xp 32bit and windows 7 64bit installed on seperate hdds

[Tinribs]

I have xp32bit installed on my current hdd and want to add a new hdd with windows 7 64bit installed on that.
I then want to make 7 the main drive and copy over all my programmes to it I know that I have 1 or 2 programmes that will not work in 64bit so I need to keep xp on my old drive.
can anyone tell me the best way to achieve this?
If you can go into as much detail as possible please dont assume I would know something as I probably dont !

[Chalenge]

Just do it. 

You should be able to go into your BIOS and select which drive to use as your first HDD (boot drive) and so you can switch between them at boot. When you begin to install W7 it will warn you that the drive you are installing to already has an operating system if it does. Just to be absolutely safe you can remove your XP drive during the install of W7.

[Tinribs]

Just do it. 

You should be able to go into your BIOS and select which drive to use as your first HDD (boot drive) and so you can switch between them at boot. When you begin to install W7 it will warn you that the drive you are installing to already has an operating system if it does. Just to be absolutely safe you can remove your XP drive during the install of W7.

I was thinking it would be best to remove the old hdd first plug the new one into the same port load it all then re-install the old drive,you dont see any possible problems with that then?

[Chalenge]

Not at all I have done that very thing several times and often not even bothering to remove the old drive.

[Tinribs]

Not at all I have done that very thing several times and often not even bothering to remove the old drive.

Ok thanks,whats the easiest or best way to copy my programmes from the xp drive to the new windows 7 ?
Having set 7 as my boot drive how do I access my old xp drive?
Im probably not as thick as Im sounding here but then again........................ .......

[hyster]

quick note about duel booting xp and win7.
ALWAYS install xp 1st and then win7.
why?
xp's boot manager will wipe win7 boot manager and replace it with its own. xp boot manager will NOT see win7.
if u install win7 AFTER xp then win7's boot manager WILL see the xp install.
if u do it xp then win7 then u will get a boot menu option, on start up of which OS u want to boot in2.

[BaldEagl]

I've got a Win98/XP Pro duel boot on my old Dell because of a legacy flatbed SCSI scanner that I have.  I installed both OS's on partitions on the same drive.  At boot-up I get a screen that allows me to choose the OS I want to boot from.  If I don't choose within a few seconds it defaults to XP.  No need to enter the BIOS and change boot drives.  As others have said the oldest OS always needs to be installed first and some can't be used together in a duel boot arrangement (i.e. Win95/Win98, Win98/Win98SE, Vista/Win7 IIRC... there may be others).

You might want to consider the same thing; partitions on a single drive for the OS's and then using the other drive for storage.  On my old Dell I've acually got a third partition on the main drive plus two more HD's (one internal, one external) for storage.  This minimizes the writes to the OS drives and greatly speeds defragmentation.

You won't be able to copy your programs over as there will be no registry entries and they won't boot.  You're going to have to install all but those that don't require installation (some apps like CPUz will run independently from a folder and don't require a registry key).  As far as data you can use a mirroring application or simply copy and paste.

[Tinribs]

I've got a Win98/XP Pro duel boot on my old Dell because of a legacy flatbed SCSI scanner that I have.  I installed both OS's on partitions on the same drive.  At boot-up I get a screen that allows me to choose the OS I want to boot from.  If I don't choose within a few seconds it defaults to XP.  No need to enter the BIOS and change boot drives.  As others have said the oldest OS always needs to be installed first and some can't be used together in a duel boot arrangement (i.e. Win95/Win98, Win98/Win98SE, Vista/Win7 IIRC... there may be others).

You might want to consider the same thing; partitions on a single drive for the OS's and then using the other drive for storage.  On my old Dell I've acually got a third partition on the main drive plus two more HD's (one internal, one external) for storage.  This minimizes the writes to the OS drives and greatly speeds defragmentation.

You won't be able to copy your programs over as there will be no registry entries and they won't boot.  You're going to have to install all but those that don't require installation (some apps like CPUz will run independently from a folder and don't require a registry key).  As far as data you can use a mirroring application or simply copy and paste.

so if I keep both drives seperate old xp, new windows 7, the only way I can switch between them is to switch main drive in the bios at startup ?

[BaldEagl]

I'm not entirely sure.  It might still give you an option at start-up although I'm not 100% positive of that because the BIOS only sees the main drives, not partitions.  If it sees the main boot drive with a single OS and the instruction boot from here, then I'm not sure it will give you an option.  If both are on partitions on the main drive then I know for sure that it does give you an option as it says... hmmm, which OS?

Maybe someone who's installed on two seperate physical drives will chime in.

[Ghastly]

If you have a bootable XP installation installed on the one drive, have both drives installed in the system at the time that you install Windows 7, and select a custom install and tell it to install to the appropriate partition on the second drive  (just make sure you choose the option to tell it where to install), it will automatically create a dual boot that defaults to Windows 7, but will leave your XP installation available as the option "Previous Version of Windows" on the boot selection screen.

Just be extremely careful about which partition you install 7 to - make sure it's not to the drive (in actuality, it's the partition that matters but let's assume that you have only a single partition on each drive) that has XP already installed.  

<S>

[Ghastly]

No way to delete an accidental double post?

[hyster]

you DO NOT have to enter the bios to duel boot xp and win7.
when u install an OS a boot manager is installed at the same time.
the boot manager contains info on what OS's are installed and there location.
when u turn on ur pc and u are duel booting u will get a menu asking which os u want to load.
1 OS is always default. this means if u dont select a OS it will auto select the default OS. the default OS can be changed.

u can install both OS's on the same partition (but bad idea as u get all sort of problems) u just need to install to separate foldes. IE: c:\winxp\ and c:\win7\

the bios does only see the drive and not partition but after the post screen where the boot manager "lives" it will see the partitions.

if u install xp after win7 a program called easybcd can re-right the boot manager to see all OS,s.

[Tinribs]

Ok,now this is all a matter of personal preference I suppose but I would like to hear what others opinions are before I go ahead and install this,my old drive with xp is a 250gb 5400 and the new one is 500gb 7200,the options appear to be :
1]keep xp on old drive and install 7 on new drive
2]install xp and 7 on new drive keeping old drive for extra storage
I dont use my pc for work only gaming, e-mail and a little music Ive only used roughly 100gb of my old drive so Im inclined toward option 1 but then I know sod all.

[Chalenge]

While you dont HAVE TO use the BIOS method there certainly is nothing wrong with doing it that way. I have four OSs on one of my systems (XP-XP64-Vista 64-W7) all on seperate drives. I do it that way because some OSs can be real pigs as far as how much space they use and because if one drive fails it wont effect the other OSs. As with anything else a good backup strategy is a must no matter which way you go.

As to the programs problem you should reinstall all your programs and then copy your documents folder over which I believe is the best way.

[Heater]

If XP is already installed and you want to install windows 7 on a new drive...

All you need to do is install the hardware, the install windows 7 and do a clean install ....

Goggle is your friend  do a search for Windows 7 / XP dual boot