So here's the thing.

I've been on XP (Pro/sp3) for years.

I run it from disc C.

I have cleared disc F

I use discs G & H for storage only.

These are all physically different discs.

Before installing Win7 I would disconnect all other discs.

If I were to disconnect C, then install Win7 on F

(a) Would that work straighforwardly?

( Would I later be able to disconnect F and reconnect C to run XP if I wanted to?

Would I be able to switch between the two...

© by physically removing the drive containing the OS I don't want to use?

(d) without physically removing the drives?

NB: Xp is an old hacked copy, but Win7 is a legitimate Home Professional edition. (includes XP mode....)

PS: Drive C is Pata, all other are SATA.

Any suggestions would be meritourious.

I used a new hard drive to install my Win 7 Pro and saved the Win XP Pro on the old drive. I could unplug the new SATA drive and plug the old SATA drive back in. After I was sure I wouldn't ever use XP again, I formatted the XP drive and use it for a backup. After you get used to Win 7 Pro, you'll never want to use XP again.

a. Yes no problem

b. Yes no problem

c. Yes no problem

d. Yes no problem, BUT to accomplish this, you should let drive C be connected when you install Windows 7 on drive F

edit: but as Gary A says, you will quickly find out how outdated XP is compared to win 7

if it was me I would setup a vmplayer on the spare drive and run it in there. I do this now on a linux box so if I need something in Win7 I just boot the win7 vmplayer, xp vmplayer, mac vmplayer etc..

As pointed out, if you want XP (for whatever reason) to be maintained on C:\ you'll need to keep it plugged in.

Technically you don't have to, but adding it into your boot menu is more complicated than you need to put up with.

If you leave all drives connected and install W7 it will install a boot manager to allow you to choose which operating system to boot up. Doing this will also allow you to copy files off of the XP drive to migrate to W7 as you will most likely stop using XP anyway.

Garyh is right, if you unplug the drives and install Win7 on F:, it would then become a C: drive and when you try to plug the windows xp drive back in there with the old F: drive there would be a problem as the boot manager doesn't know which drive to boot from, or that there are to options.

Install on drive F: should create a dual boot setup, your best option if you want to switch between the OS's with out having unplug and plug back in.

Just a quick note to say:

This is my first post on thaivisa using W7 Prof.

Thanks to all for your comments, I installed about a week ago and it did exactly what you all said.

My previous "C" drive with XP on it became my "D" drive

My previous Spare drive became my "C" drive with W7.

(I did change the boot up values in BIOS - though I doubt it was necessary)

My data storage drive is untouched and beautifully intact,

and I get the option on start up of

*Older windows operating system

or

*Windows 7

I love W7.

With a passion.

My girlfriend gets jealous.

Thank you very much to all who contributed.

I did the same (multiboot) and then I uninstalled Win7 - YES I like WinXP more!!! It simply works for me without any problems and this for many years

But by uninstalling Win7 I ended up with a not bootable WinXP and so no boot disk at all. There are long descriptions on the internet how to recover from such a nightmare. Prepare for this BEFORE an uninstall of Win7!

I did the same (multiboot) and then I uninstalled Win7 - YES I like WinXP more!!! It simply works for me without any problems and this for many years

But by uninstalling Win7 I ended up with a not bootable WinXP and so no boot disk at all. There are long descriptions on the internet how to recover from such a nightmare. Prepare for this BEFORE an uninstall of Win7!

Easy to fix, but why oh why would you go back to xp???????

Put your xp disc in and boot from it then select repair.

I did the same (multiboot) and then I uninstalled Win7 - YES I like WinXP more!!! It simply works for me without any problems and this for many years

But by uninstalling Win7 I ended up with a not bootable WinXP and so no boot disk at all. There are long descriptions on the internet how to recover from such a nightmare. Prepare for this BEFORE an uninstall of Win7!

Easy to fix, but why oh why would you go back to xp???????

Put your xp disc in and boot from it then select repair.

Easy to fix if you know. But I guess many users will be pretty helpless with an error message at boot. And some might not have an XP disk. For me hard to understand that Microsoft allows such a user disaster and this with their own products.

Win7 is for me no real option. For me applications are more important than the OS. For instance now I type in Firefox - who cares about the OS. I could not even tell what is running at the moment. It does not make any difference in Firefox and so in most other applications. In addition to this I have my special GUI in XP already with tools - and this for years. Win7 still cannot replace them and sadly those tools do not work with Win7 since they are add-ons to the explorer. Where is for instance the tabbed browser in the Win7 explorer (the one for files and folders). Freeware QTTabbar does a great job in XP for instance.

To sum it up - why should spend money for a a new cow and get used to it if the milk will be the same I am interested in the milk and not in a new cow. And security - have been using different OS the last 35 years almost on a daily basis. I NEVER had a problem. But I use firewall, sandboxes, antivirus and encryption software. So what? Should I get suddenly scared because I do not have Win7? Perhaps Microsoft might get scared if many customers stick to XP

Changed my mind

Changed my mind.

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