Installing Win 7 on 2nd hard drive

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  1. ViperGuy
    Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit + XP MCE 32bit
       New #1

    Installing Win 7 on 2nd hard drive


    I have XP MCE now and just bought a new sata hard drive and want to isntall Win 7 Pro on it. I read the tutorial but am still confused. Can I just remove my current hard drive with XP on it, install the new hard drive and then install win 7 on it? Then when Win 7 is installed reinstall my old XP drive?

    I built my PC its a
    Core 2 Duo
    4 gigs of ram,
    400 GB sata drive with XP
    200 GB IDE drive for storage
    IDE DVD rom drive
    sata DVD burner
    new blank 1TB sata drive
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  3. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #2

    Yes, this is actually the best way to dual boot since it leaves your HD's independent. You then boot via the BIOS boot order and/or using the key given for Boot Menu on first bootup screen.

    If you leave the XP drive plugged, Win 7 will configure a Windows managed dual boot which is harder to extricate XP later since it will hold the MBR for both.
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  4. Night Hawk
    Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       New #3

    Welcome to SF! Viper Guy

    There's also another option not mentioned of simply switching sata ports for both drives leaving the new drive as HD0. Once 7 is installed on the new drive XP will be seen as "previous version of Windows" on the boot options screen once added into the 7 boot loader automatically. Both drives still remain independently bootable on their own and the XP entry is easy to remove from the 7 BCD store later if needed.

    The guide here shows two methods of installing 7 before or after XP is on. Method One suits your needs there. Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
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  6. ViperGuy
    Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit + XP MCE 32bit
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Thanks for the fast replies.

    So I can just plug the new hd in the sata port of the old hd and the old hd in the next open sata port put in the Win 7 disc and install it?

    I built my own system but im still not familiar with some of the more technical stuff.
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  7. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #5

    You need to use separate cables: Hard Drive Update - Solutions by PC Magazine
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  8. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #6

    I would go with what gregrocker says - make an independent installation. No need to uninstall your current disk, just unplug the power cable. Then install Win7 on your new disk, replug the XP disk and choose your boot sequence via the BIOS. That way you don't have to mess around with MBR's - yukky stuff.
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  10. ViperGuy
    Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit + XP MCE 32bit
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    whs said:
    I would go with what gregrocker says - make an independent installation. No need to uninstall your current disk, just unplug the power cable. Then install Win7 on your new disk, replug the XP disk and choose your boot sequence via the BIOS. That way you don't have to mess around with MBR's - yukky stuff.
    So when I plug the XP drive back in will Win 7 see it?

    Thanks again
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  11. Night Hawk
    Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       New #8

    Switching the data cables are easy enough since the Windows installer always looks for the first drive on the system to place the boot files and create mbr entries there. Once those are swapped you will still need to take a trip into the bios boot section to make sure the new drive is set as the first in order or the default boot device depending on which bios version is used.

    Once 7 is on you can set which version will be the default OS as well. Being 7 is newer you may want to leave 7 set as the default until getting familiar with it however. The XP entry seen on the startup screen can also be renamed with the help of a small 3rd party tool as well as setting the amount of time the boot options will be displayed onscreen before proceeding into the default OS.

    Until the next version 2.0 of the EasyBCD tool is available in order to preserve the new look on the 7 boot splash screen a small run from folder tool called BellaVista will work for renaming "previous version" to "XP Home or Pro" with the set description option. System Tools - BellaVista

    For setting which OS is default if you elect to have XP set as default you can use this as well or proceed into the boot tab in the msconfig utility there. The Startup & Recovery section found in Control Panel>System>Advanced settings.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Installing Win 7 on 2nd hard drive-set-default-os-startup-recovery.jpg  
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  12. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #9

    ViperGuy said:
    whs said:
    I would go with what gregrocker says - make an independent installation. No need to uninstall your current disk, just unplug the power cable. Then install Win7 on your new disk, replug the XP disk and choose your boot sequence via the BIOS. That way you don't have to mess around with MBR's - yukky stuff.
    So when I plug the XP drive back in will Win 7 see it?

    Thanks again
    Yes - even better. If you create a seperate partition for your data from the XP system, you can include those folders (documents, pictures, music, etc) into the Win7 libraries and you don't have to worry about syncing your data.
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  13. ViperGuy
    Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit + XP MCE 32bit
    Thread Starter
       New #10

    Thanks for all the detailed help will try this all tomorrow.

    One last question should I partition the new 1TB drive or just leave it whole? My current 400 GB XP drive isn't partitioned.

    Thanks again.
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