In addition to what others have said...
You can do pretty much anything with a boot manager.
I use BootIt for partioning and booting. ($35) There are
probably free options, too. Any version of Linux will also
come with a boot manager, though then all of your systems
will depend on Linux working.
WinXP and Win7 have rudimentary boot managers that
can multi boot in theory. I don't know whether they can
handle a second disk in practice, but you can certainly
test that. On XP there's a file named boot.ini, on C drive.
If a multi-boot scenario like you want is possible it will
read something like this:
[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
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=AlwaysOff
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional D Drive" /fastdetect /NoExecute=AlwaysOff
There are 2 long lines there, wrapped. All but the last line
is my own boot.ini. The last line is the way it should read
if you're also booting from the first partition of a second disk.
The format is pretty much self-explanatory: partition location,
display name at boot, optional parameters.
There's no reason you can't install XP, but activation
requirements haven't changed. (The rumor when MS started
Product Activation was that they would release a universal
activation key when XP support ended, but I think that's
highly unlikely. I doubt very much they'd do such a thing
while there are still so many people who can use it and save
money by installing XP rather than buying Win7/8.)
I find it's easiest to just put in the new disk alone for
installing, so that it doesn't accidentally install to your
C drive. (Then make a disk image of that if you want to
maintain multi-booting OSs without having to do full installs
regularly.)
Personally I would put data partitions on the new disk before
installing. If you have a 1 TB C drive then you lose 1 TB of
disk space if XP is lost to malfunction, malware, etc. If you
have data partitions and a C drive of 5-20 GB then you only
lose XP itself if you lose C drive. Your data would still be safe.
|I just got a new 1T USB drive as a backup. Is there any way to boot from
| it? I have already copied some files to it. If so, is there a way to
| install XP Home on it without reformatting it? Can one still install or
| reinstall XP now that MS has removes support? It used to sometimes take a
| phone call to MS.
|
| I realize booting from another drive is complex. More than suitable for
| posting here. Can anyone point me to a source of this info?
|
| TIA
|
|
| --
| "Things would be a lot nicer if antique people were valued
| as highly as antique furniture!" Anon
|
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