Vista installing with XP boot drive question

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Guest

Ok, here goes. I have a new system AND hdd coming, with vista upgrade
version. I think it's going to work like this.. install XP CD on new drive,
activate, then install vista. Now, main question here is.. I want to use the
XP hdd from this system as a secondary HDD, not a boot one, just a data one.
I want to keep ALL files on that HDD, so I can pick and choose what to
install later. How can this be accomplished without erasing/losing this
second HD? Should I get vista installed THEN add the second (xp) hd to the
system, maybe as a slave? Someone please post the -correct- way to
accomplish this, ending up with a second hdd that will have been my xp boot
hdd without losing data. Thanks in advance.
Warren
 
Yes, you could do it that way.
The data and files on that second ('slave') hard drive will remain as they
are.
You will just not be able to boot from it, not run Windows from it, but
still be able to access it from within Vista--with whatever drive letter you
might like to assign to it.
 
Follow-up questions (thanks max)

Should I add the drive before or after vista Ultimate is installed?
Will vista try to 'convert' the xp second HD ?
How can I export some of my settings (emails, etc) from the xp HD to the
vista?
-will vista do a plain export from a current HD installed in place of trying
to get it from a computer, via the easy transfer methods? Or maybe should I
run the file wiz on the xp drive, save my settings on the current xp hd, then
try to pull from the xp hd once vista is installed? I ask mainly because
with this system build, monitor/kb/mouse will follow, so impossible to have
both boxes running. Unless, of course, I could run back and forth with the
monitor :) Just want to see to what extent I need to prep the xp HD and what
to save on it before it becomes the second, non-booting hd. Thanks.
 
1) If you want to be absolutely sure that the Vista setup does not touch
that second drive, leave it out until Vista is installed.
2) No. Even if it is formatted Fat32.
3) For E-Mail, open Vista's Windows Mail (assuming you were using Outlook
Express and want to use the equivalent in Vista), Go to File/Import, choose
the category, and browse the wizard to your old mail store on the old drive.
If you were using Office's Outlook and will be using Outlook in Vista, the
procedure is different--and somewhat simpler.

You could certainly try the Easy Transfer thing ("Windows Easy Transfer" or
WET in Vista)--not really sure how this would work (if at all) with the two
hard drives in the same machine since that is really not how it was designed
to be used.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/24/business/ptask25.php
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/easytransfer.mspx

There are a million ways to accomplish what you want. Personally, I do such
things manually--especially easy if the source drive is in the same machine
as the target. Just be aware that some common folders (names and locations)
in Vista are different than what they are in XP--such as folders for
Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. All changed.
 
If you have data on your old drive that you absolutely can not afford to
lose - leave it physically disconnected when you install Vista. After the
O/S install has successfully been completed, shut down and connect the old
drive.



--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
Warren said:
Ok, here goes. I have a new system AND hdd coming, with vista upgrade
version. I think it's going to work like this.. install XP CD on new
drive,
activate, then install vista. Now, main question here is.. I want to use
the
XP hdd from this system as a secondary HDD, not a boot one, just a data
one.
I want to keep ALL files on that HDD, so I can pick and choose what to
install later. How can this be accomplished without erasing/losing this
second HD? Should I get vista installed THEN add the second (xp) hd to
the
system, maybe as a slave? Someone please post the -correct- way to
accomplish this, ending up with a second hdd that will have been my xp
boot
hdd without losing data. Thanks in advance.
Warren
Click to expand...
The issue that hasn't been mentioned is installing the Vista upgrade is
supposed to require the presence of XP on the disk. However, it is possible
to install the Vista upgrade version without XP being on the disk - it can
be installed to a clean disk. There's been a lot of talk about this on the
internet today.
 
