Dual Boot Dilema

[Andy Siegel]

I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally

built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded

Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this point,

I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really

wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question is

this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what

will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two

bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into the

disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to

believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system

that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not sure

exactly how it all works.



Thank you for any help.

 

[Jerry]

Why a new disk? Just boot from the Win7 DVD, select that disk as the install

location and Win7 will install itself on it and you'll still be able to

dual-boot Vista and Win7.



"Andy Siegel" wrote in message

news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-4309D6EC2C17@microsoft.com...

>I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally

> built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded

> Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this

> point,

> I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really

> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question

> is

> this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what

> will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two

> bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into

> the

> disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to

> believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system

> that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not

> sure

> exactly how it all works.

>

> Thank you for any help.

 

[Tim Meddick]

If you removed disk0 (with xp on it) and replaced it with a new HD and

loaded Win7 on to it : then YES : Win7 should easily be able to recognise

another windows version and create a boot.ini file to accommodate it.



Just make sure you take care in the initial installation of Win7 to install

it onto drive0 - it's a good idea before you begin to take note of the

drive's sizes because that's going to be the way to identify them from each

other in the setup procedure.



==



Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.









"Andy Siegel" wrote in message

news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-4309D6EC2C17@microsoft.com...

>I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally

> built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded

> Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this

> point,

> I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I

> really

> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question

> is

> this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what

> will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are

> two

> bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into

> the

> disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to

> believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system

> that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not

> sure

> exactly how it all works.

>

> Thank you for any help.

 

[Doum]

=?Utf-8?B?QW5keSBTaWVnZWw=?=

écrivait news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-4309D6EC2C17@microsoft.com:







> (I really

> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro)







If this is what you really want to do, why don't you do it?



Insert your Win7 disk while Vista is running and follow the prompts. I

think you need a "retail" disk (not OEM) to do this.

 

[Db]

having a dual boot with

vista and w7 won't be

worthwhile.



there isn't any advantage

and you can only use

one o.s. at any one time.



if however, you had two

different computers like

a pc and laptop,



you could make each

one have a different o.s.

and enjoy the best of

both worlds.



--

--

db·´¯`·...¸>



DatabaseBen, Retired Professional



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:



http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx





"Andy Siegel" wrote in message

news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-4309D6EC2C17@microsoft.com...

> I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally

> built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded

> Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this

> point,

> I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really

> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question

> is

> this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what

> will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two

> bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into

> the

> disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to

> believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system

> that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not

> sure

> exactly how it all works.

>

> Thank you for any help.

 

[Mike S]

On 6/4/2010 1:57 PM, Db wrote:

>

> having a dual boot with

> vista and w7 won't be

> worthwhile.

>

> there isn't any advantage

> and you can only use

> one o.s. at any one time.

>

> if however, you had two

> different computers like

> a pc and laptop,

>

> you could make each

> one have a different o.s.

> and enjoy the best of

> both worlds.



I have a dual boot XP/Ubuntu machine, if I push F8 while the computer is

booting up a menu comes up with boot options. I think most modern

computers have this feature now.



I only mention it because I don't like trusting any OS to install a dual

boot with any other OS and do it right. Whenever I install a 2nd OS on a

machine I make sure the hard drive with the 1st working OS is

disconnected & unplugged so there is no possible way for it to be

corrupted, then complete the 2nd OS installation. I like to keep life

simple!



Just a thought,

Mike

 

[Andy]

On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 11:36:56 -0700, Andy Siegel

wrote:



>I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally

>built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded

>Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this point,

>I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really

>wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question is

>this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what

>will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two

>bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into the

>disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to

>believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system

>that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not sure

>exactly how it all works.

>

>Thank you for any help.

Disk 0 contains the Windows System partition. The System partition

contains the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) that allows booting to

either Vista or an earlier operating system, viz., Windows XP.



When you replace Disk 0 and install Windows 7 on it, the new BCD won't

know anything about the Vista installation on Disk 1, so you have to

boot from Windows 7 DVD and run startup repair, adding Vista to the

BCD. Then you will be able to dual boot to Windows 7 or Vista.