Mulitple OS'

I read on a post somewhere here, that a person was using multiple OS'. Now at the time I read it, I was looking up info about partitioning a HD. So I am assuming he had, lets say 1 HD, 3, 40 GB partitions, and a different OS' installed on each? If that is correct, how would he tell his computer, or his HD which partition to access on startup? I know that partition magic gives the option, make a partition active or inactive. Is that how it needs to be done?

And one more question. Is it possible to take a HD with an OS' installed on it out of a computer, plug in the HD into another computer, and expect the OS to load up? Thanks for any help, or maybe a hyper on a guide or tutorial or something. :major

 

your computer will prompt you for which os you want to load. and yes, hardware permitting, you can use the hard drive in another computer.

 

So If I want to run multiple OS', should I install them on same HD, then it will prompt me on which OS I want to load, or should the OS be installed on a seperate partition, then it will ask me which OS to load?

 

The other way is with virtual PC and that lets you run more than one OS at the same time but you do need to have some spare ram (min 512mb)to do it.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

 

I've been running multiple MS OS for several yrs
No need for any special program or utility
I prefer my OSes to be installed on one HDD
An OS need's to be installed on a primary partition
You can install up to 4 primary partitions on a single HDD
Always load the oldest OS first
Windows 98 likes to be installed on the first partition other OS dont matter
You can load multiple versions of the same flavor OS

By default the last installed OS will boot first but a list of installed OSes will be see during system boot you can manually choose which to boot too, you'll have 30 seconds to choose other than then default OS

In any windows OS you can alter the booting OS, timming and even name your Windows OS
This can be done in Control Pannel/System/System Properties/Advanced/Start Up and Recovery/Settings:major

 

i also have 3 operating systems, booting of 2 hdd's,
its realy quite easy, if its multiple windows then its oldest system first and the entry will be added to your boot.ini automagically,
if its linux and windows then (i use the grub boot loader so can only comment on this) then the version of linux should have an option to have the windows boot entry added to the grub boot screen - if it doesn't then its an easy matter of editing the boot/grub/menu.lst

 

Thanks everyone for your replies. My new computer will be here in a few days!!! :cool And I would really like to be able to run XP PRO 32-bit and Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

 

You can alsu load Ubuntu(Linux) on the same partition as Windows. That is how my Ubuntu is set. Gives the option to load inside Windows.Still gives choice on which to run at bootup.