VicTek said:
The issue that hasn't been mentioned is installing the Vista upgrade is
supposed to require the presence of XP on the disk. However, it is possible
to install the Vista upgrade version without XP being on the disk - it can
be installed to a clean disk. There's been a lot of talk about this on the
internet today.
Click to expand...
Yes, I did mention it above. Install xp on the fresh disc, minimal as
possible I am thinking, then install the Ultimate upgrade. My main concerns
are - will the second HD I add to the system after the vista upgrade (which
is my current xp boot hd) be recognized, and - is there a way to import some
settings/data (email, ie7 settings/pw's etc) into vista from the second hd in
the new computer system, not coming from a totally diff. machine.
 
Here is what you do:
You need to pick your biggest and fastest hard drive.
When you boot from your WINXP disk and you start to set up (from the blue
screen) when it comes to the part on partitioning you need to partition the
hard drive. If the partition is already there remove it and split the drive
in half. The only way you can dual boot your drive is from the primary 0
logical drive. Now your hard drive will become drive "C" and drive "D".
Install WINXP on the C drive. After the installation is complete win XP
Service Pack 2 just put in your Vista upgrade disk (I recommend the 32 bit
version DVD not the 64 for reasons that are too long to list) When it get's
past you putting in your Vista Key you can press the button for a custom
installation, from there you can pick to have it installed onto drive "D".
When that is complete everytime your computer boots up just past the POST
screen it will give you the option "Boot to Windows Vista (requires no
button pushing) or Boot to an earlier version of Windows (winXP) and it
gives you a default of 30 seconds, otherwise it will automatically boot to
VISTA.
If you want a dual boot system it has to be from the same Hard drive but the
hard drive has to be partitioned. It CANNOT be from 2 physically seperate
drives. Hope this helps,
Chuck
 
What Max said, this is not true, In fact, I have Windows XP x64 trail (which
now expired) on one drive, Windows XP Pro (the 32-bit version) on another
drive, and Windows Vista Ultimate (the 64-bit version) on another drive, all
of which I could boot to if I please. So lets see... I have 4 hard drives
installed, and 3 of those hard drivers are being taken up by OSes, and you
were saying they need to be on the same drive, HA!

Anyways, Warren, if you want to dual boot xp and vista and you only have 2
hard drive but want to keep one drive open for whatever files you want to put
on, then put in the XP CD first, partition it to whatever size you want (if
your going to under XP more, make this partition bigger, otherwise make the
second partition the biggest) and install XP on one partition, boot to XP and
finish setting it up, then boot to the Vista CD and choose to install it on
the other partition, Vista will automatically set up your system for duel
boot.

I leave all my drive connected when I do this because as long as you know
you choose the correct drive it won't touch the other drive unless it needs
to put temp files on, but it'll automatically delete those files and no harm
is done (they will normally use whatever extra drive for temp space if your
current partition doesn't have enough space, but if you have big enough space
nothing to worry about).


Gez.... how many times have I formated my computer? I lost count :p
 
If you want a dual boot system it has to be from the same Hard drive but the 
hard drive has to be partitioned.  It CANNOT be from 2 physically seperate 
drives.  Hope this helps,
Click to expand...

Unless I've misunderstood you, that's not my current experience. I have a
system with a number of hard drives including two almost identical SATA drives.
On the first one I had already installed XP Pro and I left the second blank
intending to install XP64 at some time but never got round to doing.

I installed VISTABOOTPro on the XP drive (it said it couldn't find a copy of
VISTA but went to completion) and then I installed VISTA Business by booting up
from the RTM.

It put up a window showing all my NTFS drives and let me choose the empty SATA
drive (which I'd already split into two partitions using PM8 some while
previously). It installed itself there with no problems and I'm running it that
way after changing the bootup menu so that Other Windows now reads XP Pro and
VISTA reads VISTA Business.

Quite definitely I have XP Pro on one physical drive and VISTA on another.
 
Not quite the answers I was seeking. NOT going to a dual-boot machine!

Scenario- CAN THIS WORK? Install vista on a totally new machine. Then
install a second drive, which WAS my xp boot drive. The second HD will NOT
be booting at all. Can vista import all my old windows settings/ie7
favs/outlook e-mail/ etc.. from the second HD installed in the SAME machine?
Instead of being in a whole other machine?
Thanks!
 
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