I just bought a 10k raptor and plan on using it like the operating drive since it is better and faster than my sata II. I was asking around how to copy the entire contents of my gateway computer to the new raptor (including the recovery files in the drive partition-since computers no longer come with recovery cds). I asked in best buy where I bought my drive if this could be done (copy the exact and entire drive to another drive) and they said no, but Geek Squad could do it for a fee. So I asked around and posted some here in afterdawn and some people told me to use Norton's Ghost 12.0, and I found another called Acronis. But I think I am going to go through a lot of trouble trying to do this and making it work perfectly. Now, I have heard about having two operating system on one computer, either on one hard drive or two. My original hard drive comes with Vista. Can I install the raptor and install Windows XP on it? If so how would it work, will the computer give me an option which hard drive to start, and if I start for example, the raptor, is the other hard drive going to be on as well. I want to raptor to be dedicated only to games since XP does not have too many problems with games like vista, and the other one to any other tasks. Any help is useful, Thank you
its possible to run 2 Os's on one pc. On a single hard drive you will need to partition it into 2 so you can install xp to one and vista to the other. two hard drives will work when installing xp the setup will ask you which hard disk you want to install to. whenever setup completes, if you restart and in the future you will get a screen after the bios that will ask you what os you want to use and usually does a 30 sec countdown one as a preset if you are not there.
what you want to do is complicated. It's always recommended to install windows xp first, then install vista second. This way the vista bootloader will be setup from the beginning. But if all you want to do is transfer your operating system from the old hard drive to the new hard drive, that's something that you can do. You need to have hard drive imaging/cloning software, most new hard drives you buy come with a basic cloning software(some are a strip down version of acronis). Just clone your old hard drive to the new drive. With vista you might need your vista installation cd/dvd, because after the clone, sometimes you need to repair the mbr, to get the new hard drive to bootup. sound complicated but it can be done. indepth directions for dual boot http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_install_04.asp copying vista to another hard drive http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=184852
Just like you said jony218, I did have to had XP first then Vista. The problem is that my computer comes with Vista and I do not want to erase it. Now, yesterday I installed the SATA X WD Raptor 150gb 10k rpm with window(WD1500AHFD). Disconected my original drive, becuase the XP CD would not let me install; then intalled XP on the Raptor. Worked fine, fast as hell, installed some programs and drivers, some stuff did not work though. Ok now I connected the other drive, but when I started the computer, only XP started up. It did not give me the option to choose OS. Then I went ahead and disconnected the Raptor and start up vista, worked fine. But when I connected Raptor again and start it up, only vista started and it did not give me the option either. Now, I dont know what to do, and as much as I don't want to, I am starting to regret buying this badass raptor. Its fast but I am going to have problems using it. Mostly I bought it to run games and startup faster. What can I do to fix it I have heard that I can clone my drive into this drive, but does anyone know if the drive is compatible with Vista 32. And if I can clone it I am afraid that something happens in the process and my Vista messes up. I do not have any CDs for installation since the computers no longer come with recoverty disc, everything is in the partition. If not I guess I can just use it as a data drive and install problems into it and boot drive will be my same SATA II regular drive, but then I will not be using my RAPTOR to its full capability. Please help help help
