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afterdawn.com > forums > software, operating systems and more > windows 8 discussion > can i run windows 8 and windows 7 on the same pc?
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Can I run Windows 8 and Windows 7 on the same PC?
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hockeyfan
Junior Member
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 03:59 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Ok so a few months ago I bought the Asus G75 gaming laptop. Originally it came with 2 750 GB hard drives and Windows 8 as the OS. I replaced those two hard drives with a 512 GB Samsung SSD and a 120 GB Samsung SSD. I still have the original hard drives that came out of the laptop sitting in the SSD boxes in my closet, but I was wondering if I could use them in my desktop. I have ordered the 2.5 to 3.5 dual mounting bracket for my tower, but is it possible to hook them up and run both Windows 7 and Windows 8 on the same PC? I just dont want two perfectly good drives going to waste. Especially when they have a legit copy of Winsows 8 I paid for on them. If someone could give me step by step instructions on how to do this it would be greatly appreciated! When I say STEP BY STEP I mean STEP BY STEP lol! I am good with some aspects of computer parts and installation, but this is way out of my league. Thank you!
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Cyprien
Senior Member

1 product review
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 07:38 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
well if you plan to run dual boot with 7 and 8... you can use easybcd... just create 2 partitions install 7 on one and 8 on the other... then just boot to either 7 or 8 and use easybcd to setup dual boot... i did a dual boot of 2 w7 installs from ssd and raid on my pc

here is a guide step by step as you requested :3 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408280,00.asp

here is the easybcd site http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. June 2013 @ 07:39
hockeyfan
Junior Member
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 08:27 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by Cyprien:
 well if you plan to run dual boot with 7 and 8... you can use easybcd... just create 2 partitions install 7 on one and 8 on the other... then just boot to either 7 or 8 and use easybcd to setup dual boot... i did a dual boot of 2 w7 installs from ssd and raid on my pc

here is a guide step by step as you requested :3 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408280,00.asp

here is the easybcd site http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/
Thank you so much! I'll look into it today and report my results. Thanks again and have a great day!
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hockeyfan
Junior Member
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 08:33 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Just one more question. Will this work even if the 2 hard drives that came out of the laptop already have windows 8 on it or does this apply to a new installation of Windows 8?
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Cyprien
Senior Member

1 product review
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 08:45 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
well you have to see if 8 has a proper boot.... connect the drive and boot from it and see if 8 boots up and installs drivers for your parts if it does not.. well the only thing you need to do is backup vital information and format the drive... for that you can use any live cd that's out there... or boot to your windows and browse for the files on the other drive...
for livecds on usb check here http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

btw the laptop usually use 1 hdd for windows and recovery partition the other one is just for data storage... unless the drives were set in raid mode then you will have some problems...
[ + quote]
PC i7 3770K 8Gb Ram Radeon 290X 4TB WD Black 60Gb SDD
Xbox360 Slim RGH Dash 16202
Xbox360 PHAT 14719 BENQ drive
Black PS3 CECH-L04 PS3ITA 4.50 Converted DEX
White PS3 CECH-2506B PS3ITA 4.50 Converted DEX
Black PS3 DECH-J00A DEX FW4.50

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. June 2013 @ 08:50
hockeyfan
Junior Member
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 09:02 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by Cyprien:
 well you have to see if 8 has a proper boot.... connect the drive and boot from it and see if 8 boots up and installs drivers for your parts if it does not.. well the only thing you need to do is backup vital information and format the drive... for that you can use any live cd that's out there... or boot to your windows and browse for the files on the other drive...
for livecds on usb check here http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

btw the laptop usually use 1 hdd for windows and recovery partition the other one is just for data storage... unless the drives were set in raid mode then you will have some problems...
What also might be a problem is if I format the drives I would lose Windows 8 right? The laptop never came with a Windows 8 recovery disk. Now if push comes to shove I dont mind losing Windows 8 just as long as I could use the 2 hard drives as storage drives. I just think it would be cool if I could dual boot Win 7 and Win 8. What is a "live CD?" I am also worried that the Win 8 OS might be split up on both drives. I'll connect the 2 and see if I can boot from them.
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Cyprien
Senior Member

1 product review
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 09:49 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Originally posted by hockeyfan:
Originally posted by Cyprien:
 well you have to see if 8 has a proper boot.... connect the drive and boot from it and see if 8 boots up and installs drivers for your parts if it does not.. well the only thing you need to do is backup vital information and format the drive... for that you can use any live cd that's out there... or boot to your windows and browse for the files on the other drive...
for livecds on usb check here http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

btw the laptop usually use 1 hdd for windows and recovery partition the other one is just for data storage... unless the drives were set in raid mode then you will have some problems...
What also might be a problem is if I format the drives I would lose Windows 8 right? The laptop never came with a Windows 8 recovery disk. Now if push comes to shove I dont mind losing Windows 8 just as long as I could use the 2 hard drives as storage drives. I just think it would be cool if I could dual boot Win 7 and Win 8. What is a "live CD?" I am also worried that the Win 8 OS might be split up on both drives. I'll connect the 2 and see if I can boot from them.
as far as i know the G75 does not come with raid enabled out of the box... but you can never be to sure.... just connect 1 one of the drives to see if windows asks you to format it if it does its in raid mode if it doesn't then its not in raid mode...

as for the recovery partition you can always back it up... theres plenty of software that does it... what you need to do is make image of the partition it should be around 16-4gigs then just resize the main partition on the laptop(should be the same drive you installed windows on) according to the size of image... on the empty space that left after resize create a new partition and just write the image to that... then just check if the laptop can boot from that in recovery mode :3 to make this simple heres example...

lets say the current drive in the laptop is 250 C: drive has 2 parts one is 100mb and the rest for windows now if the recovery part is 8gigs you rezise the 249gb to 241gb create new part on the empty 8gigs and write the image you created... if all goes well you get 3 parts 1)(100mb) 2(241gb) and 3(8gb) and the laptop should boot the recovery if needed :3

as for live cd its OS(operating system) in live mode that does not install but runs on the fly using ram... using live cds is a must if you work with lots of partitions for backup of recovery and even imaging...
[ + quote]
PC i7 3770K 8Gb Ram Radeon 290X 4TB WD Black 60Gb SDD
Xbox360 Slim RGH Dash 16202
Xbox360 PHAT 14719 BENQ drive
Black PS3 CECH-L04 PS3ITA 4.50 Converted DEX
White PS3 CECH-2506B PS3ITA 4.50 Converted DEX
Black PS3 DECH-J00A DEX FW4.50

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. June 2013 @ 09:51
scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict

4 product reviews
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 14:08 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
easeus todo backup is free for personal use as is minitool partition wizard.

Leave windows 8 & the recovery partition alone on your original hdd this can be used as your primary backup,if you need more storage space get a larger external hdd,only other thing i'll mention is create a backup image of the recovery partition on the 2nd 750gb,note i said image not clone
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ddp
Moderator
_ 		30. June 2013 @ 16:41 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
why did you put 2 ssd drives in the laptop instead of just replacing the boot hd with a ssd?
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afterdawn.com > forums > software, operating systems and more > windows 8 discussion > can i run windows 8 and windows 7 on the same pc?
 

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