So here’s the project I’m thinking of running.
- I have a machine running Windows 7
- Remove the C drive, put in a spare SSD and install Windows 10 to that
- Can I now just swap between drives and boot into a totally different OS? Have I overlooked something or is that simple?
Why would I even want to do something like this? I own a bunch of different computers with different functions (lounge PC, Win98 games machine, escape room PC etc) but instead of building a new computer every time I want to try something new, it would be nice to just be able to swap drives. Basically drives take up way less space than entire computers.
You can definitely do that. Just make sure that both drives are bootable and avoid having them in at the same time. A better way would be to set up a boot loader like GRUB to swap between them, but physically swapping the drives does work.
That’s an excellent suggestion, thanks!
Yes, cmspooner is correct. There’s no reason to swap drives. Even if a computer can only hold one drive, you can partition the drive and install as many OSes as you want as long as you don’t run out of space. Then you just have a menu that pops up when the computer boots for you to choose the OS.
Also, depending on what you want to do, virtual machines may be an even better solution since it lets you avoid rebooting.
Sounds good. I just have a lot of spare old drives. 
One of the things I’m actually doing is running a test of the Rufus method to upgrade an outdated system from Windows 10 to 11. I wanted to try this on a computer I didn’t care about before doing anything to my main work PC.
Maybe it’s a bit extra, but I kind of love this stuff and I’d rather be safe than sorry.