Accessing files from a hard drive with a different os.

[Andreas_19]

So right now I have 2 internal hard drives and I use one of them to boot windows 10. Can I install windows 8 on my other drive being able to access the files that are on my windows 10 drive without doing some formatting shenanigans? If no can you please tell me what to do.

Thanks,
Andreas.

 

[YourHums]

I'm not sure, but I have read that there are all kinds of problems that can arise from installing Windows 8 on anything other than the C: drive. Some software apparently has the path hard coded.

 

[AlaskanDSM]

The default file system is NTFS for both Win 10 and Win 8, There shouldn't be any issues accessing the files across the operating systems. The Win 10 hard drive will just show up as a different drive letter such as your F:\ or G:\ etc. It is no different that what your external hard drive would look like. The only issue you might encounter is if you have a password to your account on Windows 10. Sometimes, it can make accessing the files more challenging cross OS's. Just post back to the forums if you have any permissions issues accessing the files.

I'm not sure, but I have read that there are all kinds of problems that can arise from installing Windows 8 on anything other than the C: drive. Some software apparently has the path hard coded.

Technically the C:\ Drive is simply what letter windows assigns the hard drive that it is installed to by default. If you install Windows 8 on a hard drive, and install Windows 10 on a different hard drive, they are both C:\ in their respective environments. However the other hard drive will just be assigned a different drive letter.

If you are using Windows 8, your hard drive will be C:\ and the Windows 10 hard drive as a secondary drive could be letters D:\ to Z:\. It would be the same if you were using the Windows 10 Hard Drive.

Windows has 26 drive letters, one for each letter of the alphabet, that can be used to identify connected devices. Generally A:\ and B:\ are reserved for Floppy drives , C:\ for the Hard Drive or partition the active Operating System is installed to, D:\ to Z:\ are assigned as devices are recognized or connected, though you can manually assign letters to drives.