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samiro

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BOOT from secondary master HDD

Is it possible to boot system (Windows 9.x,...) from Hard disk connected like secondary master drive. If it is possible tell me how.

Thanks!
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stevenlewis

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also, if you want to run NT on the other one, easy way is load Win9x first on one drive, then NTx on the other -- it knows better how to provide menu for multiboot.

Several other boot managers, I vote MS (original OS, tho' code goes back to days they were more like OS2, some suspect it written by IBM), I'll leave to other commenters the other choices

But answer is YES, unequivocally

(it is simply managing the very first sector and boot files it points to very well)
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slink9

Hey, stevenlewis, TriOS is my find!!
That should be agood option with two or three hard drives.
:>)
Generally, Windows begins boot from the first drive it sees, and labels the drives based upon the order in which it sees them (can be prioritized or simply whether plugged in or not. Newer windows has alternative labels available using numbers).

IOW, simplest answer is, that if you have only one drive installed, that is the one that will be booted, and if you'd put Win9x on it, then that is what you get.

The 10 links above cover a variety of methods in addition to this simple-case one.
Sorry guys, maybe I'm missing something.

Isn't the easiest way to boot from secondary master simply to change the boot drive sequence in the BIOS?
Nope.  There is no Primary Master and Secondary Master in the BIOS.  You boot from the active partition.  You can either open the computer and disable one hard drive and enable the other, FDISK and change the active partition, install a boot manager, or use a hardware option such as TriOS to accomplish the first option with the push of a button.
No, I'm sure it's not marked as primary and secondary in the BIOS but most modern BIOSes give you the option of booting first from IDE 0 or IDE 1. My suggestion was choosing IDE 1 as the first boot device.

Perhaps Samiro installed Windows on what is now his secondary master disk (after changing cables around), in which case his secondary master already has an active partition. Any comments Samiro?
> Isn't the easiest way to boot from secondary master simply to change the boot drive sequence in the BIOS?

Not my (older) bios. But it does have options for enabling and disabling them.

> My suggestion was choosing IDE 1 as the first boot device.

ditto that
One reason I prefer scsi is that all the ones I ever had permitted the flexibility of which one of 7-15 that one cares to boot from, through its bios add-on. Saves opening case or configuring drives to point to each other for multiboot (which remains on first sector, = remains single point of failure issue)

> (after changing cables around),

Switching cables is nice quick way too, but one must be careful on jumpers, and I/O compatibility. To facilitate that I try to first buy 2nd drive as identical to 1st one as I can, early on. I suspect that not case here, but that removal of drive 1 (cables) will more quicly enable access to drive #2. I also still suspect that the mass storage is not strapped uniquely (eg collision occuring).
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Thanks to all. I have done it.
samiro How did you do it?
Hey samiro.

The experts here have put in time to help you with your problem.

The least you could do is award the points to the expert that helped the most and and ideally it would be nice if you posted a message with how you fixed your problem.

If you can't be bothered to do so then we may not be bothered to help you next time.


your loss not ours


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