Need help with Windows 7/8 dual boot from 2 physical drives

[Bix]

I have Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit installed on my system drive. Since I recently updated to a SSD, I figured I'd install the Windows 8 developer preview (64-bit without developer tools) on my old system drive to try it out.

For whatever reason, this caused issues in the middle of the installation. My BIOS would hang for a while before heading to Windows, but then it would show a Windows 7 developer preview screen. Unplugging the Win8 drive got me to Win7 to the point that it told me my installation needed a quick repair using my OS disc, so I did that, got my boot devices in the right order, and formatted the attempted Win8 drive. BIOS went back to normal.

It looks like *something* in the BIOS on my Asus M4N68T-M V2 motherboard didn't like the attempt at using 2 physical boot drives, which doesn't make sense to me because both drives worked and caused no issues when I used Acronis to move my Win7 installation over to the SSD. All that mattered then was the boot order, but whichever was the prioritized drive booted with no BIOS weirdness.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[jagabo]

I use these:

http://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-3-5IN-Sata-Mobile-Rack/dp/B00126U0VA/

That way only one boot drive is in the system at any time.

[Bix]

So basically my best move is to only have one drive plugged in at a time and I can't dual boot from the two physical drives? Why did it work ok (no dual boot menu, but the boot device priority switch in the BIOS let me switch back and forth with no problem) with the two identical Win7 installations?

Thanks!

[jagabo]

I can't dual boot from the two physical drives? Why did it work ok (no dual boot menu, but the boot device priority switch in the BIOS let me switch back and forth with no problem) with the two identical Win7 installations?

Sure you can do that. But, as you've seen, you are more likely to to corrupt one or both drives by switching them in the BIOS.

[Bix]

Right. I'm curious why it worked fine with the identical (aside from partition size) Win7 installations, though. Just a problem with Win8 being such an early build or something that's hit or miss in general?

Thanks!

[jagabo]

I think it just occasionally happens. It doesn't matter which operating systems you're using.

[ranchhand]

I have a feeling it may be the W8 Beta you are trying to run; this thing is iffy at best and "run at your own risk". I have three drives installed, W7 Ultimate/64, Windows XP Pro/32, and my backup drive. For boot I switch via F8 and never had a problem at all.