I should know this but I don't. On my ASUS laptop I currently have a dual-boot system with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I have a second HD that I would like to make another dual-boot systen with Windows 7 and PCLinusOS. So can I use the same Windows 7 on each HD, as the laptop can use only one HD at a time. It takes about a minute to change hard drives, what do you think? Jim
Well, the current dual-boot HD has fixed partitions with no free space on the HD. In addition, everything is working and I don't want to mess around with that HD. What do you think about another dual-boot HD using the same Windows 7, is that legal? Jim
If you try to put 7 on a 2nd HD, it won't activate. I don't know if it's legal or not, but you will run into that problem.
If I had a HD failure and installed Windows 7 to a new HD, it wouldn't activate? My laptop can have only one HD at a time, and the HD's are used only for this laptop, so I would have Windows 7 installed to only the original computer. Jim
Yes, that happened to me. Had 7 installed and the HD went bad. Installed a new HD, and then installed 7, but it wouldn't activate. It takes a hardware profile I guess, so it knew the HD had changed. I had to activate by phone, one of the options it gives you when it fails. I went thru the steps and it gave me the code needed to activate it. You'd need to check with MS on what's legal and what's not for your situation.
I'm not sure how legal the ebay OS's are.. Another option for you is the following: make a backup image of Ubuntu onto an external harddrive (there are free imaging utilities http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm see what works with ext3/ext4); nuke ubuntu; reinstall ubuntu from image onto a smaller partition (grub will have to be reinstalled from a ubuntu cd), then install PCLinusOS onto the remaining space. You can reuse the swap space. Keep the /home partitions small for both ubuntu and PCLinusOS. Have a seperate partiton called /data or something that can be accessed from both the linux distros where your main data will be stored.
I contacted Microsoft this morning and they said it was ok to install Windows 7 to the second hard drive, they also gave me the phone number to activate. And, I can switch between drives without violating the licensing agreement. Jim
I still dont like the idea of switching HDDs repeatedly, the jerks involved...can damage the HDDs over time.. I'd rather recomend getting a 500GB or more HDD and installing win 7 + Ubuntu+PClinux on it.
