2 Hard Drives - 2 Oper. Sys??

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimD
  • Start date Start date
J

JimD

Thanks in advance to all that reply.

Using a Dell 4100, Maxtor 20GB HDD (original), Maxtor 60GB
HDD (new)

I want to install a larger hard drive with Windows XP Home
Edition and also use the original one with either Windows
XP HE or Windows Me loaded. Yes, I do want to have the
choice of seperate OS and drives at bootup. I have the
following questions:

1. Can I install both of them on the same ATA cable with
each configured as a Master? (I know how to set the drive
jumpers - not sure if they can be on the same cable.)

2. Windows XP Home Edition, I believe, allows the OS to
be installed on a laptop as well as the primary computer.
Can I load that same OS on both HDDs instead of a laptop?

3. I recently read an article that addressed multiple OS
on a single partitioned HDD. It stated to install the
older Windows version first. Is this necessary if using
two HDDs instead of one HDD partioned?

4. I have recently seen an article that mentioned "...
the dual boot menu." What is this and where can I find
info on it's use?

Thanks,
Jim D.
 
1. You'll need to set your drive jumper settings to Master for
one drive and Slave for the other drive.

2. No, you can only install Windows XP once. A second
installation requires a second license, regardless if it
is installed on the same computer.

3. You'll need to install Windows ME first, then install
Windows XP on the other drive.

4. Installing Windows XP after installing Windows ME will
automatically create a dual-boot loader. After XP is installed,
a menu selection will appear when booting your computer,
providing an option to boot to Windows XP or Windows ME.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

Thanks in advance to all that reply.
|
| Using a Dell 4100, Maxtor 20GB HDD (original), Maxtor 60GB
| HDD (new)
|
| I want to install a larger hard drive with Windows XP Home
| Edition and also use the original one with either Windows
| XP HE or Windows Me loaded. Yes, I do want to have the
| choice of seperate OS and drives at bootup. I have the
| following questions:
|
| 1. Can I install both of them on the same ATA cable with
| each configured as a Master? (I know how to set the drive
| jumpers - not sure if they can be on the same cable.)
|
| 2. Windows XP Home Edition, I believe, allows the OS to
| be installed on a laptop as well as the primary computer.
| Can I load that same OS on both HDDs instead of a laptop?
|
| 3. I recently read an article that addressed multiple OS
| on a single partitioned HDD. It stated to install the
| older Windows version first. Is this necessary if using
| two HDDs instead of one HDD partioned?
|
| 4. I have recently seen an article that mentioned "...
| the dual boot menu." What is this and where can I find
| info on it's use?
|
| Thanks,
| Jim D.
 
Thanks Carey for the quick and concise reply.

Concerning the Master / Slave issue, Item 1. I thought I
understood that a second hard drive set as a Slave could
be used as data storage only, not as a bootable device?

Jim D.
 
A second hard drive (slave) can be used any way you wish.
If you do not have the jumper installed as a slave, your BIOS
will not recognize it.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"JimD" wrote:

| Thanks Carey for the quick and concise reply.
|
| Concerning the Master / Slave issue, Item 1. I thought I
| understood that a second hard drive set as a Slave could
| be used as data storage only, not as a bootable device?
|
| Jim D.
 
Hi, Carey - and Jim.

Excellent explanation, but with a slight clarification of some terminology
that can be confusing...
3. You'll need to install Windows ME first, then install
Windows XP on the other drive.
Click to expand...

The term "drive" is used SO ambiguously! :>(

A single HDD can be divided into up to 4 partitions, of which ONE can be an
extended partition, with the others being "primary partitions". Within the
extended partition, we can create one or more "logical drives". Each
primary partition and each logical drive can be assigned a "drive" letter
and formatted independently of all other "drives". To cut down on the
confusion, I like to refer to each primary partition and logical drive as a
"volume".

Each Windows installation should be on a separate volume. Neither WinME nor
WinXP cares whether it is on the master or slave HD, or in a primary
partition or a logical drive, just so long as they are not both in the same
volume.

But no matter how many HDs or volumes you have or how many installations of
Windows, both WinME and WinXP must put its few "system files" in the "system
partition", which is almost always Drive C:. For MS-DOS and Win9x/ME, the
system files are io.sys and msdos.sys; for WinXP (and other NT-based
Windows), the system files are NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini. The
computer will start with Drive C:, read the system files to see whether to
boot WinME or WinXP, then branch to whichever drive/partition/folder is
pointed to by C:\boot.ini.

In response to your later comment, Jim, the term "boot" is also used
ambiguously. As many writers have pointed out, we boot from the system
partition and keep our operating system files in the boot volume. There are
legacy reasons for the counterintuitive terminology; no sense fighting it,
just deal with it. Both WinME and WinXP use \Windows as the default name
for their "boot folders", which they put into whatever you designate as the
"boot volume", which may or may not be the same as the system partition. A
common arrangement is to have WinME in C:\Windows and WinXP in D:\Windows -
or one of them in X:\Windows.

And always, as Carey says, install the newest Windows last. WinXP knows
just how to handle WinME, but WinME never heard of WinXP and has no idea how
to create a dual boot.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
 
I just upgraded to XP and now I get the dual boot loader.
What is the safest way to uninstall ME and get rid of the
dual boot while transferring all the other programs
installed with ME to XP?

I have a compaq 5106cl. That hard drive was partitioned
into two, C and D. Windows ME was somehow damaged (it
performed poorly anyway) so I installed XP on drive D so
that I would be able to recover some important files on
drive C. Is it necessary to wipe the whole PC clean and
re-format or is there an easier way?
 
Carey and R.C.,

Many thanks to both of you. The information you have
provided will help me tremendously. The generalization of
terms, or ambiguity that R.C. referred to, is one of the
primary reasons I came here for clarification. If I say
puppy you may envision a St. Bernard while I'm thinking
Beagle.

Again - thanks to both.

Regards,
Jim Dahlstrom
 
I just upgraded to XP and now I get the dual boot loader.
What is the safest way to uninstall ME and get rid of the
dual boot while transferring all the other programs
installed with ME to XP?

I have a compaq 5106cl. That hard drive was partitioned
into two, C and D. Windows ME was somehow damaged (it
performed poorly anyway) so I installed XP on drive D so
that I would be able to recover some important files on
drive C. Is it necessary to wipe the whole PC clean and
re-format or is there an easier way?
Click to expand...

A good article on removing ME from a ME/XP dual boot setup:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#remov1
 
I would to add my 2 cents. I wanted to be able to use win98se and winXP.
To avoid any confusion I went to mobile trays, one for each HD. I have XP
Pro on one and Win98SE on the other. It takes about 15 seconds to change
HDs and go from OS to the other and there is no conflict to worry about.
Good Luck
 
Back
Top