Hi Sandra,

To give you a bit of background before I answer your question ...

I run Ubuntu (Linux) on one hard drive and Vista on a second hard drive. When I installed Ubuntu, it loaded a boot manager which allows me to choose between Windows and Linux.

The reason I'm telling you this ...

... is because I accidentally discovered that if I want to boot directly into Windows, all I need to do is to change the hard drive boot order in my BIOS. That is, when my Ubuntu hard drive boots first, I get the boot manager. When my Windows hard drive boots first, it goes straight into Windows.

I suspect that if you change the boot order of your BIOS to boot first from CD/DVD (for installation purposes) and to boot second from the drive that you want to install Windows 7 on, you'll be able to install Windows 7 as an operating system on your new hard drive.

Then, when you want to boot from the old hard drive with XP, it should be a simple matter of changing the boot order in the BIOS so that the XP drive is first to boot. Given my experience, that's what I'd be trying. It's certainly far easier than unplugging/plugging cables.

All the best,
Noel


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