Change which hard drive boots

[Blizzard596]

I have 2 hard drives, (1 IDE and 1 SATA) that both have a copy of XP installed. Currently, the computer boots to the IDE, but I want to be able to boot the SATA instead, without losing any data on either of the drives. The IDE drive doesn't need to be bootable anymore so could it be as simple as just erasing the MBR or something so that the SATA is forced to boot?

 

[Lorithad]

Check your boot options in your bios. You should be able to change the boot priority so that the SATA drive is checked for an OS first.

 

[Blizzard596]

I already checked that and the only hard drive option is "Hard Drive". I don't see an option to choose between multiple hard drives.

 

[superdave1984]

Set your IDE jumper to slave.

 

[fixal0t]

nvm, wrong idea
are you sure the SATA is enabled

 

[Blizzard596]

nvm I found it. There was an advanced section in the bios for sata drives. I think it'll work fine now. Thanks anyway for the help.

 

[EricB]

make sure the boot info for the sata is on the sata. usually it will default to the c ide drive if it is connected

 

[TheMajor]

If it doesn't boot:

Disconnect all disks except the Windows harddisk. Load the XP CD-ROM (select boot from CD-ROM in BIOS). Enter recovery console (press R after it finished loading). Type fixmbr. Then fixboot. Type exit. Shutdown. Hook up all disks, configure BIOS to boot from the Windows hard disk, reboot.