Hi, Waldy.
Sure. Now third-party software required, and no shenanigans are necessary.
Just remember 3 main points.
1. The Golden Rule of dual-booting: Always install the newest operating
system last. (If there are more than two OSes, that may NOT be the same as
"install the oldest first".)
2. We boot from the System Partition and keep the operating system files
in the Boot Volume. (For details, see KB article 314470:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/
3. WinXP and Vista always install in TWO parts. The big part goes into
the \Windows folder on the Boot Volume (see #2 above), which can be any
primary partition or logical drive on any HD in your computer. The small
part always goes into the System Partition, which MUST be a Primary
Partition, marked Active (bootable), on the hard drive currently designated
in the BIOS as the boot device at the time Setup is run.
If you simply add your new HD after your existing HD, leaving the old HD as
the boot device, you can boot into WinXP and use Disk Management to
partition and format the second HD. Then insert the Vista DVD and run Setup
from there. It will ask where you want to install Vista. Tell it Drive V:,
or whatever letter you've assigned to your chosen destination. Setup will
install Vista where you point, then it will update the startup files on the
first HD's System Partition. It will preserve WinXP's startup files (NTLDR,
NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini), then it will write Vista's boot loader file
(bootmgr, a filename with no extension) and \Boot folder (holding the BCD -
Boot Configuration Data - which does for Vista what Boot.ini does for WinXP,
and more) into the Root of that partition. WinXP probably calls that
partition Drive C:, and Vista will use that same drive letter. Your System
Partition will still be C:, WinXP's Boot Volume will still be whatever it
was before (probably C
, and Vista's Boot Volume will be V:, or whatever
letter you assigned before running Setup.
Or, after adding your second HD and leaving the first HD in place, you can
boot from the Vista DVD and run Setup. In this case, Setup will not know
what drive letters WinXP has assigned, so it will assign letters, starting
from scratch using its own rules. You can either partition and format the
second HD ahead of time, or let Setup do the job. Either way, you will
select the Vista destination by HD # and Partition #, not by drive letter.
Whichever partition you choose will become Vista's Boot Volume and will be
assigned Drive C:. Then the System Partition (back on the first HD and
still called C: by WinXP) will be assigned the next letter, Drive D:. Other
drive letters can be assigned after Vista is installed. (Vista and WinXP
probably will assign different letters to the same volumes.)
Whichever method you choose to run Setup, Vista's \Windows folder will be
where you choose to install it, WinXP's \Windows folder will still be where
it started, and the boot process will always start in the System Partition
and branch to whichever OS you select.
There are endless variations on this theme, of course. You could remove the
first HD before running Setup. In that case, Setup will have no choice but
to create a new System Partition on the second HD. Many users prefer to use
this method of dual-booting, but it means that they have to change their
BIOS settings to boot into the other operating system. Or you could
reconfigure your system with the new drive as Disk 0 and the old one as Disk
1, then boot from the Vista DVD and run Setup. It will detect WinXP already
installed on the older Disk 1 and create the dual-boot setup on the new
System Partition that it will create on Disk 0.
The simplest way: Add the second HD. Boot from the Vista DVD. Point to
the second HD and let Setup do all the work. ;<)
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)
