I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally
built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded
Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this point,
I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really
wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question is
this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what
will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two
bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into the
disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to
believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system
that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not sure
exactly how it all works.

Thank you for any help.

Why a new disk? Just boot from the Win7 DVD, select that disk as the install
location and Win7 will install itself on it and you'll still be able to
dual-boot Vista and Win7.

"Andy Siegel" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally
> built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded
> Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this
> point,
> I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really
> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question
> is
> this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what
> will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two
> bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into
> the
> disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to
> believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system
> that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not
> sure
> exactly how it all works.
>
> Thank you for any help.

If you removed disk0 (with xp on it) and replaced it with a new HD and
loaded Win7 on to it : then YES : Win7 should easily be able to recognise
another windows version and create a boot.ini file to accommodate it.

Just make sure you take care in the initial installation of Win7 to install
it onto drive0 - it's a good idea before you begin to take note of the
drive's sizes because that's going to be the way to identify them from each
other in the setup procedure.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"Andy Siegel" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally
> built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded
> Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this
> point,
> I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I
> really
> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question
> is
> this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what
> will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are
> two
> bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into
> the
> disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to
> believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system
> that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not
> sure
> exactly how it all works.
>
> Thank you for any help.

=?Utf-8?B?QW5keSBTaWVnZWw=?= <(E-Mail Removed)>
écrivait news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-(E-Mail Removed):

<snip>

> (I really
> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro)

<snip>

If this is what you really want to do, why don't you do it?

Insert your Win7 disk while Vista is running and follow the prompts. I
think you need a "retail" disk (not OEM) to do this.

having a dual boot with
vista and w7 won't be
worthwhile.

there isn't any advantage
and you can only use
one o.s. at any one time.

if however, you had two
different computers like
a pc and laptop,

you could make each
one have a different o.s.
and enjoy the best of
both worlds.

--
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


"Andy Siegel" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:90849008-CEF3-47C0-807A-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a computer with space for only two hard drives. It was originally
> built with Windows XP Pro (Disk 0). I added a drive (Disk 1) and loaded
> Vista Ultimate on it and I do a dual boot routine as needed. At this
> point,
> I'd like to install a new Disk 0 and build it as Windows 7 Pro. (I really
> wish I could upgrade my Vista Ultimate to Win7 Pro) I guess my question
> is
> this, if I put in a new Disk 0, boot to a DVD and build it to Win 7, what
> will happen to my Disk 1? Will Windows still recognize that there are two
> bootable drives and ask me which one to use? When I put a new drive into
> the
> disk 0 spot, the system didn't seem to know what to do which leads me to
> believe that there's something in the MBR of disk 0 that tells the system
> that there are two bootable drives. I guess you could say that I'm not
> sure
> exactly how it all works.
>
> Thank you for any help.

On 6/4/2010 1:57 PM, Db wrote:
>
> having a dual boot with
> vista and w7 won't be
> worthwhile.
>
> there isn't any advantage
> and you can only use
> one o.s. at any one time.
>
> if however, you had two
> different computers like
> a pc and laptop,
>
> you could make each
> one have a different o.s.
> and enjoy the best of
> both worlds.

I have a dual boot XP/Ubuntu machine, if I push F8 while the computer is
booting up a menu comes up with boot options. I think most modern
computers have this feature now.

I only mention it because I don't like trusting any OS to install a dual
boot with any other OS and do it right. Whenever I install a 2nd OS on a
machine I make sure the hard drive with the 1st working OS is
disconnected & unplugged so there is no possible way for it to be
corrupted, then complete the 2nd OS installation. I like to keep life
simple!

Just a thought,
Mike