Dual Boot using two HDD

[Amma]

I have one IDE port on my motherboard its ASUS p5gc mx/1333 . I have 2 IDE hard disk, obeviously one is connected as master and another one as slave Hard drive. Is it possible to make dual boot with two hard disk? i'll install linux on one hard disk and another with windows vista. Any trick? or its simply possible, i haven't faced this situation before so any help would be nice to me. Thanks in advance.

[Abhav]

Only way we all know is to do jumper setting, if you don't know then boot from either of 2 drives is a switch connected to master/slave jumpers that will select one or the other as master on primary IDE adapter.

[Raiz]

Refer to following threads to know more on this topic:

Dual Boot Each OS in different system partition
Two Hard Drive & two Operating system

Hope this helps.

[Rupert]

You can accomplish this is through a bootloader that can hide the drive that is not being booted from:

OSL2000 is an advanced multi boot manager. Using OSL2000, you can easily install, boot and manage up to 100 independent OSs in your system. A boot manager is a program that lets you have multiple operating systems in your system. OSL2000 boot manager, in addition to being a normal boot manager, has advanced features that let you seamlessly install, boot and manage 100s of OSs like Windows (all versions), Linux, DOS, etc.

It lets you have independent copies of Windows. It even lets you have multiple copies of the same Windows. It lets you boot Windows (all versions) from logical partitions, second hard disk, etc. It has tons of advanced features and does not require any manual configuration. In fact, it is so advanced that it does not even have a configuration screen!

• Lets you have up to 100 independent operating systems.
• Lets you have completely independent copies of Windows.
• Lets you even have multiple copies of the same Windows.
• Lets you boot Windows (all versions) from logical partitions.
• Lets you boot Windows (all versions) from the second hard disk.
• Supports Windows (all versions), Linux, DOS and most others.
• Supports boot from hard disk, cd-rom, floppy, usb, zip & more.
• Supports command-line mode, batch files, desktop shortcuts, etc.
• BootMenu sports a elegant, customizable yet powerful interface.
• Has tons of advanced features like Stealth, AutoBoot, AutoScan, AutoSense, SafeBoot, AutoHide, MenuLock with password, Self Timer & more....
• There are no feature limits. All features are available to users.
• Absolutely no configuration required! Simply 100% automatic.
• One click install. 100% automatic (takes only a few seconds).
• Does not require a FAT or NTFS partition to install.
• Uses the state-of-the-art UltraIO boot engine to operate.
• Can be installed from Windows (all versions) and DOS.
• Uninstaller gives you a clean uninstall, if required.

[SledgeHammer]

No need for 3rd party bootloader.

Just install Linux last in any of your HDD & edit the GRUB configuration.

Search & you'll get how to configure GRUB...