i have a laptop that uses windows vista. can i buy a new hard drive, plug it into the laptop, install windows xp, and use the laptop with windows xp? i still want to be able to plug the old hard drive back in and use the laptop with windows vista. will this work perfectly? will windows genuine advantage interfere somehow \?
As long as you install all the device drivers with the operating system any operating system will work properly on your laptop. Windows XP will work. Linux will work.
If it is a "new"er laptop, you may not be able to find XP drivers for the system - video, NIC, sound etc. Most of the new laptops you get today, they are only providing Vista Drivers. Older laptop - as long as you have a valid XP license key to install on that latop, you should not have to deal with the license issue
guys, remember that i still want to be able to plug in the old hard drive and use windows vista with too. will i need to mess with the drivers every time i swap the hard drives? how do i do a dual boot? i currently have vista installed. i did a few searches. it seems like if you want to have dual boot with vista and XP, you need to have XP installed first?
Now where did you get that stupid idea from? OBVIOUSLY you only mess with drivers when you install the operating system. The old disc does not magically loose its drivers. That being said, swapping discs on a laptop is a bad idea - as bad as it gets. The laptop stimply is not made for that - you have to constantly open it. WIth a proper computer you could get swappable disc frames that are MADE for constant changing. Dont come here blaming people if you destroy some pins on your laptop and the thing does not boot at all anymore. Somehow I doubt the disc slot in your laptop is made to be opened 5 to 8 times a day It may not last very long... I suggest getting a new and proper computer - laptops are made for a lot of things, but not all people use them for. A decent ocmputer is cheaper, more powerfull AND allows little things like putting in one of thost little items: http://www.istarusa.com/(X(1)S(51aagh2cybryiebhc5nawb45))/rackmount_chassis/storage_enclosure/sata/bpu2535v2.aspx Goes into a 3.5" slot and has 2 slots for 2.5" bays. hot swap capable. This is MADE for replacing discs. So you dont have to open the computer all the time. And is there ANY stupid reason to do what you want? My approach would be: * Scrap Vista, XP. * Get Windows 7. * On a large disc. WIndows 7 supports booting from VHD files, so you can have multiple VHD files (that simulate a disc each) and decide when you boot from which one to boot. Great feature I plan using it when my workstation is due to reinstall (which is SOON), so I can isolate games etc. in their own image. Or, run VIsta, get VIrtual PC and install XP in a VIrtual PC image. Virtualization is a LOT better than swapping drives not made to be swapped out all the time. I pretty much run all my servers on virtualization.
So the simple answer is: - yes, when you swap disks everything is as though you hadn't done anything in between. and - don't do it often as your disk and laptop are not designed for repeated mating. If you wanted to swap the simple expedient of putting a bigger disk in, partitioning it, and installing XP on one partition and Vista on the other, dual boot would be better. Theres lots of stuff on the web explaining how to do it.
Often times you don't have to "open the laptop" - many units have a drive bay that's quite accessible via a couple of screws. But the connectors are not the highest durability so constant swapping could cause issues down the road. Just set up a multi-boot system and you can have as many OSes as you can find drivers for.
Which IS opening the laptop. Some models years ago had replacable drives in cages that could be removed at the press of a button. THAT would be without opening. Exactly the screws (plus the conntectors) are not made for constant opening. This is like replacing the endinge of your car.... a couple of times per day. Simply not made for it Not even on my car
Some computers have the capacity to boot from a USB device. Those USB sticks are getting big enough now where you could install an OS and have decent amount of space to spare. If you need more space, and your laptop allows boot from USB, you can get a normal external USB drive that would work, although it would be a little bigger than a USB stick. This would allow you to not have to worry about constantly swapping drives and have choice at boot time.