Seperate hard drives for seperate user accounts possible?

T

TheOrteganator

New Member
My father and I both use the same computer for very different things. He is a photographer and uses the computer for photo and video editing and storage. I use it mostly for gaming.

Our problem is that there is quire a battle over HD space, since both games and photos like to take up a lot of room. Also, he makes me incredibly angry with all of the useless crap he installs, which forces me to clean up the startup program list at least once a week to get rid of it all if I want the computer to start up within a reasonable amount of time. He also uses AOL software, which seems to enjoy poping up with useless windows while I'm trying to play games.

Is there any way to add a second hard drive for my user account? Like, when he logs into his user account, it uses one hard drive, and when I log into mine it uses the other? This way, we would keep out things seperate and not have any of our stuff get in each others way.

The spare hard drive I have is identical, and also has Windows XP on it. So, is there any way of logging on with different user accounts and having each one utilize a different hard drive?

Thanks.
 
The simple method to have a separate user account with a second drive is to install Windows onto the second drive with a separate administrator. You have to unplug the current primary to avoid changing the boot information in order to isolate the drive however. The bios boot order or F8 boot device menu would be used then. Or you simply have the dual boot setup where the option to load one or the other is seen at startup.
 
Well, the second drive already has Windows XP on it out of an identical computer. The company accidentally sent us 2 computers when we ordered one. We were nice and called them to see if they wanted it back, and they said yes. However, they also wanted US to pay to ship their mistake back to them... idiots.

So we ended up with 2 identical computers. I would just use the other computer, but it has already been butchered for spare parts for this one.

Everything that you said about bios and boot order and all of that stuff was like a foreign language to me... can you explain in easier terms?
 
When you first turn on the power, here's where a user's manual plays an important role, the option to enter the system bios setup program is done by pressing an assigned key like DEL. Once in there you have to locate the section that shows what drive/device is assigned as the first in the order. The make and model of the system would be a help in findin an online support site where you can download that if needed.

On new systems(custom built mainly) you would press the F8 key just before Windows starts loading to avoid it's own F8 start menu for normal, safe mode, last know configuration that worked, etc. there. This will clearly list the drives installed under the different catagories like optical, ide/sata, and floppy. There you simply highlight the drive to boot from to see the Windows installation there load.
 
or you can just get 2 drives and save only your stuff on 1 hard rive and your dad on the other...
 
The dual boot option does provide one thing not reailly advised considering the situation where only one can be a system administrator in a sense. With a second drive and second installation of Windows you are incharge there. You have to remember who owns the machine too. A business?
 
Thanks. First I'm gonna plug both into this same computer and try that. What will happen if I just plug both in and boot it? They are both known as drive C, so will that cause a conflict? Or will it just rename one?
 
First if both are the same version of XP one will be the default set in the bios itself. Hopefully that will detect and list the other E drive not C from that Windows view. Once you boot from the second drive the first may appear as the E, F, G, H, etc. until you assign a specific drive letter in the Disk Management tool.

First you would have to see if a repair install is needed if one drive isn't seen for some reason in MyComputer or Windows Explorer. With both being from identical systems probably same boards and video cards as well you may be able to avoid a full reinstall of Windows. The repair method if needed repairs the basics while not touching any of the programs installed.
 
Hope you had a good night's sleep there! :P I'm currently running three different versions of Windows on 3 different drives to give you an example. Each one can boot up independently when using the F8 boot menu. Each one has it's own separate administrator and can serve as a stand alone drive if needed.

In your situation can do that or simply have your drive as the secondary slave with it listed as an option in the Windows startup screen. That would require reinstalling Windows on the second for that. If the bios offers the F8 menu you can avoid changing the boot order in the bios itself. You simply select your drive from the list and press the enter key.
 
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