I have two spare IDE drives I want to put in my computer. One has a copy of xp home the other has xp pro32. Currently, I'm using a sata drive with xp pro64. Is there anything I have to do to the bios or to the jumpers of the two IDE drives so that they won't boot the other versions of xp? Or will my computer recognize it automatically?
Your bios should have a boot order defined. Usually you can tell it which controller to boot off of (in which case you cna leave IDE out of it.
modify the hidden system file c:\boot.ini on your sata drive to make sure only the partition with the windows you want to boot is utilized (make sure only your primary partition is listed. delete any other entries). WARNING - this is essentially the boot sector. to put it frankly, if you make a mistake, you are screwed.
edit: nevermind, snipy is right. my suggestion is more for a single drive with several windows installs.
edit: nevermind, snipy is right. my suggestion is more for a single drive with several windows installs.
Last edited by steelie34 (2008-01-24 10:48:10)
no it wont. I tested it myself 3 days ago. i had one IDE drive with windows XP and windows vista is on SATA if IDE is connected and SATA not windows xp wil boot if SATA is connected and IDE not windows vista will boot,if both is connected windows vista will boot,just make sure your IDE drive is set to slave.
Or you might get an option which OS you want to load
Or you might get an option which OS you want to load
Last edited by xxCaptainBlackxx (2008-01-24 10:56:50)