second hard disk dual boot, how does it work on DV7?

[auntieannie2]

I have a

dv7 6c43cl (win7) with space for a second HDD and I have an extra HDD 500gb from my old laptop that has the same edition windows on it and a ton of info I would like to have access to.  Some posts here say you cannot boot from the 2nd disk but then I also read that you could boot from either if you have the same operating system on both disks? 

I just ordered the cable and would be grateful to know just what to do once I get it, to set up the second HDD and be able to boot from the second disk as well.

Thank you, Anne

[DavidPK]

Hi Anne,

You will not be able to boot from the 2nd HDD - this restriction is in your system bios.  However, once the 2nd HDD has been installed, you will be able to access any files, photos etc on it - just open Computer, double-click the 2nd HDD, select Users and then select the 'Username' that was in use on this drive.  When first accessing the 2nd drive, you will get several security access prompts, just click Ok for each one to gain the appropriate permissions.

Regards,

DP-K

[auntieannie2]

Thank you, I'm still waiting for the cable but will try as soon as I get it. Anne

[DavidPK]

Hi Anne,

You're welcome

Just post back if you run into any problems.

All the best,

DP-K

[Big_Dave]

Hi Anne,

You will be able to boot from a second hard drive using Windows 8 and using Windows 7 on the original hard drive. I have a DV7t-7000 and sucessfully boot from either hard drive.

Here is what I did:

Enabled UEFI (disabled legacy mode) mode.

Temporarily cable the second hard drive to SATA port 1 (unplug current HD).

Install Windows 8 (OEM version) and then apply the updates.

Cable the second hard drive to SATA port 2 and the original hard drive back to SATA port 1.

Change the bios back to Legacy mode.

With the above arrangement, I can boot W7 and W8, each being on a separate hard drive. If you should go back to UEFI mode then the hard drive containing W7 will not be available as a boot device since it was not installed in UEFI mode. HP has not responded to the issue of being able to install W7 in UEFI mode. If HP corrects this bios issue and allow W7 to be installed in UEFI mode, then it would be possible to dual boot W7 on two different hard drives.

[Ciacs_85]

Hi all, i need to do the same thing with an hp pavillion dv6 3111-sl. Is it possible? 

My current scenario is:

- primary disk (internal) HDD with original windows 7 home premium 64 bit (and also boot partition)

- second disk inside caddy SSD sandisk with windows 8 enterprise 64 bit

- i've installed second S.O.  directly from caddy using an usb boot drive

with this scenario if i shutdown the pc, on windows load i can choose win 7 or win 8 but (only after shutdown) second driver is always inaccessible while win 7 (primary hd) works. If i restart the pc both work correctly (only after restart).

i've tried another scenario

- primary disk (internal) SSD sandisk with windows 8 enterprise 64 bit

-  second disk HDD with original windows 7 home premium 64 bit (and also boot partition)

- in this scenario i've only changed HDDs position

- with this scenario if i shutdown the pc, on windows load i receive the message that there aren't bootable devices. If i enter the BIOS, doing nothing, start an hard drive, after restart i can see both S.O. and choose which one load.

Can you help me to solve this annoying issue? thanks in advance, 

Marco

[snsarma]

I managed to solve the problem of dual booting from different hard disks using the GRUB 2 Bootloader.

You can install the GRUB2 Boot loader from a linux installation and replace the Master Boot Record after installing both the operating systems on the primary and secondary hard disk. The boot loader will detect both the operating systems on both the hard disks and allow you to boot into them automatically.

After installing both the operating systems, you won't be able to boot into the operating system on the second hard disk, but you will be able to as soon as you install the boot loader. You won't have to complete the installion of the operating system on the second hard disk to get the boot loader to detect it.

The easiest way to install the GRUB2 bootloader is using the Ubuntu 13.10 live CD. You can follow this url for instructions in installing the Bootloader.

Hope it helps anyone looking for a solution to the same problem.

[JCN9801]

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@snsarma wrote:

I managed to solve the problem of dual booting from different hard disks using the GRUB 2 Bootloader.

You can install the GRUB2 Boot loader from a linux installation and replace the Master Boot Record after installing both the operating systems on the primary and secondary hard disk. The boot loader will detect both the operating systems on both the hard disks and allow you to boot into them automatically.

After installing both the operating systems, you won't be able to boot into the operating system on the second hard disk, but you will be able to as soon as you install the boot loader. You won't have to complete the installion of the operating system on the second hard disk to get the boot loader to detect it.

The easiest way to install the GRUB2 bootloader is using the Ubuntu 13.10 live CD. You can follow this url for instructions in installing the Bootloader.

Hope it helps anyone looking for a solution to the same problem.

---

I am not familar w Ubuntu but I did look at their pages and did download the DVD and the Boot-Repair ISO images.  Do I simply replace the HP boot loader partition on my dvt7-6100 w GRUB?

And to do that do I need to use some of the advanced options like "install to a targeted partition", etc?

I have two copied of Windows 7 installed.  Main C: drive is my working system and the 2nd drive is a sparse Win 7 re-install for emergencies and diagnosing programs.

TIA,

---JCN