Trying to run W7 and XP on 2 separate hard drives

[Grimmbro]

I am attempting to run XP on my C drive as is but added a new hard drive onto which I could load W7 and thus have a choice of booting with one or the other system because of some legacy programs that the MS compatibility check identified as not able to run on W7.

I added the new hard drive, tweaked the bios to boot from the DVD drive, and it booted and I followed the W7 upgrade steps to the point where the screen says INSTALL WINDOWS 7. I stopped there because it did not offer me a choice to install it on a specific drive and I was worried that it could install over my XP on the C drive and wipe it. Does anyone know whether the choice to install to a specific hard drive follows the screen where I stopped ?

Also, another question. I have read a number of the threads here and the answers to a recent thread of my own about W7 64 bit. I want to install the 64 bit onto the new hard drive, but 2 things are unclear. Will this cause any havoc with the 32bit XP running on the current C drive (I don't think it will but just want to be sure) and does my memory and processor have to meet a certain criteria to be able to run W7 64 bit?

My rig described below:
ASUS M4A78-E AM2+/AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A78-E AM2+/AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDX945FBGIBOX
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDX945FBGIBOX

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

HIS H485QT512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support IceQ4 Turbo Video Card
Newegg.com - HIS H485QT512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support IceQ4 Turbo Video Card

PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II PPCMK2S750 750W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II PPCMK2S750 750W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Active PFC Power Supply
(Just replaced a failed OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W PS)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Perpendicular Recording Technology) -Bare Drive
(This is the main C drive)

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
(This is the new hard drive for the W7 - partitioned 500Gb/900Gb)

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Patrick, your genius is showing.
Huh ? Where ?

[David M]

You could do this simply by plugging one drive to a SATA port when you want to run one OS and the other drive when you want to run the other OS. Here is a SATA switcher that keeps you from having to swap out SATA cables. http://www.cooldrives.com/2posaiisw5in.html

If you don't mind having one drive that has both OS's, you can partition a drive and load one OS on one partition and another OS on another partition. This would be the easiest way since you would not have to switch SATA cables or need a SATA switcher every time you wanted to run the other OS. You could then use your second drive for additional storage.

[Grimmbro]

Thanks David but I have a very tight cabling set up and unplugging and then plugging SATA connections does not seem like a good way to go for me. Besides, I am not clear why I would have to do that. The idea I had was that with two separate hard drives, each running their own OS, I would be prompted when I started up my PC, to choose which hard drive to access as the main drive for that session. I was under the impression that the bios would somehow know that there are 2 primary drives and behave as I described. Am I correct in this? This is somewhat uncharted territory for me.
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Patrick, your genius is showing.
Huh ? Where ?

[glc]

No, what will happen is the primary drive will have a bootloader. Install XP first on C, then install 7 on D. The bootloader will be on C, and every time you boot you will get a menu to choose which OS you want to boot. Note - you can accomplish the SAME THING by partitioning a single hard drive.

The bios will not come into play.

[Grimmbro]

Thanks GLC. Yes, partitioning one hard drive would be easier but I have the legacy apps already loaded on an older 320Gb HD and have added the new 1.5TB drive with the intention of loading W7 on it. I am concerned that if I try to load the legacy apps on the new hard drive and use it partitioned as you and David have suggested, I could lose something in the reinstall. The old versions are no longer available so I am almost stuck with keeping them on the older 320Gb HD.

You mentioned that XP should be on my C drive (and it is) and W7 could load on the D drive. How important is the consecutive letter identification of the hard drives ? The reason I ask is that my D drive is actually my DVD-RW drive. Would I have to "relabel" it somehow so that the W7 drive is the D drive ?

[glc]

Drive letter doesn't matter. Just make sure you know what it is!

[Grimmbro]

OK that's good to know. Thanks. So I return to my 2 original questions. Does hardware (processor or memory) have to meet certain criteria in order to run W7 64 bit ? And the other question, when I tried to use my family pack upgrade disc to load W7, I reached a screen where I was asked whether I wanted to load W7 now. There was nothing that offered me a choice where to load it (ie which hard drive) and yes, I used the custom install. I stopped at that screen not wanting to have W7 load onto my C drive by default. Do you know if I will be given the choice where to load the upgrade if i clicked that button yes and proceed ?
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Patrick, your genius is showing.
Huh ? Where ?

[glc]

With those components, you won't have any issues. I can't answer the other question, sorry. The fact that you are using an upgrade clouds the issue.

[Grimmbro]

Thanks GLC and thanks to David. I re-read your edited post David, about the SATA switching device and it looks intriguing. As always, I truly appreciate all the comments and advice I have received here. Happy New Year to you !!!!

[Grimmbro]

I have encountered some issues with my plan and could use some help. After backing up all my data from my C drive with XP on it, I proceeded to attempt the upgrade to W7 64bit onto my new hard drive. When I was prompted to click install now ?, I proceeded and there WAS a step where it asked me where to install W7 so I specified the new hard drive.

GLC, you were not sure how to advise me about this earlier and I can confirm that this step does exist. The installation proceeded, PC had to restart as expected, and before it did I tweaked the bios to name the new hard drive as the first boot drive instead of the DVD drive. The restart took place and the installation completed, the PC restarted again and after the initial W7 screen it went blank and nothing. No sounds, no image on the monitor. I opened up my rig and switched the SATA connections on the mother board so that now the new hard drive was drive 1 and the C drive with XP was drive 2. Restarted the PC and the same thing happened. I decided that maybe I should return to the original C drive as the boot drive, re-tweaked the bios to indicate that drive as the boot drive and now I get a message that instructs me to correct the boot order in the bios or insert a boot disc.
Now I am puzzled and am wondering if this means that I missed something or is it possible that my new hard drive is bad (although it accepted the install of W7). In either case, I am disheartened but not giving up yet. Any suggestions about what the next step should be are appreciated. Clearly, I know enough to be dangerous but not enough to get it done without your help. Thanks
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Patrick, your genius is showing.
Huh, where ?

[OhNo]

Hello Grimmbro, Took note of your inquiries today and thought you might want to see this site...Multibooters, Vista Dual and Multibooting - Windows Seven, I'm in the process of trying the dual HDD setup myself. Just built my first computer. Happy with the results but cannot run my autocad 32 bit program on the new 64bit win 7. Am considering adding a second drive and installing my 32 bit vista on it to run my cad. Microsoft also has some forum info on this topic. Good Luck to us!!!

[glc]

PC had to restart as expected, and before it did I tweaked the bios to name the new hard drive as the first boot drive

Wrong move. First mistake.

I opened up my rig and switched the SATA connections on the mother board so that now the new hard drive was drive 1 and the C drive with XP was drive 2.

That's just going from bad to worse.

Did you not comprehend this?

what will happen is the primary drive will have a bootloader. Install XP first on C, then install 7 on D. The bootloader will be on C, and every time you boot you will get a menu to choose which OS you want to boot.

Put everything back the way it was originally - both physically and in the bios.

[Grimmbro]

GLC, I am not feeling very bright at this point.

However, I did as you suggested and am pretty sure the bios is back to what it was as well as the hardware (sata cables repositioned to original install). Now during start up, a new screen does appear (similar in appearance to the "run in safe mode screen") which does not stay up very long but from what I could read it said that I had a choice to use an older version of Windows or a newer version. I also noticed that the newer version was "highlighted" as if it was the default. Before I had a chance to do anything, it proceeded to try to boot and the W7 start up screen appeared. When it had completed the W7 "colors round up" as I call it, the screen went black and I noticed that my monitor signal terminated (small message in the upper right hand corner) and then nothing. I waited for 15 to 20 seconds and then turned off the power. Restarted the PC and the same screen came up so I quickly selected the "older version of Windows" and the PC booted up to the XP log in screen. I lost USB functionality to my mouse and keyboard (this has happened before since I recently replaced a failed power supply) so I tried a few other USB plugs and found working ones. I logged into XP and that is where I am writing this note from. At this point, I am not sure what my next step would be so, again your helpful advice is appreciated.
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Patrick, your genius is showing.
Huh, where ?

[glc]

Okay -your XP still works and the bootloader is installed. Now, you need to repair your Windows 7 installation. It's installed, but not completely because you interrupted the installation sequence.

[Grimmbro]

Here is what I did to try to repair the installation of W7.
I started up the PC and accessed the bios - changed boot drive to my DVD drive. I inserted the upgrade DVD into the DVD drive and saved changes. PC rebooted and the screen showing my choice of older version of Windows or W7 appeared so I selected W7. The DVD activated and went through its steps of installation. It asked me where I wanted to install W7 so I directed it to go to the new hard drive. A message came up that said that an older version of Windows was here and that set up would isolate it and mark it as Windows old, and then would proceed with the new installation. I clicked OK and it went on with copying files, expanding files and had to restart to complete installation. The PC rebooted and the DVD drive activated again, the same steps followed and once again I was told that an older version of Windows was on the new hard drive and that set up would isolate it, etc. I then canceled the installation and the PC rebooted. ( I canceled it because it was retracing the steps it had taken earlier as though the earlier install had not taken place.)

I accessed the bios and changed the boot drive back to the XP drive and rebooted. The system choice screen appeared and now in addition to the older version of Windows as one choice there are 2 choices of Windows 7. I selected one of them and the PC continued to boot. The installation screen seemed like the installation had completed and had to restart. The PC restarted and again I selected W7, the boot continued and now it went a step further - after the W7 start screen came the W7 desktop and a message about updating registry files. This completed and then the screen paused and the monitor signal terminated and went black and it sat there. I waited for nearly 60 seconds and nothing.

So this is where I am now. XP still works if I want to access it but W7 is just "stuck" it seems.

I am wondering if I should reformat the new hard drive to erase the previous W7 installs, repartition it and then try this again but this time omit the bios tweaking and cable switching I had done earlier. Perhaps that will enable the process to complete successfully. As always, I would be grateful for suggestions on proceeding the best way from here.
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Patrick, your genius is showing.
Huh, where ?

[glc]

To start over, yes, reformat the Win 7 drive. Then you have to boot with your XP CD and use the console to do a FIXMBR to get rid of the bootloader.

[Grimmbro]

Hello GLC, thanks for keeping up with me on this one. I wanted to be crystal clear about the instructions that you have provided so please allow me to use my own words to describe what to do next so that I am able to get out of this mess. I am not completely familiar with terms you have used so this step process may clear it up for me. Please correct any statement that I make which is incorrect.

1. Reformat the new hard drive to clear all data from it. (This will erase the 2 W7 choices that I am presently seeing when I boot up the PC and it asks which system I want to access)

2. Start up the PC and enter the bios to indicate the DVD drive as the boot drive

3. Insert my original XP disc (not the W7 upgrade disc) and let the PC boot up off of that disc.

4. There will be a step in this boot process where a list of options will appear and one of them refers to a FIXMBR that I am to activate/install which will result in the deletion of the bootloader from my XP hard drive.

Do I have this described correctly ? I am particularly not clear about what to expect in step 4, so any light you can shed on that would be hugely appreciated. One thought I had is that if I boot off of the XP disc won't it ask me if I want to re-install XP which would effectively wipe my XP hard drive ? Thanks

[MikeMoss]

You might also want to download a free program called EasyBCD.
It will show what you boot setup is and let you change it easily.

As others have said all you needed to do originally was put in the Windows 7 DVD with XP installed on C: and tell it to install on drive D: and let it go.

It would have taken care of everything on it's own.

You don't need to mess around in the bios, or change the way the drives are connected.

And if you decide later to remove the XP installation, Be Sure To Use EasyBCD to remove XP from the boot menu before you remove it or you will have big problems.

Mike

[glc]

1. Yes, but that will NOT remove the bootloader. It will still boot to the screen with the 3 choices. Remember - the bootloader was installed on the C drive!

2. Yes. You might as well just LEAVE the DVD first in the boot order - and the main "C" hard drive as second. NO need to keep changing it - if there's no bootable CD/DVD in the drive it will just skip past it with maybe a 1 second delay. ALL my machines are set up this way so if I do need to boot them with a CD/DVD I don't have to mess around in the bios.

3. Yes.

4. Your first choice will be to setup XP or repair XP using the console. Choose repair. It will ask you which installation of XP you want to repair - there should only be one, so press 1. It will then ask you for the administrator password, if you didn't set one, press enter. You will be at a C:\Windows prompt. Type FIXMBR. When done, type EXIT and reboot. It should boot into XP without a boot choice screen.

[Grimmbro]

Here is my latest update.
And by the way Mike, you have no idea how I wish I had paid closer attention to GLC's instructions about this in the first place.

"As others have said all you needed to do originally was put in the Windows 7 DVD with XP installed on C: and tell it to install on drive D: and let it go."
I say amen , brother.

"4. Your first choice will be to setup XP or repair XP using the console. Choose repair. It will ask you which installation of XP you want to repair - there should only be one, so press 1."

