 2 OS installed on 2 different Drives and just pick in the BIOS which one it boots too, you could even have windows on one and Ubuntu on another I know a lot of people that do it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,751
18,126
184,590
You can do it.

However.

1. Don't try to make the XP bootloader the 'primary'. The typical way to install two windows OS's is the older one first, then the newer. The newer bootloader takes over.
XP will not know how to handle the 8.1 boot process
Just have the drives in the proper order in the BIOS, and F12 if you want the other one.

2. XP doesn't really know what to do with an SSD. TRIM, for instance. It will work, but not optimally.

3. I hope you're not planning on having XP connected to the outside world. That is a virus trap waiting to happen.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
giantbucket

giantbucket

Dignified
BANNED
Nov 17, 2013
3,881
1
15,960
what about a 3rd alternative - grab a large enough plain HDD that can hold both OSes, install WinXP on it, and then somehow "install" a system image of my current 8.1 setup? i know i can install a system image onto a new drive with nothing else on it, and i can do a clean install for dual boot, but how to i install an already-set-up system?

or do i simply move the image to a new drive, install XP after, and then fix the boot loader using 8.1's tools?


// obviously, my intention is to then use XP to connect to every porn site on the web and blindly click on every ad and popup that i can see. i mean, that's just common sense, innit?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,751
18,126
184,590
Either 2 partitions, or 2 different drives.

The older OS needs to be installed first, if you wish some sort of dualboot menu.
If two different drives and you are choosing which one from the BIOS (F12) doesn't matter which one is installed first. Just do it with only that drive connected.

And you don't have to be going to shady sites with that XP. Just existing may be enough.

Have you considered running it in a VM, instead of on the native hardware? What are you using XP for?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom