I want to install Vista

I have an extra hard drive that I would like to install Vista on and create
a dual boot up system. My main drive is WinXP MCE which I want to keep.
What I want to accomplish is to select between the two drives at start up.
Can someone tell me how to do this or send a link with instructions?

Thanks in advance,
newtechie

Just get the drive in your box and all set up. Run the vista installer and
follow the prompts, vista will ask you where to install itself, choose your
second drive. As far as booting, vista will manage that for you, nothing for
you to do or knowhow needed... pretty easy actually

"Newtechie" <> wrote in message
news:%...
>I have an extra hard drive that I would like to install Vista on and
>create a dual boot up system. My main drive is WinXP MCE which I want to
>keep. What I want to accomplish is to select between the two drives at
>start up. Can someone tell me how to do this or send a link with
>instructions?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> newtechie
>
>

Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that Vista will automatically create
a screen that'll allow me to boot from either drive?

"Cheddarhead" <> wrote in message
news:. ..
> Just get the drive in your box and all set up. Run the vista installer and
> follow the prompts, vista will ask you where to install itself, choose
> your second drive. As far as booting, vista will manage that for you,
> nothing for you to do or knowhow needed... pretty easy actually
>
> "Newtechie" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
>>I have an extra hard drive that I would like to install Vista on and
>>create a dual boot up system. My main drive is WinXP MCE which I want to
>>keep. What I want to accomplish is to select between the two drives at
>>start up. Can someone tell me how to do this or send a link with
>>instructions?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> newtechie
>>
>>
>

Yes..................but it will also change the boot files on the original
drive
This means in essence that you will not be able to format that original
drive without losing the ability to boot.
It also means its damn hard to get rid of Vista if it malfunctions
.............its more work to restore your previous boot option.
I managed to do it once by saving all of the files in the root of the C
drive before installing Vista.When I uninstalled Vista..by formatting it off
the drive from within XP ...I then deleted all of the files in the Root of C
and copied the old ones back.

peter

"Newtechie" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Thanks for your reply. Are you saying that Vista will automatically
> create a screen that'll allow me to boot from either drive?
>
> "Cheddarhead" <> wrote in message
> news:. ..
>> Just get the drive in your box and all set up. Run the vista installer
>> and follow the prompts, vista will ask you where to install itself,
>> choose your second drive. As far as booting, vista will manage that for
>> you, nothing for you to do or knowhow needed... pretty easy actually
>>
>> "Newtechie" <> wrote in message
>> news:%...
>>>I have an extra hard drive that I would like to install Vista on and
>>>create a dual boot up system. My main drive is WinXP MCE which I want to
>>>keep. What I want to accomplish is to select between the two drives at
>>>start up. Can someone tell me how to do this or send a link with
>>>instructions?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance,
>>> newtechie
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

what cheddarhead said is true; however, since you have two drives that is not
the best way to do it. right now you have XP as your OS and it works and you
obviuosly like it since you dont want to loose it. so i would suggest the
following:



1. get any info you want to keep out of the extra drive (I will call it D: )
and migrate it over to C: which should be where XP lives. once you have
everything out of D: that you dont want to loose now you are ready to install
Vista.

before you shut down insert the Vista DVD into the DVD player!
if you have PATA drives set the jumper on drive D: to master and set the ide
cable so the end connection is attached to D:

if you have SATA drives then just follow along.

2. turn off computer and unplug drive C: (if you are not sure which drive is
which right click on the C: drive from "My Computer" select properties,
hardware tab, double click on the first drive shown, select volumes tab,
click "Populate". this will give all the info you need to identify the proper
drive)
3. once drive is unpluged; both power and IDE cable, restart computer and it
should begin to boot straight into the cd. if you get a mesaage that asks "do
you want to boot from cd"; hit any key to accept.
4. now just follow the prompts and install Vista to D: and partition the
drive as you like using the Vista tool. the only option available will be the
"CUSTOM" install option.
5. once Vista is alive and happy turn of the computer and re-install C: drive.

now C: was most likely the master if you have PATA drives so plug it back in
the same way it came out and dont forget to set the jumpers (master is C: and
slave is D

now you have two drives that are bootable and two OS's that are alive and
well. if one drive dies then the other drive can boot itself.
when you want to boot into Vista you can select the drive from either BIOS
or from BOOT Menu if you have a newer computer. (on HP and Compaq just press
esc when the HP screen comes on)

you can also rearrange so D: (Vista is Master) and C: (XP) is slave. then
just make a boot entry in Vista to boot XP and you dont have to deal with the
boot order everytime.

BTW installing an OS into a different HDD on the same computer is NOT dual
booting.
dual booting is only when you have more than one OS on the SAME physical
drive and ONE OS is responsible to BOOT all OS's on the drive.

if you install Vista (or ANY MS Operating Systeme) eventhough you will
install to a separate drive it will only end up with one MBR for TWO drives.
which means that only ONE drive is Bootable, and the other is just storage.
makes no difference that the two OS's are on separate drives. this is the
reason i suggest you unplug the XP drive to keep it out of the way of Vista.

