Re: 2 hd each bootable on same ide cable

Tim, nice post and explanation.

"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

What you want to do is called "dual-booting" - having
2 OSes to choose from at boot time. One easy way is to
use the BIOS by resetting the HARD DRIVE boot order
(not the DEVICE boot order) during POST (the stuff that
the BIOS does before actual loading). This involves going
into the BIOS by hitting Delete or some function key during
POST and changing the HD boot order via keyboard input.
The *default* HD boot order (assuming PATA IDE HDs) is:
Master, IDE channel 0,
Slave, IDE channel 0,
Master, IDE channel 1,
Slave, IDE channel 1.

The HD boot order for SATA HDs is based on their
channel numbers.

The BIOS will name these in its setup screen by using the
names of their model numbers. (If the model nos. are the
same for both HDs, you may not be able to distinguish them.
In my case, I had to use HDs of different capacities to
have differing model nos.) By rearranging which HD is at
the top of the list, you will control which HD's MBR gets
control at boot time. The partition that in turn gets control
of booting is the Primary partition on the HD that is marked
"active". If you only have one Primary partition on each HD,
the setting of the "active" flag is irrelevant. Assuming that
each HD can, when in isolation from the other, boot its OS,
this method will allow you to select the HD when both are
connected.

The other easy method is to use a boot manager to
manage multi-booting. Since your OSes are both in the
WinNT/2K/XP family of Windows OSes, you can use
the MS boot manager (ntldr) and its options file (boot.ini)
to dual-boot (or even multi-boot). If the installer for the
2nd OS was able to see the 1st OS, it would have set up
the boot options file "boot.ini" for dual-booting for you.
That this was the case is hinted by the partition for the 2nd
OS being named "D:" and that you've not mentioned any
other partitions on either HD. Your boot.ini file (which is
a system file and may be hidden if you haven't designated
system files to be unhidden) should look something like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="arbitrary name for 1st OS" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="arbitrary name for 2nd OS" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Notice that the 2 lines under "[operating systems]" differ only
in the arbitrary names in quotes and in the argument for "rdisk()".
"0" in rdisk(0) refers to the 0th HD in the HD boot order, and
"1" in rdisk(1) refers to the 1th HD in the HD boot order, i.e.
to "C:" and "D:" (or to "D:" and "C:", depending in the setting of
the HD boot order).

The value after "timeout=" is the number of seconds that
you have to decide which partition to pass control to (i.e. which
OS to boot in your case). After that period, if there is no selection
via keyboard input, the default line in boot.ini is used to pass
control.

The arbitrary character strings in the option lines are merely
for you to distinguish the OSes when they're displayed on the
boot menu at boot time. You can set them to be whatever means
something to you.

If your boot.ini files (at C:\boot.ini and D:\boot.ini) don't
look like the one above, simply edit them with Notepad. Or,
if you don't trust yourself, you can let WinXP do it for you by
running "msconfig", clicking the BOOT.INI tab, and clicking
the "Check all boot paths" button. If the 2nd OS's HD is
connected, msconfig will set up the boot.ini file in the partition
containing the running OS for dual-booting by including an
option line designating the 2nd OS.

*TimDaniels*


"roynoblin" wrote:
I only have one PC. I purchased a new hard drive and
windows XP home. I now move the power and ide cable
to the drive I want to boot from.
My ribbon and power supply will let me install two drives.
I set to auto and the PC gave me a C: and D: drive. When
I installed the new XP on the second drive and rebooted,
the PC went nuts. Hence I reformatted the second drive,
moved the cables, installed XP and registered with MS.
Now by moving the cables I can boot from both drives.

Is there some way I can chouse, which drive to boot to and
not have to keep moving the cables?

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
.

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