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Are you dual booting Win7 using XP on 2 different hard drives?

EastCoasthandle

EastCoasthandle

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If you are can you confirm if installing Win7 on a second (unformated) harddrive will still mess up XP. Also, do you still have to label the main hard drive to a drive letter once you install win7 on the 2nd hard drive?
 
Mussels

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unplug the XP drive first, so that it doesnt mess with the boot block.

Then use your BIOS to choose what drive to boot.

That way each OS beleives that its OS is the C: drive, and you can just change the drive letters for the other OS as you see fit.
 
EastCoasthandle

EastCoasthandle

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It will not format my HD right?
 
Mussels

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AsRock

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EastCoasthandle said:
If you are can you confirm if installing Win7 on a second (unformated) harddrive will still mess up XP. Also, do you still have to label the main hard drive to a drive letter once you install win7 on the 2nd hard drive?
Click to expand...


I have XP x64 installed on 1st partition and Vista on the second Partition of a raid 5 setup and both working great.

The reason i install XP 1st as i will likely use that more than 7 like i did with Vista. And if 7 fucks up i can just format the second partition lol. O yeah XP don't mess up on me it's been sweet since i got it which is another reason i put XP on 1st and on the 1st partition.

Anyways no problems here at all.


I formated the 2nd partition from XP and just booted up the win7 DVD and installed it to the second Partition. As long as your boot order is right should be just fine.
 
Mussels

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asrock: since you installed 7, the bootblock has been changed. Depending on what HDD that bootblock is now installed to, you could have an unbootable system removing either OS

(If bootblock is on 7 drive, formatting that drive will make your XP unbootable, and vice versa)
 
EastCoasthandle

EastCoasthandle

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Mussels said:
The only thing that can format a HDD thats unplugged, is a big magnet.
Click to expand...

Wrong HD. I am talking about the one I will use to install Win7.:slap:
IE: Will Win7 format the HD that I plan on installing it to?
 
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Can I just clarify how this is done.

Install new hard disk.

Disconnect current hd with xp.

Insert win7 cd and format install in new hd.

Then connect hd with xp back up.

When booting, go to bios and select boot order.

Is this right?

Would I have to change the boot order every time I want to switch to the other os?
Does this also work with Vista and xp on seperate hd disks?

I'm hoping Mussels can answer this.

Tye
 
AsRock

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Mussels said:
asrock: since you installed 7, the bootblock has been changed. Depending on what HDD that bootblock is now installed to, you could have an unbootable system removing either OS

(If bootblock is on 7 drive, formatting that drive will make your XP unbootable, and vice versa)
Click to expand...

Well by reinstalling XP will kill win 7 anyways. And the older win 7 i deleted and put vista in it's place without issue now it has win7 on it once again lol..


Thanks for the info though, i'll just back up xp stuff before getting rid of 7 if needed.
 
Mussels

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EastCoasthandle said:
Wrong HD. I am talking about the one I will use to install Win7.:slap:
IE: Will Win7 format the HD that I plan on installing it to?
Click to expand...
Optional. havent you ever installed windows before? you always have a choice to partition and format.


bigtye said:
Can I just clarify how this is done.

Install new hard disk.

Disconnect current hd with xp.

Insert win7 cd and format install in new hd.

Then connect hd with xp back up.

When booting, go to bios and select boot order.

Is this right?

Would I have to change the boot order every time I want to switch to the other os?
Does this also work with Vista and xp on seperate hd disks?

I'm hoping Mussels can answer this.

Tye
Click to expand...

yes thats how i do it. It works with as many OS's as you have Hard drives.
Most modern motherboards have a hotkey, instead of pressing delete to go into the BIOS, you press ESC, F8, F10 or F12 (it varies... annoyingly. check your mobo manual/google) and it gives a list of bootable devices.


AsRock said:
Well by reinstalling XP will kill win 7 anyways. And the older win 7 i deleted and put vista in it's place without issue now it has win7 on it once again lol..


Thanks for the info though, i'll just back up xp stuff before getting rid of 7 if needed.
Click to expand...

A repair install usually fixes it. Lots of people tend to screw up repair installs and format accidentally (cough my brother cough), so i find it best to warn them in advance.
 
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