Martin Shaw said:
Hi Anna
many thanks for response,
it is Vista Ultimate, P4-3.2 / 1gb Ram 1 x 200gb HD = Vista
and 1 x 160gb (Primary Slave) = XP Pro
surely if I setup the XP Drive in or as a removable one, I would still
have to disconnect the Vista primary, in order
to prevent the loss of certain restores and other files - when the system
tries to mount both volumes ?
please clarify
best regards
Martin
Martin:
I'm not sure you're familiar with removable hard drives so let me give you
(and perhaps others who might be similarly interested in this hardware
configuration) a bit of background...
First of all let me say that having worked with removable hard drives for
about 10 years now and installed these devices in hundreds of desktop
machines and helped others to do so, we are strong proponents of equipping
one's desktop PC with these devices wherever possible. The flexibility and
peace of mind you achieve with this hardware arrangement can scarcely be
overemphasized.
Should you have only one 5 1/4" bay available you could install a single
removable HDD in that bay and thus work with one internal HDD and one
removable HDD. While we prefer that if possible *two* removable HDDs be
installed to provide a maximum degree of flexibility, having a single
removable HDD together with an internal HDD is a fine workable solution.
We've installed single removable HDDs in many machines with more than
satisfactory results.
What we are discussing as "removable hard drives" are two-piece mobile rack
devices - the rack itself and the inner tray or caddy in which resides the
HDD. The removable tray containing the HDD simply slides into the rack.
These devices come in all-aluminum models or all-plastic models or a
combination of aluminum-plastic ranging in price from about $15 to $50.
Mobile racks come in various versions, depending upon whether the HDD to be
housed in the removable tray is a IDE/ATA (PATA), SATA, or SCSI device. A
Google search for "removable hard drive mobile racks" will result in a
wealth of information on these products and their vendors.
The installation of these devices is simplicity itself - no more difficult
than installing an optical drive. After the rack is installed you just plop
the hard drive into the removable tray (caddy), make two simple connections
(power & data cable), and slide the tray into the mobile rack. Again, note
that the removable hard drive mobile racks we are discussing are designed to
be installed in desktop computers and not laptop or notebook computers
(except in rare cases). The size, weight, and design considerations of
laptops/notebooks do not ordinarily allow for this hardware configuration.
These mobile racks are nearly always equipped with a ON-OFF keylock, so a
simple turn of the key, in effect, activates the HDD. For added security you
can push or pull the removable tray in or out using the tray's handle and
thus electrically/physically connect or disconnect the HDD from the system.
No more difficult than opening or closing a small desk drawer.
So, in your specific case where you're working with two PATA HDDs - one
containing the XP OS, the other Vista...
We'll assume your internal HDD contains the XP OS and the removable HDD
would contain the Vista OS. (Although there's no reason you couldn't reverse
that order). Since you're apparently working with PATA HDDs, you would
connect the removable HDD as Primary Master and your internal HDD as
Secondary Master. (It's also possible to connect your internal HDD as
Primary or Secondary Slave, however, some motherboards will not support a
boot from a Slave-connected HDD).
(If you were working with SATA HDDs, you would connect the removable HDD to
your motherboard's first SATA connector (designated SATA0 or SATA1) and your
internal SATA HDD to the second SATA connector (designated SATA1 or SATA2)).
So with this arrangement you can now easily boot to either OS, by a simple
turn of the removable HDD's keylock. If it's ON, the boot would be to the
removable HDD; it it's OFF, then the boot is to the internal HDD. Note with
this arrangement you can freely boot to either HDD without the need to enter
the BIOS or use a third-party boot manager. There is no need to modify the
boot.ini files. Each drive is effectively isolated from each other
As I trust you can see, it's an ideal system for computing with multiple
operating systems or meeting one's special interests in the sense that now
you can have an *unlimited* number of HDDs at your disposal by simply using
additional removable trays to house the drives in the mobile rack.
We have found this hardware arrangement a most desirable configuration for
many desktop PC users. We've encountered no negative performance issues
using these
devices in comparison with internally-installed HDDs and as I've indicated
above we find the flexibility and peace of mind you gain from this
configuration an enormous advantage.
I can virtually guarantee that after you begin working with removable hard
drives (preferably two), you'll have but one regret --- and that is that
your previous computer(s) weren't so equipped. It's that good.
Do give it some thought.
Anna
