Adding old XP HDD to Vista 64 system

[sanfire]

I'm more familar with an Abacus than a desktop so I figured I had better get some clarity before I did something stupid. What I'd like to do is take a Hard drive out of my old computer (which has a bad MB) and throw it in my new computer. The thing is my old HD had XP Home Premium sp3 on it and new one has Vista Home Premium 64 bit.

My Comp is now AMD Phenom 9950 2.66 gig
MSI DKA790GX MB
Corsair Dom 8 gig
seagate SATA2 1.5 TB 32MB 7200 RPM
OS Vista Home Premium 64 Bit SP1

I want to add to that a Maxtor SATA150 250GB
8 MB 7200 RPM with XP Home Premium 32 bit SP3.

Is there still the boot.ini issue since I'm not really "loading" a new OS but sorta Plugin' one in?
Will it boot and give an option on which OS to use?
Will Vista "see" the other HDD since stuffs already there?

I've read so much on this dual-boot stuff now I'm totally lost.


​

 

[pooch]

I'm more familar with an Abacus than a desktop so I figured I had better get some clarity before I did something stupid. What I'd like to do is take a Hard drive out of my old computer (which has a bad MB) and throw it in my new computer. The thing is my old HD had XP Home Premium sp3 on it and new one has Vista Home Premium 64 bit.

My Comp is now AMD Phenom 9950 2.66 gig
MSI DKA790GX MB
Corsair Dom 8 gig
seagate SATA2 1.5 TB 32MB 7200 RPM
OS Vista Home Premium 64 Bit SP1

I want to add to that a Maxtor SATA150 250GB
8 MB 7200 RPM with XP Home Premium 32 bit SP3.

Is there still the boot.ini issue since I'm not really "loading" a new OS but sorta Plugin' one in?
Will it boot and give an option on which OS to use?
Will Vista "see" the other HDD since stuffs already there?

I've read so much on this dual-boot stuff now I'm totally lost.


​

Hi sanfire,

Welcome to the forum.

When you do it this way XP may or may not boot as you are placing it in a completely different system. If it boots you will have to install all the XP drivers. See here for drivers;
MSI -- MICRO-STAR INT'L CO., LTD.

Because you have not installed XP, Vista will not know that it is there and visa versa. You will not get a dual boot menu., but you will be able to see the contents of the other HDD from whichever operating system that you have booted into.

To boot XP you could change the boot HDD in the BIOS, but after a while, constantly switching between the HDD's would become a pain.

When you boot into Vista, You might get an option to choose the boot device (On my system this is pressing the f8 key while the boot screen is showing) this will give you a choice of HDD's, DVD Roms and any other boot devices that you may have.

If you dont get this option there is a program called Easy BCD which you could use to boot into both operating systems;
Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

I hope this helps

Pooch

 

[sanfire]

Pooch
Thanks for the help...I'll check that program and see what will happen.

 

[sanfire]

wow...that was easy, didn't use the program since its not needed. Just pluged it in, bois auto recognised and slaved it...booted that HDD and updated drivers. thanks for the help...guess I just needed the push over the edge:D

 

[pooch]