Vista and XP on 2 hard drives on same computer

Is there any way to have 2 hard drives hooked up to one computer with Vista on one and XP on the other.  I have Vista on one hard drive and Xp on the other but I unplug one to go the the other.  I have sata drives and I keep the side cover open to un hook one and hook up the other.  It gets old.John


Post Originated from Vista Support Forums

<fratchj> wrote in message news:O%...
> Is there any way to have 2 hard drives hooked up to one computer with
> Vista on one and XP on the other.&nbsp; I have Vista on one hard drive and
> Xp on the other but I unplug one to go the the other.&nbsp; I have sata
> drives and I keep the side cover open to un hook one and hook up the
> other.&nbsp; It gets old.John
>
>
> Post Originated from Vista Support Forums

Hi
Yes
See Here
http://www.google.co.uk/search?rls=i...1&oq=dual+boot

chas2209

<fratchj> wrote in message news:O%...
> Is there any way to have 2 hard drives hooked up to one computer with
> Vista on one and XP on the other.&nbsp; I have Vista on one hard drive and
> Xp on the other but I unplug one to go the the other.&nbsp; I have sata
> drives and I keep the side cover open to un hook one and hook up the
> other.&nbsp; It gets old.John
>
>
> Post Originated from Vista Support Forums

depending on the make of your computer you should be able to bring up a boot
menu at startup....usually F10 or F12. With both HD's installed and
connected just boot to the drive containing the O/S you want. I do this with
XP, Vista and Win7 installed on one box. Plus all my common files and data
are on a 4th HD that each of the 3 O/S can see. In each O/S however you
should go into device manage and disable the other O/S or else you will lose
system restore points.

fratchj wrote:

>Is there any way to have 2 hard drives hooked up to one computer with Vista on one and XP on the other.&nbsp; I have Vista on one hard drive and Xp on the other but I unplug one to go the the other.&nbsp; I have sata drives and I keep the side cover open to un hook one and hook up the other.&nbsp; It gets old.John
>
>
>Post Originated from Vista Support Forums

Forget the reply from "chas2209".

You can leave both of them connected all the time, just enter your
BIOS and set the one you want to boot from as first in line. When you
want to change, restart, enter the BIOS and put the other first in
line. I've been doing it like that for a couple years now.

I can even get fancier: I have each of the two drives in drive
caddies (I have a large tower with 5 external bays) and can turn power
off of whichever one I don't want to use - but I still use the BIOS
method.

The Vista boot disc should be able to install the Vista boot loader so that
you have the option of choosing which OS to boot to at start-up.
However Microsoft decided to punish dual booters so Vista is set to wipe out
its own system restore files when you boot to XP. This was a deliberate
up-yours to the consumer which Microsoft could have changed at any time but
has chosen not to. That tells you just about all you need to know about the
Microsoft corporate mind-set.
On the other hand, System Restore is a great theory but never seems to be
available when you need it.

"nomore" <> wrote in message
news:14048614-909B-4057-8DC0-...
> The Vista boot disc should be able to install the Vista boot loader so
> that you have the option of choosing which OS to boot to at start-up.
> However Microsoft decided to punish dual booters so Vista is set to wipe
> out its own system restore files when you boot to XP. This was a
> deliberate up-yours to the consumer which Microsoft could have changed at
> any time but has chosen not to. That tells you just about all you need to
> know about the Microsoft corporate mind-set.
> On the other hand, System Restore is a great theory but never seems to be
> available when you need it.

?