Triple boot

[PTree]

I have two physical SAS drives and want to install XP 32bit, Win7 x64 and Vista x64 => "triple" boot these (I need them for various reasons) Anyway, it is my understanding that I start from oldest to newest? So on the first drive I will have two partitions and would install > XP 32bit and then Vista x64. On the second drive I would then install Win7 x64.

Is it just a matter of performing this in the order above and the boot manager will "figure" everything out or is there some trick/method I will need to perform or should be aware of? (e.g. In what order should all three OS's be installed and on which drive. I am nuking the box, which is a HP xw4600 with 8GB memory, FX1700 etc..

Additionally, there is a caveat (kind of). I have XP and Vista in the form of images (both made as being the primary or only OS). Can I use these and apply them to their proper partitions (I am not familiar with the Vista boot mgr but was thinking this could be modified) or should I just install these manually from "scratch" and be done with it.

Thanks

 

[Jonmor68]

You have the correct order for instalation.
The XP image can be used for the first instalation, once you have that running, applying the Vista image will wipe the XP bootloader unless it was created with XP already installed and dual booting beforehand.
If the Vista image was stand alone then your option here is to either install Vista again after XP, or use a third party boot manager like EasyBCD, (Google it for a free download) after applying the Vista image.
If your Vista has all the updates that may be a better option as it will save you the hassle of reinstalling all the updates.

 

[PTree]

Thanks for the response. However I ran into problems and wanted to change up my original question a bit.

I applied the Vista 64 image to a new HD (SAS). It is the default drive (0) and I'm up and running fine (with one HD) etc..

I have my original XP32 HD disabled (unplugged the power) and wanted to know if anyone has a suggestion on how, or if it is possible, to have the XP drive visible upon system start up => e.g. dual boot.

Is it a matter of plugging it back in (power cable), plugging into the SAS controller number "1", powering up the system, booting into Vista64 and then running a boot manager application (EasyBCD) in Vista 64? Hope that makes sense. Or would that be way too easy

Any ideas, thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[Jonmor68]

Connect the XP drive, go into bios and select it as first boot device, Vista into second.
Now you can either choose to use bios to swap OS's by changing the boot order of the drives, thereby leaving them totally independent, or you can install EasyBCD in XP and use it to setup a dual boot.

 

[PTree]

Connect the XP drive, go into bios and select it as first boot device, Vista into second.
Now you can either choose to use bios to swap OS's by changing the boot order of the drives, thereby leaving them totally independent, or you can install EasyBCD in XP and use it to setup a dual boot.

Thanks. The BIOS method is an option, but somewhat an inconvenience. I'll give them both a try and see how it goes. Thanks again and sorry for this drifting away from a Win7 topic. Although, I do have another drive and do plan on loading 7 at some point.