Using boot managers

Can I use a boot manager program if my operating systems are on two different hard drives, or do they only work if you're partitioning a single hard drive? I have XP on one hard drive and Vista on another, but I want Vista to be the default OS upon startup. I know there is a way that I can set this up in BIOS, but I would prefer not to mess with anything in there.

 

I supose you could edit boot.ini , but it`s a field I`m not good at.

 

You can install any os on any hard drive and they will show up on Boot manger..
to change the default....
right click on "My computer" on win xp> got to Advance Tab> in the third section "satrtup and recovery" click on setting...and you see the default operating system...
i hope thats wat u looking for,,,

 

Damn, I forgot about that editing, I was to used to manually doing it.
Yea,that`s the way to do it

 

I have the same situation, in my clevo laptop based HDD1: XP and HDD2: Ubuntu. The way I do it is at booting I press F2 and I change the booting order, HDD1 in first place if I want to work with XP or I put HDD2 in first position if I want to work with Ubuntu, and I have to boot again, this is stupid I know, but I don't know another way.

In my Compal laptop based at booting I have the choice to press F8 (I believe) and a menu opens giving me the choice to boot from the different drives.

 

Yes, I think you may have just answered my question. Thanks so much.

Thank you for the information. I actually knew of this method. I think the aforementioned method is easier and may even be a little safer.

 

To anyone who uses boot managers, which one is the best one?

 

Define "best" ;-)

Anyway, maybe this one will do: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/GAG-d.shtml

 

Impeccably carries out all of my unexpressed needs and desires for what an OS should do. You know, Voltaire's Candide to B.G.'s Windows.

@Wirelessman: you should be able to remedy your method by setting two options in the boot.ini file so that you get something that looks a little like this (keep in mind, this is just pseudocode I invented to illustrate):

I would check with one of the linux bootloaders - they're almost certainly sophisticated enough to handle something like your setup.

 

Yea, it`s what I wanted to sugest in the first place, but it`s long passed since I manually screwed up my boot.ini

 

That won't work if the OS's are in two different HDD's. One HDD with one Os won't see the other HDD at all.

Your method will work because the booting sector will have the data for both OS's, but this consider just one HDD.

 

Yep, I have done a lot of research and the best is a boot manager application as it can provide you with a nice UI with the options. There many boot manager applications and it suffice to choose the best. The most clean way would be to be incorporated in the BIOS, yes, let's ask these ODM's to incorporate a multi-OS booting option in the BIOS.

Now, the crazy question is this, can I have both OS's working at the same time, so I can toggle from one to the other, even better, what about if I had a window divided in two, one OS in the left window and the other in the right window. Or one OS in one screen and the other one in the other screen (dual display operation), then you can pass one application from one display to another seamlessly.

Ok, I'm tire, I'm going to bed.

 

Sure. To run multiple OSs at a time you need some sort of virtualization technology: Try Virtualbox (free), VMWare (non-free), or Parallels, if you need to run Windows on Mac (although I think Virtualbox can do that too as of recent, as well as VMware Fusion.)