Can you dual boot same OS?

Inorder to test some programs without taking a chance of crashing my main system, can I copy everything from my main drive (windows 7) to another drive in the same computer and set it up as a dual boot?

Had a major crash, but am finally most of the way back. I want to reload a couple of programs I suspect of causing the problem and see if I can get things worked out, but I am hesitant to put them on the actual system I use all the time again until I'm comfortable that it won't crash again.

Kevin R

 

You could use a program like XXClone to clone your drive. You would most likely have to manually switch out the drives, but you could test that way, if you have 2 hard drives.

 

I guess I should have specified clone the drive.

This is what I did when migrating from a 120g to 1tb drive last year.
Figured I could do the same here, but use one as a test subject.

That brings up my main questions.
1)I currently have XP on one drive and 7 on the other in this computer. Is there anything that would confuse or corrupt 7s setup by it seeing a clone of itself on the other drive? i.e. changing settings, registry etc on the wrong OS etc.
2)Is there a license issue since the OSs would both be on the same computer, and never able to operate at the same time?

Seems to me I can legally install windows on more than one system, just not at the same time. In this case, it would only be installed on the one system, and never run in more than one instance.

Is there a way to set up the dual boot feature in Windows after the fact rather than on initial install?

Also, is there really more of a chance for a virus to get a foothold? If so, it seems like that would be true on any dual boot system regardless of it being the same OS.

Regarding the swapping drives to do this, currently the XP/7 setup is not set as a dual boot, so I just change the boot drive in BIOS when I start. Can do the same here, but a boot option at start would make things much easier.

 

Another, and simpler way to achieve what you want is to run the second instance of Win 7 in a virtual machine. I did this in my Vista system in order to road test the Win 7 RC, and it's still there and still working fine - for two hours at a time anyway

I used VirtualBox for this and it does the job faultlessly. However you do need a Win 7 installation DVD, as I don't think it's an option to just clone your existing setup to the VM.

 

Re-reading what you have said I see that it's a clone you want, so my VM suggestion isn't the answer.

An alternative approach would be to use an imaging program to create an image file of Win 7 and restore that image to the XP disk. However you must not allow the active OS to see its clone, so you would also need a way of hiding the drive that is to be inactive before booting. You would also need somewhere to store the image file, accessible by either OS. You could use DVDs but an external drive would be far preferable.

I would -

- Install Easeus Todo in Win7.

- Install Easeus Partition Master in Win 7

- Create an image file of Win 7 and store it on an external or on DVD.

- Create an image file of XP and store it on an external or on DVD, allowing you to come back to it later.

- Create the bootable CDs for both Easeus programs

- Boot to the Partition Master CD and hide the Win 7 partition

- Boot to the Todo CD and restore the Win 7 image file to the XP drive.

- Use BIOS to boot the clone and test that it works

You should now be able to boot the Partition Master CD to hide the other drive, and use BIOS to boot the alternate drive. Clumsy but should work OK.

The real answer is to ditch the MS MBR and use a boot manager such as Grub4DOS to elegantly dual boot for you, but that's quite a big subject in itself. The imperative here is not to let either version of Win 7 see the other or all Hell will break loose I assure you.

 

That's what I was afraid of, that there could be problems with one seeing the other. At least they always say that in time travel movies! Don't come in contact with your other self!!
Why does it create a problem, and what does it cause?
Why is it different from a regular dual boot?

 

Like TimW said, no. The easiest way would be to install the second instance of W7 onto a separate partition or hard drive. Windows will then create a boot screen where you can choose the install you want and don't specify a key or activate or update. Then install the software that you want to test. Mind you the grace periods aren't too long for some software so the EaseUS option would be a good one. Good luck!

 

Sorry for the delay, damsel in distress on another board

If you have the installation disks, and don't mind setting Win 7 up from scratch twice, then I know of no reason why that wouldn't work OK. Windows takes care of the dual boot configuration and drive letters, the booting files always being installed to the first partition of the first drive, and the active OS always being allocated C on boot regardless of their physical order. When you do it this way the second installation is not a clone of the first as its boot configuration differs significantly, and there will not be any problem with the active OS seeing the alternate one.

As I understand it though you want to clone the existing installation - possibly because it was pre-installed and you don't have the disk - and then dual boot, but the only way this can be done as I see it is to do it broadly as I have described. There will be massive conflict between the two if there are two installations having identical boot configuration. Try it by all means, but do have a means of restoring your system available as you will most certainly need it.

 

I have the discs, but considering all the work this is turning out to be, I may just wait.
In April (financial fingers crossed) I was planning on building a new PC. This one has done well for 7 years, but at times I could definitely use some more umph. Will be ordering a 64bit W7 disc for that one instead of the 32 I'm currently using. Once that's done, I can put the important stuff there and play with this one without worry of being computerless if something happens. Since I just spent a few weeks trying to repair and finally having to completely wipe and reload this one due to the crash, I really don't feel like doing that all again on a second drive in this one and then in a few weeks on the new one.
The crash came while my daughter was using skype video, but I had been getting weird "explorer closing due to errors" messages since installing Carbonite on W7, so I'm not sure which (if either) corrupted somethings so bad I couldn't fix it. Part of me is hoping while I get my other ducks in a row, that they will release updates that correct the issue.