Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > How do I install win xp and vista on 2 seperate hard drives?

How do I install win xp and vista on 2 seperate hard drives?

Forum Storage : Hard Disks - How do I install win xp and vista on 2 seperate hard drives?

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soldier37   07-02-2007 at 06:37:43 PM

I have 2 WD 150gb Raptors and have win xp home on one for my main OS. The other is just spare for misc files. I had raid setup before but wish to now to keep Xp on one and I want to install vista on the spare drive. Once I do this how do I change between the 2? Do I need software like partition magic to do it. Or is there a setting in the bios that I can install the 2 and have the option to load either one at start up? Thanks for any help.

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mike99   07-02-2007 at 06:59:35 PM
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Dead easy! Just boot from Vista DVD and tell it to install to the second drive. When it is finished, it will set up BOOT.INI file on first drive which will give a Boot Menu, probably with VISTA as the default.(This can be edited as required).
PS Dont format ANY drives, and backup data as a precaution.

Mike.

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pulmonate   07-02-2007 at 07:02:52 PM
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Vista has a pretty good partition manager. You can install either OS first, but I would suggest XP first, it will save you a step.

After you install XP, then install Vista, and it will give you a choice of which harddrive to install your OS on, simply choose the other OS.

Then you will need to interact with Vistas boot manager to complete the process. It is by default a commandline tool that is somewhat cumbersome. Someone wrote a GUI tool to interact with it called EasyBCD, I would suggest downloading this tool:

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

There are also detailed tutorial sites that I have found on the Internet, just look up "dual boot vista". This method would even work with Linux.

If you happened to install Vista first, then XP, you will simply need to put the Vista install disk back in, and do a repair install. It will properly find your previous Vista install, make it king, then use the EasyBCD to add XP and any other OS to your boot profile.

Good Luck

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JackNaylorPE   07-02-2007 at 07:32:47 PM
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MS lets you kinda do it by installing both OS's sequentially but leaves one major fault. If ya 1st HD gets fried, both are dead. The reason is that critical file(s) get stored on the 1st drive. Boot.ini for example is the one that provides the menu for you to choose from (XP or Vista) when you boot.

There are several solutions:

1. Hardware Based - The Romtec TriOS fir example is a device that holds three Hard drives....ya put 1st OS on 1st, 2nd OIS an 2nd and shred data on 3rd. Ya hit a button before booting the machine and that is the HD it will boot from.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTk3

If the C drive on HD1 (XP) gets fried, you can still get in from HD2 (Vista). Unfortunately you can't fix one from the other.

2. Software Based - Partition Magic and HyperOS

PM most peeps are familiar with. last I dual booted with PM< you needed a FAT32 C drive for a side by side or you needed a small C FAT16 drive to present a DOS menu for you to pick which OS ya wanna boot., After picking, it reboots after hiding the partition with the OS you don't want

http://www.hyperossystems.co.uk/07042003/index.htm

HyperOS does suffer from the same limitation however as a Windows Standard side by side installation....C gets fried and you all fried. However, if it's anything else, you can fix one windows install from any other.

Reply to JackNaylorPE
coldneutron   07-02-2007 at 07:39:19 PM
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You can disconnect the XP drive, install vista on the other drive, then reconnect the XP drive. Leave XP drive as first boot drive in BIOS. Use the quick boot menu of the BIOS to select vista drive when you want to boot to that. Check mobo manual for qick boot support. I've seen either Esc or F11 at boot to activate the quick boot menu. This way you avoid the vista boot manager, which is somewhat of a pain to get rid of if you decide you don't want to dual boot anymore.

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erikstarcher   07-02-2007 at 08:39:42 PM
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ColdNeutron has it right. If you pull the xp drive and install vista, plug the xp drive back in, then boot to either one using your bios. That way both os's are installed to the c: drive, and if you want to remove either os, you wont screw up the other.

Reply to erikstarcher
soldier37   07-02-2007 at 10:33:53 PM
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Thanks for the input, I had no idea there were that many ways to boot.

Reply to soldier37
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