Ok here's the deal...

My girlfriend had a really old hp computer running windows 98, it was fried, but the hard drive was still OK, so I took that out of the old computer, threw away the rest of it.
I have a new Hp, running Windows XP home. So I figured I would put her hard drive in to my computer, so that whenever she wants to get on, she can just restart the computer and log onto her hard drive running windows 98 because she is more comfortable with it, and all her stuff is on there...

So, my question is, how do I do that haha

I want to be able to log on to either hard drive when you start up the computer, basically you get to pick which one to run...

Thanks a lot

Mr burgundy out

To my knowledge, this is not possible to do as you have described. The only way to do this is to do a dual boot setup but this would involve having both operating systems loaded onto a single hard drive. To do as you propose, you would have to set the drive up as a dual boot by installing 98 onto the drive as a fresh install and then copy the Windows 98 data from a backup media over to the newly installed Windows 98 boot partition. Then, you would be able to choose which partition to use at startup. This procedure is much to complicated to explain here. You may do a Google search for "setting up a dual boot partition in Windows XP" that would give you a clearer breakdown to this complicated procedure.

Howdy and welcome to AMHD:

It can be done but you are going to need a third party boot loader to get the dual boot option as it stands.. Normally, the oldest os must be installed on the primary partition with the newest OS being installed last.. Your saving grace here is that XP is formatted FAT as most bootloaders need to be installed on an FAT patition to work..

Just add her hdd as a slave to your system.. Next, download and install a bootloader (try www.tucows.com or www.downloads.com for some fairly good freeware loaders)..

BTW, you don't need to install both OS's on one hard-drive.. I dual boot Win98 and WinXP and they are on separate hdd's!

Murray

I would recommend System Commander (v-com.com) Its generally consider the best tool to handle a multi-boot system.

I think one of the problems you will have is that Win 98 needs to be on a C partition. XP doesn't have to be, so you may need to make the old drive the primary master.

You don't need a boot loder or anything like that, but you will have to reinstall the operating system on the second hard drive so it will work on your computer. First back up everything on the drive! Next plug it in{i put my second hard drive is as a secondary master}

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http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/29084/Add_a_Second_Hard_Drive.html

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(all you need to know about putting in a harddrive).
When your computer starts up it should flash something like "hit delete for..." hit the button it says to get to the mother bord settings. Hopefully, if your mother bord has this you can change which hard drive is first. Reinstall 98 on the hard drive so it will work on your computer. Then if things go well you should be able to install drivers on the 98 system. Finally go back to xp and drag all her files back to the old hard drive. Viola I think,
Hope it helps

Would it work to connect them both as C drive, connect the power feed to a double pole, double throw switch? Shut the computer down, flip the switch, and turn it back on.

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Originally Posted by mateo_salta

you dont need a boot loder or anything like that, but you will have to reinstall the operating system on the second hard drive so it will work on your computer.

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Win 98 requires being installed on the C (boot) drive. With Win XP you can install it on a different drive. Therefore putting the GF's hard drive in his XP computer won't work.

Physically, yes, you can:

* Put her drive in your tower
* Remove the IDE cable from your hard drive, and put it in hers (you will probably need a laptop 2.5cm adaptor

However, in the long run, this probably isn't a good idea. Windows 98 is going to expect the laptop's hardware to be present. It will run through a ton of "found new hardware" routines and install a bunch of drivers. It's also going to complain the laptop's hardware isn't present. In the end, you're going to end up with one screwed up windows installation, that will be a major PITA to fix.

This demonstrates the inherent inflexibility of the Microsoft windows operating systesms... sorry.

Hi PSI,
I don't remember anyone saying the old drive came from a laptop. But you are right, physically it can be done, but unless you make the old drive the primary, it won't boot to win 98. Win 98 needs to be on the boot drive unlike Win XP.

The thing is the mother board I have(ASUS P4P 800 delux), in the bios, you can change which drive is the primary. Xp assigns it as some other drive. 98 ignores the NTFS hard drives and uses the fat drive as its C drive. So if your mother board can do that you don't have to physically switch out the drives

This will do exactly as you want. Its $16 hardware switch.

Get it here

Is it just a keyed version of the DPDT switch I suggested?

Yeah, probably. That's a cool switch phr0ze

Its most likely affecting the jumpers and not the power as you suggested. If you do decide to switch the power, make sure you handle the 5v and 12v lines. I have not tried the switch I suggested, but if its fliping jumpers for you, you will be able to exchange data between drives at least with the XP os. I suggested it because I've thought about getting one a while ago but the need passed.

You could make your DPDT switch operate the jumpers. Maybe even get away with a SPDT if your drives don't require a jumper for one of the states. But still the DPDT is the safest bet.

Your requirement is serviced by Indus Technologies (http://www.industechnologies.com). The only requirement is that you must shut down your PC before switching