Two OS, Two HD

[bluepan]

I can't believe I have to ask for help on this but I must be missing something. I have Windows 7 32 bit installed on one hard drive and Windows 7 64 bit installed on another hard drive.

On the MB, 32 bit is in SATA position 0 and 64 bit is in position 1. I want to remove the HD with 32bit but for the life of me I can't get my machine to boot to the 64 bit HD, I tried changing the boot order and switching the position to 0. When I turn it on it gives the please insert boot media message. Both HDs have full OS installs and I can dual boot with no problems. I feel like such a noob but I'm not sure what I'm missing.

This happens when I unplug the 32 bit HD from the MB and only the 64 bit HD is plugged in. When I plug the old HD in, it dual boots again fine.

I wanted to add that it only happens when I unplug the 32 bit HD.

 

[reedo_43]

Was the 32 bit drive installed when you installed 64 bit os to the other drive. If so, it may have written some needed boot files to the 32 bit drive hence why it is not working when you pull it.

 

[jsmithepa]

^That's a good possibility as any.


Before multi-Boot BIOS was available, Windows has a multi-OS boot feature built-in, but still it assumes it should always start from HD0, then a selection screen popups asking continue Booting from This OS, or That OS.

 

[Outlander_04]

Just save any data on the 64 bit drive, disconnect the 32 bit drive and then reinstall thev64 bit OS

 

[reedo_43]

That will work. You could try disconnecting 32 bit drive boot to 64 bit os media and try a repair.

 

[bluepan]

The 32bit was the only drive when I added the 64bit drive. Interesting that there is a potential it could still write boot files to another drive. I guess the original 0 dive keeps a high priority even though a fresh OS is installed on another drive. So no way around this without disconnecting the 32bit and either repair or reinstall. I'll try a repair first. Thanks for the input!