Vista and XP Dual Boot

[Dennis8706]

I have a brand new Vista computer. I have an older XP computer. I plan on
taking the hard drive from the old computer and put it into an external case
and hook it up to the new computer using the USB port. I would like the new
set up to be "dual boot" using the Vista as the first boot. First is this
possible. I have never set up a dual boot before, is there specific
instructions? Is it complicated? Hopefully not. I would appreciate specific
instructions.
Dennis8706

 

[Malke]

I have a brand new Vista computer. I have an older XP computer. I plan on
taking the hard drive from the old computer and put it into an external case
and hook it up to the new computer using the USB port. I would like the new
set up to be "dual boot" using the Vista as the first boot. First is this
possible. I have never set up a dual boot before, is there specific
instructions? Is it complicated? Hopefully not. I would appreciate specific
instructions.
Dennis8706

You can certainly dual-boot XP and Vista, although there are issues (see
MVP Bert Kinney's link below). However, XP will not run off an external
USB drive. You will need to install the second hard drive in your new
machine and do a clean install of XP. It is more complicated to install
XP after Vista and you will need to make sure the new machine's hardware
supports XP with drivers first.

Dual Booting Windows Vista & Windows XP -
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html
Install Windows XP On A Machine Already Running Windows Vista (MVP John
Barnett) -
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/install_windows_xp_on_machine_running_vista.htm


Malke

 

[Dennis8706]

Malke:

The new computer with Vista has a SATA drive. The old computer with XP has
an IDE drive. That is why I bought an externaldrive enclosure that allows you
to put in either an IDE or Sata drive and use the USB port to connect it. Why
won't a USB port work? If not, I can try to see if I can get an external port
case that can go from IDE to SATA? I don't know if I can find one. Or an
internal conversion from IDE to SATA, etc. Any ideas??
Dennis8706

 

[Malke]

Malke:

The new computer with Vista has a SATA drive. The old computer with XP has
an IDE drive. That is why I bought an externaldrive enclosure that allows you
to put in either an IDE or Sata drive and use the USB port to connect it. Why
won't a USB port work? If not, I can try to see if I can get an external port
case that can go from IDE to SATA? I don't know if I can find one. Or an
internal conversion from IDE to SATA, etc. Any ideas??
Dennis8706

It won't work to put XP on an external hard drive because the operating
system wasn't written to run from an external drive. It needs to be
internal. Look at your motherboard and see if there are any IDE
connections. The optical drives may be IDE and if they are, you can put
the XP hard drive on there if you don't need both optical drive
connectors. Otherwise you can buy a drive controller card that is IDE or
a SATA-to-IDE converter card. You would need to install the controller
drivers in XP at the F6 prompt during OS installation or repair.


Malke

 

[Mick Murphy]

Malke has also suggested fittng the IDE Drive internally.
You will strike probs that way as well.

The XP will not recognise the new hardware found, and most likely crash.
Also, was your XP preinstalled on your OLD computer.
It is was, it is OEM, and can not be moved to another computer.