Boot Drive Sequence

[SteveBzzz]

Hi,

I'm sure this question has been answered before, but I would really be grateful for help.

I have just installed a second HD. I have XP on the first drive, and have not yet added an operating system to the second drive, but it is formatted. Second drive is visable from the first drive (XP).

Question: Other than changing the boot sequence in the BIOS, is there a way to select which drive is going to boot?

Thanks.

Steve

 

[Snickle]

Read this page about dual-booting:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q306559

Win9x/ME has to go on the boot/system drive which is usually C:, without using third-party software like BootMagic.

Win9x/ME can use FAT32 but can't see/use NTFS partitions and Win2000/XP can use both FAT32 and NTFS5 partitions. WinNT4 can use FAT16 and NTFS4 partitions but not FAT32 or NTFS5.

Changing the data cable or jumpers on the drives will determine which the Primary Master drive/drive C: as far as the BIOS is concerned.

The second drive doesn't need an Operating System to be usable. Could use it only for storing data.

 

[edfair]

You might want to do a google search for "boot manager". Might give you some options. I/m not to XP yet so I haven't kept up with the possibilites. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Hungster]

if you load win2k or winxp on the second hd, you don't need to worry about formating it
just format from the boot cd of win2k or winxp pro and install either OS then when you are done, windows will create a boot.ini for you to choose between the OS, the default time is 30sec, you can modify the file if you want it to boot quicker