Microsoft Windows Vista Question?

[taker36904]

I have 2 drives on my pc(harddrives).I want to install vista from microsoft(RC1)to test out.I would like to put vista on a totally different harddrive.Example:

my first drive will be Windows XP Pro ( 80gb ) main drive

my second drive will be Windows Vista ( 40gb ) secondary drive

Would this even work?

I dont want to make another partition on my first harrdrive because i use the space on it.I know how to install but would like to know how to switch or boot from the OS's.Another is because Vista isnt really compatible with alot of software and games yet for the reason to put it on another drive and the space i use on the 80gb(between alot of software and games that i dont want to install again).Basically i want to know how to boot from XP and Vista from two different drives.Are there any programs that would let me boot form the OS's/drives instead of partition.

[peregrin]

I've a similar set up , 1 drive with XP and one drive with Vista. All I do is go into the BIOS during boot up and select the drive I wish to boot from. I know it's not very elegant but it does work -regards

[crowmaine]

Download Microsoft'sVirtualPC for free (click here) and set up a VM (virtual machine) for Vista. VirtualPC is supported on WinXP Pro SP2 and Win2K, however it will run on XP Home with a warning message. More than one OS can run at the same time on your PC in VirtualPC.

It's best to set up a VirtualPC VirtualDisk for each OS you want to install. Create several VDs and load Vista to one, WinXPProSP2 to another, and Win98SE to another! DOS 6 is fair game too. I don't play with Linux, but it might work too.

Set up a seperate VD for your data. This can be shared between OSs that support the same file system.

VDs can be variable in size. Great, but the trade off is there is more overhead to dynamically expand the disk. Variable VDs can be converted to fixed size later if speed becomes of the importance.

The VirtualDisk can be copied and move from machine to machine. Just remember to have the proper Windows licensing for each OS that you install!

I have several clean installs of various MS OSs for some for testing, some for old programs that are not upward compatible, etc. I might run a server in one and my testing environment in another, at the same time. You can have one just for surfing, in case a shark (virus, spy-ware et al) finds you so you can stop the VM session without saving the malady.

Best of all you can load each Vista RC to its own VM and run them all at the same time. I don't know why you might want to do it, but you can. Tired of the RC's VM, just delete its VD.

Lots of options!