Question Two windows installations on two drives connected to one mother board?

[Joe Threddle]

Is it possible to have windows installed on two separate hard drives that are connected to the same mother board and switch between them without physically disconnecting one or the other?

I currently have a HDD and want to add either a SATA or M.2 SSD with a completely separate Windows install that I can switch to on the fly without having to open up my case each time.

Apologies if this is a stupid question.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Is it possible to have windows installed on two separate hard drives that are connected to the same mother board and switch between them without physically disconnecting one or the other?

Yes. It's possible.

Basically you have 2 options.
1. Windows on each drive with separate bootloader. Switch between different windows with boot options in BIOS.
For this you install windows with only single drive connected.

2. Windows on each drive but with common bootloader (on one of drives). Switch between different windows using bootloader boot menu.
For this you install windows with both drives connected.

 

[John Chesterfield]

Yes. It's possible.

Basically you have 2 options.
1. Windows on each drive with separate bootloader. Switch between different windows with boot options in BIOS.
For this you install windows with only single drive connected.

2. Windows on each drive but with common bootloader (on one of drives). Switch between different windows using bootloader boot menu.
For this you install windows with both drives connected.

This. I'm running W10 and W11 using option 1, by far the cleanest way of dual booting.

 

[USAFRet]

Is it possible to have windows installed on two separate hard drives that are connected to the same mother board and switch between them without physically disconnecting one or the other?

Sure. You have to reboot to choose the other OS, but just like the above 2 options.

Which OS's are you looking to do this with, and why?
I only ask why, because there may be some other pathway to what you're looking to do.