DaveElson
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sata cable/dual boot question
Apologies for a double post, I initially posted this in the Coffee House and forgot this forum was here. I purchased Win 7 and a new hard drive, extra ram and installed some days ago on my HP Vista dual core machine. After a few issues X1 seems to be working fine (I posted a couple questions in that forum). The hard drive didn't come with any cable so I used the sata drive to motherboard cable from the existing hard drive. I want to dual boot, for a while at least and I've been trying to find another sata drive to motherbord cable. Bestbuy say they have one at 20 bucks but that seems alot. Sata to sata cables abound, and are cheap, so my question is: If I use a sata to sata (with one of the drives going to the motherboard) can I dual boot by interrupting the bootup? I get the option by pressing esc. Initially I expected to have to get a drive/motherboard cable, but now I'm not so sure. Any advice appreciated. Edit: The motherboard is a few years old and doesn't look like it has the same connector requirement as the drive connector at the other end. It looks like I can add 4 drives to the motherboard, although I physically have space for 2 drives. Here is a link to the motherboard specs. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00906129&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3377269
post edited by DaveElson - 2011/06/19 20:57:37
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sykodelic
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/19 21:33:23
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based on the description I only see two sata ports so 2 drives would be the limit. And yes you should be able to dual boot with another sata drive and cable....
Asus P8P67 pro, I7 2600K, 8G Kingston Hyperflex, 2 1T WD Caviar Black(sytem,audio), 2T WD Caviar Black(samples), RME Multiface, Roland A500 Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate 64, Sonar X1C, Ableton Live 8, Reason 6, Komplete 7, DCAM Synth Squad, Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trillian
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DaveElson
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/19 21:38:52
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Thanks sykodelic.
Yes, I saw when I created the link that it says 2 sata ports, but looking at where the first drive cable goes to - there are 4 of them. At least I think, I've been around computers for a while but rarely look under the hood.
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sykodelic
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/19 21:44:04
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after looking at the pic I see what you mean. Specs say 2 though. Interesting.....
Asus P8P67 pro, I7 2600K, 8G Kingston Hyperflex, 2 1T WD Caviar Black(sytem,audio), 2T WD Caviar Black(samples), RME Multiface, Roland A500 Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate 64, Sonar X1C, Ableton Live 8, Reason 6, Komplete 7, DCAM Synth Squad, Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trillian
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DaveElson
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/19 21:57:44
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On researching for my Win 7 upgrade I read a few times that HP use the same gear for different computers but then restrict some a little. So perhaps the bios will only accept 2. I don't know, I'm not experienced enough. In looking for a sata to motherboard cable, am I wasting my time? If anyone looks at the picture from the link, the cable goes into the lower right of the mb, where there are 4 different colored connectors. I'm pretty sure the cable in the computer is different at each end (going to have to open it again now to check) yet every time I do a search, I can't find one, although Bestbuy told me over the phone they had one.
post edited by DaveElson - 2011/06/19 21:58:57
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sykodelic
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/19 22:45:09
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That is probably correct.. unfortunately The layout diagram type isn't clear enough to read what it says next to port...I assume your probably right and the bios will only support two...
Asus P8P67 pro, I7 2600K, 8G Kingston Hyperflex, 2 1T WD Caviar Black(sytem,audio), 2T WD Caviar Black(samples), RME Multiface, Roland A500 Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate 64, Sonar X1C, Ableton Live 8, Reason 6, Komplete 7, DCAM Synth Squad, Omnisphere, Stylus RMX, Trillian
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slartabartfast
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/20 05:04:50
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Sata to sata cables abound, and are cheap, so my question is: If I use a sata to sata (with one of the drives going to the motherboard) can I dual boot by interrupting the bootup? huh? The MB has 4 SATA connectors, so I presume it has the capability of running 4 SATA drives. All will be connected from the drive to the motherboard. I must be missing your point with the SATA to SATA thing; there is no way to daisy chain SATA drives. You can dual boot from one drive if you partion it. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Install-more-than-one-operating-system-multiboot If you want each system on its own drive you can do that. SATA cables are cheap. I have never paid more than $3 for one. The OS has the capabilty to manage a dual boot, or if you want you can use a SATA mobile drive rack (about $20) and put each OS on its own drive, just plugging one in at a time.
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DaveElson
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Re:sata cable/dual boot question
2011/06/20 13:13:10
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Slartbartfast Thanks for the reply. Although the mb shows 4 connectors, the website states only 2 sata connectors. No biggie as I only have 2 drives. The original drive is 250gb and has Vista 32 bit. I purchased a 1TB drive and installed Win 7 64 bit on that drive. As I only had one sata to mb cable, I left the original drive unconnected when I installed Win 7. What's confusing me is that I want to have the original drive connected too, and with the possibility to dual boot. The connector I have (I'm at work at present so I can't see it) appears to be different at each end. So when I look for another one of those online, all I tend to see are sata cables that appear the same at each end. These are the ones around $4 each. Perhaps all this is just cosmetic, and a regular sata to sata cable will allow me to attach the first drive to the motherboard, I don't know. Then hopefully, at bootup, I can choose which OS I want? I hope the above explains the situation a bit more. I don't want to partition the drives, and after a while I won't need the first drive, but I have "stuff" on it I need for now. Then eventually I can reformat it and just use it as a backup or something. Thanks. Edit: Came home for lunch and checked the cable. It is just sata to sata. Because I hadn't removed the motherboard end, I wrongly assumed it was a different connector. I just picked up a $5 equivalent and both hard drives show, and although I haven't tried to boot into Win 7 yet, by pressing Esc on bootup, I have booted the vista drive, will now check on Win 7.
post edited by DaveElson - 2011/06/20 18:25:45
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