Dual Hard Drive Boot

I have many programs that were made for XP that work fine on Win 7. Win 7 has a compatibility function that you can use on each program. Just right-click on the program and click "Properties", then select the "Compatibility" tab, and you will see it.

It looks like this:

Great, sounds good but one issue I have also is that I do not have the software anywhere else but on the computer. When I got the software it was an older version and didnt work with vista so I called the company and they gave me a newer version with a download link, so I would have to find a way to move it over to a new hard drive, or just keep it on this one. any suggestions?

I have never done this so I can't say if it would work, but perhaps you use the bios to change the boot order to select which drive boots.

Yes it's possible, what you could use is software called a boot loader.

Microsoft recommends that the different OS's be put on separate volumes. So either put the old hard drive in the new computer or partition the drive with a image of the old hard drive on it. Which one I would do would be determined by the speed of the old hard drive. The hard drive on the new computer maybe much faster. So then I would use a partition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi_boot

http://www.pcworld.com/article/141614/faq_secrets_to_running_multiple_operating_systems.html

I have used a boot loader to boot between linux and windows although those were on separate partitions on the same drive. I have never done it with two different drives although I imagine you could.

You can have dual boot partitions on a HDD, but you will have problems when you install a HDD from one PC into another.

This is because when you installed your OS (XP in this case), it selected all the correct settings/drivers based on the hardware which it encounterd during the build (i.e. the hardware which was in your old PC).

When you try to boot the old XP installation in the new PC you will have a host of settings/drivers which are now incompatible with the hardware which exists in the new PC.

You would at least have to "repair" the old XP installation, or probably "reinstall" it once the HDD is installed in the new PC.

Another option is to put Virtual Box on the new machine and clone the current drive as a virtual machine within the new system. I've got XP running inside my Mac using this.

thanks, I think I will just go with the dual boot system or see if I can transfer the software over.

I had installed 2 HDD loaded with 2 different versions of windows OS in my 10year old PC. During the boot up process, the screen provide or shows the option of which window OS version I want to use in the boot up process. Then it will take you to that particular HD which will display a different desktop depending on your settings for that particular OS.

So far regardless of whichever OS it was booted up, I can access the file contents of the either hard drive to copy or transfer files in between. But in running an application program may at times become erratic depending on where and how it was originally configured, initially loaded in a particular operating environment... Most of the time it is like having two different computers in one chassis, just behaving differently?? Good luck...

Tom's Hardware, an internet site for computer hobbyists, is the best place to go for answers to problems that deal with PC's. They may even have someone who has done exactly the same thing to the exact same computer that you are doing. Most of the answers you have read here are correct, but you may be able to get specific, detailed help there.

I believe you don't need anything other than Windows 7 because you'll be prompted to pick which to boot from pretty quick after push the start button

What I'm understanding is that you want to buy a Win 7 PC, then install your old Vista-based hard drive in it alongside the Win 7 hard drive, then be able to boot from either hard drive depending on your needs. This assumes, perhaps incorrectly, that you plan on just unplugging the Vista hard drive and transplanting it right over to the new system.

This sounds pretty cool, but you might see some driver conflicts when you try to boot the new PC from the Vista drive, which will presumably still have the drivers for a completely different motherboard and hardware arrangement. Just in case, you might consider going to the website of your old systems manufacturer and downloading their Win 7 drivers onto a memory stick BEFORE you start moving the hard drives around.

Sounds like a neat project--keep us posted and let us know how it goes!

You'll be interested to know very few driver differences exist between Vista & W7

Aaannnddd I've jumped the gun again. I just reread through the posts and see that this topic has already been covered. Sorry, guys, my apologies.

That's it. No more caffeine for me.

Hi

Solution 1:

You cannot just put old hard drive in new system. Solution for you is as

Step 1: Boot your "new system" from vista DVD, install the os on hard drive of your choice.

Step 2: Boot your "new system" from Win 7 DVD , install the os on hard drive of your choice .

Step 3: Now both os are there , boot to which ever os you like and install your softwares from the same download link as you mentioned one at a time.

Step 4: repeat step 3 for all of your required softwares.

Note:

Two os in one computers can be said as two computers. So seperate installation of softwares is required for each os. Thats it.

Solution 2:

You can otherwise use Win7 "only" and do a virtual machine of vista old harddrive using some third party software on win 7 , like VMware.

Have fun.

In what way does Vista software not run in Windows 7?