Dual boot M.2 question.

[RaveyDaveyUK]

Ok, how do I explain this one...

I share my gaming PC with my son using a power switch. Basically dual boot, but by powering on certain hard drives to run two separate systems sharing hardware in one box. It works very well.

If I were to upgrade mobo, cpu, etc to include an M.2, is there anyway to remove the M.2 from his bootable system? ... I think that makes sense.

Disable the drive letter, maybe?

 

[HoneyBadger]

I can’t see this working. It sounds like you’re controlling the boot by physically supplying/removing power to the drives as you need them, whereas with m.2 there is not mechanism for this. Power will always be available to the drive.

The only way I could see this working is if you got a board with a dual bios and programmed one to use the m.2 and the other to use SATA but even then, it’s a ‘clunky’ solution.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

As long as you aren't booting from the M2, there's no reason why you can't do what you suggested (remove the drive letter). In that situation, the drive will just sit there quietly, untouched. It all sounds a bit dangerous though, the sort of thing that leads to mistakes/misunderstandings where you could lose data. Make sure you have really good (tested) backups of any data you value.