This is correct. Only 1 installation did appear

"It will then ask you for the administrator password, if you didn't set one, press enter. You will be at a C:\Windows prompt. Type FIXMBR."

This is also accurate. I typed FIXMBR and pressed Enter. There was a warning that this may damage my partition tables etc. Then the message said are you sure you want to write a new MBR ? I typed Y and pressed ENTER. The next message said "The new master boot record has been successfully written and it was followed by a new C://WINDOWS prompt.

"When done, type EXIT and reboot.
Here I typed EXIT and pressed ENTER"

"It should boot into XP without a boot choice screen."
The PC rebooted and went to the XP disc in my DVD drive and booted from there. (I suppose I should have ejected it earlier) I ran through all the same steps again but this time when it rebooted I removed the XP disc in my DVD drive and the PC reached the systems choice window and there are still 2 W7 choices along with the older version of WIndows. I have selected the older version of Windows and here I type.

The steps I took appear to have been unsuccessful.
I am wondering what could have gone wrong or where I may have erred. For the record, I had partitioned the new hard drive into 2 partitions. One partition was intended for the new OS and applications and the second partition was intended for data files. Is it possible that I have to reformat both partitions or just the one I did which had (has) the 2 failed instances of W7. Perhaps the re-formatting did not erase the instances of W7 for some reason. Sorry about this becoming the saga it has become but I think we are close to resolution. Please advise.

[glc]

The problem is not with the second drive right now. The problem is the Windows 7 bootloader is still on the C drive. FIXMBR should have removed it. Perhaps it's time to use EASYBCD as Mike has referenced.

[Grimmbro]

GLC, I downloaded the tool that Mike had suggested and found the menu where it lists the boot menus and it had displayed the 2 W7 's and the XP boot. I selected the first W7 instance ( I am certain of this - there was no error) and clicked delete and to my horror when the tool was finished I now have ONLY the 2 W7's displaying in the list and the XP boot has been deleted. Not sure what to do now. I am afraid to power down since it appears that I will not be able access XP if I do.

But this tool does have a feature that allows you to write a MBR but I am too much of a newb to proceed with that unless I am sure of what I am doing. It says "install the Windows XP bootloader to the MBR". There is also a choice to do the same for W7. There is also a warning that says: "This is an advanced option that you should only use if you're absolutely sure you wish to uninstall Windows Vista/7 Bootloader. This feature will only boot into Windows XP if the proper boot files are already in place".

I am nearly resigned to the fact that I will have to reinstall XP completely on the old hard drive and then hope that the legacy apps I have been afraid to lose will reinstall and functions as they do now. Unless there is still a way to save this as it is. I see you are on line so I am hoping you will reply soon.

[glc]

Your answer should be in here somewhere:

Windows XP - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

You won't have to reinstall XP - you have enough tools to repair it. You may even be able to just go ahead and delete EVERYTHING with EasyBCD, then use the XP console to do another FIXMBR and a FIXBOOT. Do NOT do that till someone can verify if that will work.

[Grimmbro]

Thanks for the advice GLC. As I see it then, I should proceed to delete the 2 remaining W7's boots that this tool sees but then I will have to power down at some point tonight. If I do, then I do not have a way to boot to XP tomorrow, do I ?
I guess, as you said, we can wait for someone to verify your comments before I do proceed with anything else.

[glc]

If you are booted into XP right now, run MSCONFIG and go to the BOOT.INI tab - please post exactly what it says.

[Grimmbro]

Here is what it says:

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems
;Warning: USE BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"/FASTDETECT/NOEXECUte=OPTIN/USEPMTIMER

[glc]

That's good - I might take a chance and get rid of the two Win 7 entries with EasyBCD. Please note I said "might".

[Grimmbro]

At this point I think I would prefer to power down and see if Mike comes across this thread tomorrow and maybe sheds some light. Getting late for me and tired minds do not work very well so deleting anything at this point could be risky.
I guess I will power off and hope it still boots tomorrow to XP. If it doesn't, I will be back here on my laptop looking for any new advice.

[Grimmbro]

Final update for today. I powered down as I said I would and curiosity got the better of me. I tried to boot the PC again and now all I see are the 2 choices for W7 that are defective so I am unable to boot into XP anymore because it does not appear as one of the choices. Looks like I will start from there tomorrow. Hope someone can post a recommended step from here. ( I am now working from my trusty old laptop ).

[glc]

Boot with the XP CD, use the console, and do a FIXBOOT and FIXMBR.