ASUS G75: boot from the 2nd HDD, and disable the 1st one?

[timppu]

Hello

In my ASUS G75, I have two internal 750GB HDDs. The 1st has the pre-installed Win7 that came with the machine, and the second has been there mostly idle storage so far.

However, I'd like to try out the Win8 Preview from Microsoft, without touching my current Win7 installation.But going to BIOS settings, I couldn't quite tell how to achieve what I'd like to do, and also came empty with the G75 eManual.

Basically, I'd like to set the 2nd HDD as the primary bootable device, and possibly also hide (lock) the first HDD completely from the system, just so that I don't accidentally install Win8 over it. I could find an "interface lock"-option only for the second SATA HDD, and SATA ODD (which I presume refers to the DVD-RW drive). I couldn't find it for the first HDD interface.

I don't want to try Win8 in a virtual machine. I'm already doing that in VMWare Player, but I'd like to check a few things when Win8 preview is running natively on this machine (like game performance; some claim Win8 is considerably faster than Win7).

If this fails, is there some other option to try Win8 preview natively? Like installing it on an external USB HDD and boot from that, if that's even possible?

I have done other normal precautions already, like creating the recovery DVDs (even tested that they work), backed up any private data to an external HDD etc.

[john_from_ohio]

Restart the machine and hold PF2 and you get into BIOS options.

Third tab over is BOOT and you can set BOOT priority for the drive that you want.

Be very careful when running the Win 8 installer that you point ONLY to the other drive when doing the install.

All in all ... the safest way to make sure you don't over write / harm the Win 7 install is to temporarily pull out the Win 7 disk. Easy to open the back of the machine ... all well documented here. Easy to pull out temporarily the tray holding the Win 7 disk.

I for one would recommend operating like that when testing out Win 8 on a separate drive ... less chance of messing up!

[timppu]

john_from_ohio wrote:
Restart the machine and hold PF2 and you get into BIOS options.

Third tab over is BOOT and you can set BOOT priority for the drive that you want.

Thanks, I tried that. The problem is, in the boot options I see nothing related to the second HDD. The only selections for the first and second boot are

- Windows boot manager (P0:ST......)
- P2: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM
- Disabled

So it seems the second HDD is not selectable at all as a bootable device. The BIOS/UEFI seems to see it ok though on the BIOS main page, and I can use it fine when I boot Win7 from the 1st HDD. Should I use then "Add new boot option" to add the 2nd HDD as a bootable device? Unfortunately that option was complete gibberish to me, it asked for a "filesystem" and "path" in freeform text fields, I have no idea whatsoever what to enter there. I didn't find suitable instructions in the G75 eManual either.

Also, it seemed you could set only two boot priorities. Am I really restricted to only two, or will that number increase too if and when I am able to add more bootable devices that the BIOS(UEFI?) can recognize?

That also reminds me: is it possible to set the G75 BIOS to boot from an USB port device (e.g. a memory stick or an USB CD-ROM drive)? I didn't recognize how to do that either. Should it be possible?


As for removing the first HDD while installing Win8, my idea was to use both Win7 and 8 "at the same time" until I'm done with my Win8 experiments (after which I'd completely remove the Win8 installation, unless I decide to upgrade to it), ie. I would then have to keep swapping the HDDs all the time. I was hoping I could select which OS to boot by simply changing the boot priority in BIOS.

I'm ready to take the risk of the Win8 installation screwing up my Win7 installation, I made the necessary backups and precautions already.

Thanks for any help.

[timppu]

Now it occurred to me of course that is this some kind of UEFI security feature, ie. the second HDD is not listed simply because it doesn't have a verified OS on it yet? So it should be selectable _after_ it has the Win8 installed?

Maybe I'll start the Win8 installation to see what it says, does it give the option to install to the second HDD...

[Clintlgm]

I think I would take John advise and pull the c: drive out then install Win 8 On the 2nd drive. Once you have it all configured put the original drive back in use the F2 sequence on boot up and select which ever drive/System you want to boot up

[timppu]

Ah ok, maybe I misunderstood the first suggestion. I thought I would have to keep the 1st HDD disconnected as long as I use Win8. But if only for the installation, that sounds reasonable.

I don't quite like the G75 bottom panel, it felt quite hard to open when I put in the second HDD before (I was afraid I will break it, it needed so much force), and putting it back in place was even harder for me. So I'd rather not open it too often.

I recall I even watched some Youtube-video on how to change or add a HDD to G75, and even the author of that video had problems opening the panel. First he tried for like a minute or so, and failing that, paused recording the video and resumed it only after he had opened the panel successfully. 🙂

[john_from_ohio]

You do need to use a little finesse getting the back panel open ... personally I use a small screw driver to initially loosen / leverage up the front side of it in a couple of spots. After it has been off a couple of times it does open a little easier.

[timppu]

john_from_ohio wrote:
You do need to use a little finesse getting the back panel open ... personally I use a small screw driver to initially loosen / leverage up the front of it in a couple of spots. After it has been off a couple of times it does open a little easier.

You're right, now on the second time both opening and closing the lid went easier. Also it was a good thing I checked the HDDs because I noticed I had put the second HDD in its place a bit incorrectly (ie. I had not used the screws to securely fit it to the "tray").

I did as suggested, ie. removed P0 HDD altogether while I installed Win8 Release Preview in the P1 HDD, and after that I reinserted P0 HDD. Now everything works great, by default the G75 boots to Win7 (P0 HDD), but by pressing Esc on machine boot, I can select Win8 (P1 HDD) as the boot device.

When I am in Win7, the Win8 HDD is shown as normal 😧 drive, while when I am in Win8, the Win7 HDD is not visible to the system. Which is fine to me. It is good I took out the P0 HDD, as I wouldn't be surprised if Win8 installation would have added some unwanted boot menu on the Win7 HDD anyway...

Now on to testing the Win8 preview, writing this message from Win8... I wonder if there are any G75 drivers for Win8 preview yet, it is kinda irritating that the screen brightness is at maximum by default, and I can't dim it with the fn key...

[john_from_ohio]

timppu wrote:
Now on to testing the Win8 preview, writing this message from Win8... I wonder if there are any G75 drivers for Win8 preview yet, it is kinda irritating that the screen brightness is at maximum by default, and I can't dim it with the fn key...

Yes there are at least some out now already on the asus support site ... if you first search by G75VW it prompts you for which operating system ... if you pick Windows 8 then there is some stuff out there already.

Looks like asus will have G75VW systems shipped out and perhaps in stock at places like Best Buy/etc the day Windows 8 officially rolls out.

[shadowarrowny]

john_from_ohio wrote:
You do need to use a little finesse getting the back panel open ... personally I use a small screw driver to initially loosen / leverage up the front side of it in a couple of spots. After it has been off a couple of times it does open a little easier.

I second that.

In fact, I have opened a few G75s and found that it helps quite a bit to have someone hold down the computer by the sides while I gently lift the finger tab part of it with a screwdriver. It doesn't take much to hold it down, the laptop just weighs a bit less than the force it takes to crack it open on some of them. It is much easier to use both hands while the chassis is "secured" to your workbench.

-Kevin