Theoretical Question: Dual Boot Crossover

Just a general question. When one dual boots two operating systems (e.g. Vista & XP) on the same PC how much crossover happens? Can you access the same stored files on your hard drive from either OS? If you would happen to get a virus while running one OS will the other be automatically infected? How hard is the line between dually booted OS?

Just Curious,
Demonyx

 

There may be other options, but there are two distinct ways to Dual Boot a system.
One is to have both OS's on the same drive and use a Boot Manager program to supply you with a boot menu when you first boot up the system.

The other (my favorite) is to have each OS on a separate HD with the default drive in the lowest numbered drive port on the motherboard. (SATA2)
Then I use the boot menu provided by my motherboard to select any drive other than the default drive.
Pressing F11 at boot, gives me this neat little boot menu. (MSI mobo)
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g90/DrWho1943/BootScreenF11.jpg

However in most cases, each drive is fully accessible from the other drive and OS. And yes, a virus CAN jump from one drive to the other.:cry
All the more reason to use a really good anti-virus program on every drive.
I personally use AVG 8.0 FREE and NEVER have virus problems.

All your options are dependent on what type of drives you're using and how your motherboard handles it's drives.

A fellow tech set up one of his customers to use a toggle switch to select which drive to boot from. Then the non-selected drive is shut OFF and cannot interact with the active drive. Only the +5v line to the drives is switched. With NO +5v supplied to a drive, the drive effectively disappears from the system.

So, there are always options.....

Good Luck and Happy Holidays!
Shadow:cool