New
#1
what happens to drive letters when you dual-boot?
1. My machine has XP on a single hard drive w/ 3 partitions. In order to try W7 the easiest thing for me to do is to install it on my E: partition. If I boot into W7, do the drive letters change around or do the W7 system files still show up as E:\WINDOWS?
Are there any downsides to this installation that I don't know about? If I got tired of W7 would it be a problem to get rid of the bootloader?
2. My original plan was to buy a second hard drive, install it by itself, and load W7 onto it. Then reconnect the original hard drive and dual boot by changing the boot order in the BIOS. What does this do to the drive letters? I would have one hard drive with 3 partitions and another hard drive with one partition. If I boot W7 I'm guessing that its hard drive would become C: and the other hard drive would become D:, E: and F:. But what happens if I boot XP from the other hard drive? Does it stay C:, D: and E: and the second hard drive becomes F:, or do the letter scramble differently?