2 Hard Drives 2 OS swaping on choice

[Alnico]

Hi I have an old drive 120GB IDE with my older programs (Before the .net) Win2k and another drive with XP 520GB SATA

Now I want to keep swapping frequently between the older and new drive OS for testing and other things, but without handling hardware to swap the drives. How do I do it.
Currently I tried to use a USB extention to attach the 120GB. I also tried some settings in BIOS to make the USB extention for 120 as the startup OS but it seems to me that the system always tap into the OS on 520GB HDD.
I tried it on two motherboards, one is intel MB and other is MSI. But I am not well versed on MSI though. I just want to get it on any of the motherboards.
Any suggestions. I can give more details if required.

I tried it on two motherboards, one is intel MB and other is MSI. But I am not well versed on MSI though. I just want to get it on any of the motherboards.

 

[evongugg]

Welcome to the forums!

Attach both drives to the computer. Set the boot order to boot from the one you want. The other drive will be seen as a data drive.

 

[evongugg]

Try attaching the drives as IDE and SATA. Then set the desired boot order.

 

[Alnico]

Thanks evongugg, I think thats will be the only way to do it then cause USB won't work I guess then.

What will I have to do with the drive letters then, once if set will they remain the same for frequent swapping of the drives as primary and secondary.

 

[Outlander_04]

You will need to reboot and enter BIOS [ start up] to change the boot order .

That tells the hardware which drive to look for the OS on .


EDIT : it might be possible to have one drive in a USB housing , then set the computer to boot from USB first , then hard drive . That way it will boot from the external if its plugged in and from the internal hdd if its not . Maybe someone else can tell us if that would work .