Hi,
That is not entirely true. Dual or multi booting means that operating
sytems, no matter where they are located, are booted with a boot manager
located on one partition.
--
Paul


"Newtechie" wrote:

> I have an extra hard drive that I would like to install Vista on and create
> a dual boot up system. My main drive is WinXP MCE which I want to keep.
> What I want to accomplish is to select between the two drives at start up.
> Can someone tell me how to do this or send a link with instructions?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> newtechie
>
>
>

Hello Alejo,

Thank you for the extensive and wonderful post. I'm gonna print it to use
as a reference but I do have some questions.
1. What does PATA mean? I have regular ATA drives and I'm 100% they're not
SATA.
2. Will a boot menu be created automatically? I have a custom built
computer that I built myself. I think it'll a hassle to
go into the bios every time to boot to the other drive.
3. In your last paragraph, you said I could make a boot entry in Vista to
boot XP. What does that mean and how do I
do that?

Newtechie

"Alejo" <> wrote in message
news:0139D2E8-C30F-471F-A7E6-...
> what cheddarhead said is true; however, since you have two drives that is
> not
> the best way to do it. right now you have XP as your OS and it works and
> you
> obviuosly like it since you dont want to loose it. so i would suggest the
> following:
>
>
>
> 1. get any info you want to keep out of the extra drive (I will call it
> D: )
> and migrate it over to C: which should be where XP lives. once you have
> everything out of D: that you dont want to loose now you are ready to
> install
> Vista.
>
> before you shut down insert the Vista DVD into the DVD player!
> if you have PATA drives set the jumper on drive D: to master and set the
> ide
> cable so the end connection is attached to D:
>
> if you have SATA drives then just follow along.
>
> 2. turn off computer and unplug drive C: (if you are not sure which drive
> is
> which right click on the C: drive from "My Computer" select properties,
> hardware tab, double click on the first drive shown, select volumes tab,
> click "Populate". this will give all the info you need to identify the
> proper
> drive)
> 3. once drive is unpluged; both power and IDE cable, restart computer and
> it
> should begin to boot straight into the cd. if you get a mesaage that asks
> "do
> you want to boot from cd"; hit any key to accept.
> 4. now just follow the prompts and install Vista to D: and partition the
> drive as you like using the Vista tool. the only option available will be
> the
> "CUSTOM" install option.
> 5. once Vista is alive and happy turn of the computer and re-install C:
> drive.
>
> now C: was most likely the master if you have PATA drives so plug it back
> in
> the same way it came out and dont forget to set the jumpers (master is C:
> and
> slave is D
>
> now you have two drives that are bootable and two OS's that are alive and
> well. if one drive dies then the other drive can boot itself.
> when you want to boot into Vista you can select the drive from either BIOS
> or from BOOT Menu if you have a newer computer. (on HP and Compaq just
> press
> esc when the HP screen comes on)
>
> you can also rearrange so D: (Vista is Master) and C: (XP) is slave. then
> just make a boot entry in Vista to boot XP and you dont have to deal with
> the
> boot order everytime.

PATA = parallel ATA drives; which is what you have (wide grayish cable to
connect to mother board)

a boot menu will not be created. so you will not be given a choice if you
start Vista for example. it can be a hassle, so making a boot entry would be
the better choice.

this link will help you with the boot entries.
http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/273

i would like to clarify since you gave a little more info, you should have
built your PC with CS (cable select) setting for the drives as they are
somewhat new correct? if so then dont touch the jumpers. you are just going
to swicth drives and have Vista as the first drive on the cable (which will
make it master) CABLE SELECT will understand that this is the master drive
and with out doing anything in the BIOS will automaticaly boot that drive.
then just go to the link and you'll know what to do from there.
and just to make sure: before you unplug the drive or touch ANYTHING inside
the tower make sure it is truned off and the power cord disconnected. ALWAYS
WEAR ESD protection.

if you have more questions or need more help just post.

Alejo,

I'm not sure if I understand how to use that software to the link you
provided. So there's no simpler
way to do it? Does that software let you create a boot menu? Do I install
it after I install Vista? How
will I be able to access the XP drive?

Also, when I installed XP I set the drive to master and installed the D
drive and set it to slave. I can't
start this until tomorrow so I'll probably this again when I get up in the
morning.

Thanks for all your help.

"Alejo" <> wrote in message
news:9C1E2A92-929C-488D-AA25-...
> PATA = parallel ATA drives; which is what you have (wide grayish cable to
> connect to mother board)
>
> a boot menu will not be created. so you will not be given a choice if you
> start Vista for example. it can be a hassle, so making a boot entry would
> be
> the better choice.
>
> this link will help you with the boot entries.
> http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/273
>
> i would like to clarify since you gave a little more info, you should have
> built your PC with CS (cable select) setting for the drives as they are
> somewhat new correct? if so then dont touch the jumpers. you are just
> going
> to swicth drives and have Vista as the first drive on the cable (which
> will
> make it master) CABLE SELECT will understand that this is the master drive
> and with out doing anything in the BIOS will automaticaly boot that drive.
> then just go to the link and you'll know what to do from there.
> and just to make sure: before you unplug the drive or touch ANYTHING
> inside
> the tower make sure it is truned off and the power cord disconnected.
> ALWAYS
> WEAR ESD protection.
>
> if you have more questions or need more help just post.
>