best way to dual boot xp with xp?

[grasshopperbe]

Could anyone point me in the best direction for this?
i would like to have a test environment by installing
a second winXP on my pc.

I will install a second sata HD for the second XP
Now how is the best way to do this? I have a little
experience with GRUB from my old win/linux dual boot pc
But i know windows has a sort of boot manager built into itself also.

Are there things i need to keep in mind while setting this up
(boot sector , where to install the boot manager etc) ?

And a second question, is there a way to 'disable' the windows partition
of the "inactive" one? (so i cannot access the 'good' windows partition
when using the "bad/testing" one)


thank you

[shadowpr]

Have you considered setting up a virtual os? You can use that to install and test new programs.

[SirDrahcir]

I use Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0.2160


Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 combines a number of previous Acronis disk management tools into one solution:

Partition Manager allows you to resize, move, copy, split, and merge partitions without losing your data;

Boot Manager is a multi-boot software utility that allows you to install multiple operating systems on your PC;

Partition Recovery allows you to recover accidentally lost or deleted partitions;

Disk Editor is a disk drive repair tool that allows you to perform advanced operations on your hard disk drive, such as restoration of boot records and hexadecimal editing.

New key features make it easier than ever before to modify your partition structure and boot new operating systems:

New features:
Split partitions; Merge partitions; Explore partitions; Boot from an additional hard disk drive; Boot from CD/DVD; Automatic operating system detection

[Force Flow]

If it's just for testing apps and whatnot, I'd go with a virtual machine:

Virtual PC 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Windows XP image:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[SirDrahcir]

If you are looking for Good Virtual Machine Ware, I came across Parallels and I find it really easy to work with. Also when I setup another Copy of XP, it does not need to Authenticate and it pass's Validation without any issues. I test a lot of software this way and that is also how I have chosen to Test Vista. You can get a 30 Day Free Trail if you are interested in just looking at it. Your Windows Copy will also work with Linux. A Really interesting test is to Run a VM in Vista and Another in LInux while your HOST is XP Pro.

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[grasshopperbe]

I tried vmware a few times on a friends pc, but it was not really what i was looking for. I would rather have a separate one on its own, so i can have the full resources of my pc available. (with a vm, there are 2 OS's running at the same time)

Is a dual boot xp with xp on 2 hard drives really not a viable option?

[SirDrahcir]

Sure it's Viable Option, take a look at Acronis Disk Director Suite That I mentioned above. You can setup as many different bootups as you need, just be good about how you title each different System you are booting into.
Examples:

XP Pro Main
XP Pro Testing
Vista Sp1
UBuntu 8.10
Win 98 SE