Can you have a different operating system on a second hard-drive?

Answer 1

Yes and no. There are exceptions. You should know what you are doing. Some file allocation tables are not recognized by some operating systems. Beware. That is mostly a technology thing. If the operating system and hardware are roughly the same age, you won't notice that problem. Also consider program compatibility. Very old operating systems won't recognize new hardware. Very old hardware might not be able to run newer operating systems.

For the most part, you should be 'ok'. I doubt you are combining such different systems. Just read and follow the directions that come with both operating systems. Then figure out which to install first and where.

Answer 2

recently theres been a program leeched by a warez team that lets you put windows xp on a thumb drive letting you access it even if your main computer has a diffrent OS i would recommend looking it up and it does work for external hard drives also

google search :
"portable windows xp" +thumb drive

Answer 3

Yes sure, even on the same hard but another partition

Answer 4

Yep. You just need some sort of boot loader.

Answer 5

i think of this could be no subject; i could attempt changing the jumper placing on the previous hd's back to "slave", that could desire to deactivate the previous OS. as quickly as the previous hd is working as "slave", you could manually delete something you do no longer desire any further, which incorporates the previous OS, with no need to format that stress.

Answer 6

Yes.

You don't even need it to be a separate drive.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559

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Answer 7

Yes you can !