Hi guys! I've recently bought a new HD SATA,(250GB) I have already 2 HD ATA 133 (40GB each) on my pc. What I wanna do is: to have the possibility to chose which HD to start when I turn on the pc. ( I use the pc for hard disk recording, but also for a lot of stuff also, so.. I just wanna the 2 things completely separate 1 HD ATA 40 GB install windows XP ( using only for music) 1 HD ATA 40 GB install windows XP (all the other stuff) 1 HD SATA 250 GB just keep for sorage. So....when I start the pc I'd like to choose which HD to wok on Before I was doing this in a very strange way, I kept the case opened, and all the time I disconnected the alimentation cable of one of the Hard disks!!
if you want to have your two OS on completely separate drives, then you need to manually switch your IDE cables like you have been doing. However, there is a tool that does exactly what you want, called a hard drive selector. check it out here: http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=281 I think it retails for around $50, but you can choose from 3 diff HDs to boot from. Of course an easier method would be to take one of your 40GB drives, and partition it in half then install two versions of XP on each, as 20GB should be ample room for programs and XP. with both on the same drive, you can then select which OS you want to boot from during the boot up sequence of your computer before windows loads. just another option, as I don't really see the point in needed two separate HDs for two OS systems, if they're in the same computer...
thanks a lot! I think I'll do as you told me, I just have some questions: In that way are the 2 OS on the same HD completely independent?, for exemple, if I'll get a virus or trojan or other problems on one partition, is the other partition infected or safe? The partition where I will install win xp, that I will use only for music has to be without almost any software even without antivirus (maybe you know because I saw that you use pro Tools). The other thing is that I have no idea how to make two partitions, can I use partion magic? thanks again!
to expand on what ddp said: while a partition makes two virtually separate drives in one (so your two OS will be completely independant) the single drive itself is still vulnerable to getting a virus, so if one partition gets infected it could easily spread to the other one. Partition Magic is definately the best way to go to partition, its very good and easy to use. I've been using Pro Tools for almost 7 years now (been teaching it for the past three, since I was twenty) and I just use one OS (win xp pro) for everything and I've never had any complications. A few years ago I used to have win2000 and win XP, because I like 2000 MUCH better than XP (much more stable), and only used XP when I was using Pro Tools or other XP only apps, but now I have switched completely to XP. I don't know why you don't want to use antivirus for your music OS, but you can run it not problem. If you watch your CPU usage, you will notice that Pro Tools really doesn't use that much CPU, mainly because it utilizes its own hardware. I can run 32 mono tracks at the same time (using a few daisy-chained 002 units) and my cpu will only be at around 30%. Its only when you start using multiple RTAS (real-time) plugins that your CPU usage goes up. So long story short, you can use anti-virus software on your music setup. Having said that, don't use Norton because it is the worst anti-virus software there is, and uses a lot of CPU. Use AVG 7 Free. Its free, and much better than Norton.
