[SOLVED] Two hdds same PC swap.

[SWATrunner]

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but google doesn't seem to get me the answer I am looking for since the question is a bit confusing.
Is it possible to get a new Ssd/hdd, take the one I am currently using out and install an OS (let's say windows) on the new one I just plugged in, then swap my original one I have back in whenever and still keep functioning normally?
I want to know if I can have two completely separate OSs without them ever interacting and still maintain normal functionality, no dualboot or anything of the sort, one will always be unpluged before the other goes in.
Plug one in and take the other out, then whenever, just place the old one back and so forth.

Hope my point is coming across clearly, feel like a total dumbo asking this.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Aeacus]

Is it possible to get a new Ssd/hdd, take the one I am currently using out and install an OS (let's say windows) on the new one I just plugged in, then swap my original one I have back in whenever and still keep functioning normally?

Yes.
But my main question is: Why?

Also, if you want to mirror your OS to another drive, rather than installing it anew, you could just clone your OS from current drive to new drive. This way, all the data you already have in OS (installed programs, personal data etc) is already in place and the new drive remains bootable as well.

I've done it. But in the order of backup.
Namely, when i upgraded our PCs OSes from Win7 to Win10, i bought two Samsung 870 Evo SSDs. Then i cloned OS to them and after clone was complete, i took SSD out and put it into offline storage. Meaning that when our current OS drives should die, i can take the offline backup from storage, install it into the PC and PC will boot up and into the OS, issue free.

 

[SWATrunner]

Yes.
But my main question is: Why?

Also, if you want to mirror your OS to another drive, rather than installing it anew, you could just clone your OS from current drive to new drive. This way, all the data you already have in OS (installed programs, personal data etc) is already in place and the new drive remains bootable as well.

I've done it. But in the order of backup.
Namely, when i upgraded our PCs OSes from Win7 to Win10, i bought two Samsung 870 Evo SSDs. Then i cloned OS to them and after clone was complete, i took SSD out and put it into offline storage. Meaning that when our current OS drives should die, i can take the offline backup from storage, install it into the PC and PC will boot up and into the OS, issue free.

Thanks, for the answer. I want to try a piece of software that I don't want anywhere near my files and I have an old hdd lying around that I can use as a dummy one.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks, for the answer. I want to try a piece of software that I don't want anywhere near my files and I have an old hdd lying around that I can use as a dummy one.

That requires that your main OS drive be physically disconnected.

 

[SWATrunner]

That requires that your main OS drive be physically disconnected.

Well that was the question I asked, so is it not possible?

 

[USAFRet]

Well that was the question I asked, so is it not possible?

If you want your main drive and OS invulnerable to whatever dodgy software you want to test with the other OS, it must be physically disconnected.

 

[SWATrunner]

If you want your main drive and OS invulnerable to whatever dodgy software you want to test with the other OS, it must be physically disconnected.

Ah, yes I understand what you mean. That is my intention as stated in the post "Plug one in and take the other out, then whenever, just place the old one back and so forth. ".
Maybe I didn't clarify it well enough. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BFG-9000]

Yes, and this is why laptops with removable drive sleds used to be popular. You could play with different Linux distributions or have a low security guest computer for the kids to install their rootkit-infested games onto without messing with your main work system, all you needed was a bunch of HDDs. One portable laptop could essentially take the place of a whole bunch of computers, with the caveat of course that only one of them could be used at a time.

Note that the BIOS settings should not be changed between drive swaps or at least must be changed back each time, so nowadays it'd be more complicated to swap between OSes that require legacy BIOS CSM vs UEFI with Secure Boot, but just label the drives with the settings required. And you can have as many activated copies of Windows 10 as you like because it's the same machine and activation follows the machine, not the drive.

With only two drives, you could use one as an offline backup. Rather than swapping drives (as nowadays just getting to the drive can be a hassle) whenever something questionable happens to the original, just reimage/clone over it via USB (from the backup in a USB drive dock) and both drives will again have identical pristine installs, already setup just the way you like it. Just swapping to the backup can be faster, but then risks something happening to the clean backup copy.