DUAL boot for 2 Windows from 2 harddisks

[jims]

I have 2 harddisks installed, one with XP and one with ME.
I want my computer to let me choose which OS to boot in
the startup, is that I need to use any software to do so ??
I can now just choose to boot from which computer by
setting the boot priority from the BIOS and as a result
the drive letter specified for the 2 harddisk are
different in the 2 OS which make my file linkage in some
of the program like Access go wrong.
Can anybody help and teach me how and what to do or give
me any guidelines or reference site??

 

[F1Com]

I have 2 harddisks installed, one with XP and one with ME.
I want my computer to let me choose which OS to boot in
the startup, is that I need to use any software to do so ??
I can now just choose to boot from which computer by
setting the boot priority from the BIOS and as a result
the drive letter specified for the 2 harddisk are
different in the 2 OS which make my file linkage in some
of the program like Access go wrong.
Can anybody help and teach me how and what to do or give
me any guidelines or reference site??

It's a tricky deal. The mbr does not support 98/XP dual booting without
installing the two OS correctly and your boot software. Resources to
help (first one recreates your situation):

http://forums.devshed.com/t57635/s.html

http://www.geocities.com/merijn_bellekom/new/xp98dualboot.html

http://pages.zdnet.com/hampsi/Articles/dualboot.htm


You could buy Partition Magic 8 that includes a boot manager called Boot
Magic. Boot Magic could handle your situation as is, but it's not free.
It also needs to be installed on the Me drive unless your xp drive is
formatted with fat32.

Terry

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have 2 harddisks installed, one with XP and one with ME.
I want my computer to let me choose which OS to boot in
the startup, is that I need to use any software to do so ?

There is a method that Doug Knox has at his site to allow you to install
a second system after the XP and achieve a dual boot, (see
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm

But frankly for your need I think you need an independent boot manager.
The one I use is BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware
- 30 day full functional trial)

There is also Boot Magic that comes along with Partition Magic; or there
is System Commander