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Can't boot secondary hard drive that has different OS from primary hard drive

Discussion in 'Storage and Networking' started by jg99ta, Oct 6, 2009.

  1. jg99ta Newcomer, in training

    Hello All, I am not a very computer savvy person, but here it goes. I have added a second hard drive to my computer and I installed Windows XP OS. My primary hard drive has Windows 7. My primary drive is connected via a SATA connection and the the secondary hard drive is connected via IDE connection. I have set the jumper "pins" on both drives to match each other. The Bios has the Second hard drive set as slave. Upon start up I do not get an option to select an OS. It automatically goes into Windows 7. What do I need to do so that I can get prompted to chose an OS? Please help. Thanks alot.
    jg99ta, Oct 6, 2009
    #1

  2. raybay TechSpot Evangelist Posts: 10,720   +6

    Apples and oranges. There may be tricks, but normally dual boots require setups all be on the same type cables and connectors.
    raybay, Oct 7, 2009
    #2

  3. SNGX1275 TS Special Forces Posts: 11,894   +117

    Mistake. SATA drives jumpers are not in any way related to jumpers on IDE drives. There is no master slave relationship for SATA drives.

    XP probably put its bootloader on the IDE drive and its bootloader doesn't know anything about 7. The easiest solution at this point would be to unscrewup your jumpers, then use whatever F key it is for your motherboard to choose startup drive on boot.

    If that still can't get you into 7 you may have to boot from the 7 install disk and repair it.
    SNGX1275, Oct 7, 2009
    #3

  4. tweakboy TechSpot Maniac Posts: 518

    Press F8 as booting and choose your secondary drive and it boots up,, should boot up,, gl
    tweakboy, Oct 7, 2009
    #4
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