Windows installs on two seperate harddrives - block access? [QUESTION]

[kjaerby]

Hi. I'm going to use two windows installs on two seperate harddrives, my question is:

 

I don't have enough for two PC's atm & I need this for my job (security reasons). The first drive will be my main OS and the second will be the OS for working. The work OS will be 'off the grid' meaning with no internet connection.

Is it possible to do so they can't see eachother at all? So they have no access at all to each other in terms of looking through files or even see them?

 

Best regards.

 

[Vishera]

7 minutes ago, kjaerby said:

Hi. I'm going to use two windows installs on two seperate harddrives, my question is:

 

I don't have enough for two PC's atm & I need this for my job (security reasons). The first drive will be my main OS and the second will be the OS for working. The work OS will be 'off the grid' meaning with no internet connection.

Is it possible to do so they can't see eachother at all? So they have no access at all to each other in terms of looking through files or even see them?

 

Best regards.

 

Turn off the SATA ports of the drives you don't want to use in the BIOS,and make sure that the port of the drive you use is enabled

You will need to do that every time you want to switch drives.

[mariushm]

Wouldn't it be easier to install Windows in a virtual machine  (Virtualbox , VMWare) and simply make a configuration of virtual machine without network cards or means to get internet? 

 

If you insist on having two drives, easiest would be to just pull the power from the other drive when you install Windows.

Then when you boot the PC you can press F8 or whatever the key is for boot menu and select the drive you want to boot from.

Without going in BIOS to disable the other drive, or unplugging power from the other drive, Windows would see the other hard drive. 

 

Another hardware solution would be to get a case with two 5.25" bays (for optical drives) and install hard drive bays with on/off switch.
Then, it would only be a matter of turning off computer, flipping the on/off switches on the hard drives and then turning on the PC - the motherboard will auto detect the hard drives and boot from the only hard drive present. 

 

Or use one of these things which is basically just 6 on/off switches for the hard drives inside the case : https://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-Optimized-Controls-Provide-Longevity/dp/B00TZR3E70/

 

 

[Kilrah]

One way would be to configure bitlocker to allow unlocking with a USB key, and set up both OSes with different keys so you insert the one you want to use. The other's drive won't be accessible unless you connected its key as well then manually unlocked.

[LWM723]

Just disable the drive in Device Manager. Make a batch file to do it with one click.

[mariushm]

Just now, LWM723 said:

Just disable the drive in Device Manager. Make a batch file to do it with one click.

A virus on one installation could launch before you manage to do that and infect the other hard drive that's supposed to be secure, never connected to Internet, and all that jazz. 

Nowadays you could have viruses acting as drivers, loaded before you even get the Windows logon, or hiding themselves in hardware... 

[kjaerby]

Thank you all for the replies! I really appreciate it! I think I will go for the method mentioned below. Seems to be the "easiest" and "best" way to do it. 

11 hours ago, Kilrah said:

One way would be to configure bitlocker to allow unlocking with a USB key, and set up both OSes with different keys so you insert the one you want to use. The other's drive won't be accessible unless you connected its key as well then manually unlocked.