Boot from one of 2 attached drives with BIOS boot order no problem?

Tango1 · 12 Jan 2014

I got a SSD now in my system connected to the first sata port with win7 installed
My previous (mechanical) sata hard disk who was prev. setup on this port is still usable and also has win7 installed on it. i wnat to use it as a experiment setup.
If I connect this old hdd to another sata port say sata 1 or 2.

Can I choose to boot from either the new SSD or the old sata-hdd and run win7 without problems using the BIOS boot order?

I read some scary stuff about this scenario could mess things up because both both drives used to be 'C'

Also I have my BIOS setup with AHCI nowbecause of the SSD. My previous hdd used the standard sata-mode. If I use this old mechanical sata hdd which has windows7 on it and use AHCI in bios will it boot/work?

AddRAM · 12 Jan 2014

As long as you installed windows independently, with the other drive unplugged, there would be no issue choosing either one to boot from the bios.

I doubt if the hard drive will boot in AHCI mode, but test it to see.

whs · 12 Jan 2014

If the 2 systems are completely independent - meaning they don't share a common bootloader - then this is no problem. I do that all the time. AHCI should not be a problem for the HDD but if that does not work, go back to ide. The SSD takes only a minor performance hit. You may not even notice the difference.

AddRAM · 12 Jan 2014

Thanks Wolfgang, I stand corrected on AHCI with the hard drive. :)

I once installed to a HD in IDE mode, switched to AHCI and windows would not boot, I assumed as much for the OP.

But now that I think about it, I believe the install was to the SSD, but the MB was on IDE and I switched it to AHCI and windows wouldn`t boot.

whs · 12 Jan 2014

I think the problem you may have had is that you changed to IDE in the BIOS but not in Windows - in the reg key from 03 to 00 or whatever. I had that problem also one time. You have to change it on both sides.

Britton30 · 12 Jan 2014

One of the installs may show up as Non Genuine too?

gregrocker · 12 Jan 2014

We've been advising to Dual Boot via BIOS for years here. It's cleaner and causes less problems.

At any time if you don't like it you can install EasyBCD to the primary OS to add the other one to a Windows Dual Boot menu, but unllke doing this during install it will keep both OS's independent with their own boot files so they can come and go as you please.

AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums (and vice versa)

Tango1 · 12 Jan 2014

Thanks i found a tutorial how to install a new driver on the old sata hdd. To make it work with AHCI in order for it boot properly with AHCI enabled in the BIOS. Though I'm not sure. It talked about installing an intel driver on my Windows installation. But my system has AMD chipsets and software drivers

gregrocker · 12 Jan 2014

Have you tried booting the older drive yet in AHCI mode? Try now with the SSD plugged in too, set first to boot. Allow the SSD to boot, then reboot and try triggering the HD with BBM key.

What error do you get exactly if either fail?

Most AHCI and SATA drivers are in Win7 already.

Tango1 · 14 Jan 2014

hey Gregrocker. Thank you for trying to help. I think I am done with my old hdd with win7 on it now. I'll just use my new ssd with a new instal of iwn7.

I got a new problem though.

My new windows 7 install on my new SSD works fine, but does not recognize a reattached truecrypted hdd to my system. It doesnt show under device manager, if I right click on it in explorer it hangs for a minute and then gives me 0 bytes capacity/0 bytes used description. truecrypt wont mount it since it cannot find the 1st partition, it only sees the device.

Then I reattached the old sata hdd which still has win7 on it (exact same windows as installed on my new SSD), but now in IDE mode via BIOS. And the treuecrypted drive seems fine, windows recognizes it, it is healthy, truecrypt sees and can mount it, I can assign a driveletter or remove it and so on.

What could be going on?