W8.1/W7-64 dual boot, dual drive (SSD & SATA) GPT/MBR problems

Question

I'm posting in both the W8 and W7 forums because I'm not sure which is more appropriate.
Setup:
New Dell XPS8700 with Windows 8.1 installed on a 256GB SSD drive.  I upgraded to W8.1 Pro.
2nd drive is a 2TB SATA.
Goal:
Keep W8.1 Pro on SSD.
Install W7 Ultimate 64 (legal copy, installation disk) on SATA Drive.
Select which one I want at boot.
Main Issue
Cannot easily choose which OS to log into.  See  Dual Boot Problems and Current State for details.
Background: W7 Installation Probems
1. I disabled Secure Boot in the BIOS and Fast Startup in Windows 8.1
2. I created 3 partitions (D, E, F) on the SATA drive (a GPT drive)
3. Used the Advanced Option in W8 to boot from the DVD (absurd),
4. Windows 7 started setup from the DVD but at the initial screen (Language, Country), it hung. Hard. No keyboard, no mouse.  Had to turn off computer.
5. Using F12, selected legacy boot from DVD.  Now the installation got beyond the first screen. I selected Custom Install.  When I tried to install to the E: partition, I got the message that W7 could not be installed on a GPT drive.  From
a lot of research and reading, I'm guessing this is because I chose a legacy boot. But, please, note:  the only reason I did a legacy boot was because I could not get past the first screen with a "normal" CD/DVD boot,
6. So, I went back into W8, deleted the volumes on the SATA drive, changed it to MBR, recreated the volumes.
7. Using F12, again selected legacy boot from DVD and was able to install W7 on the E: partition, except that every reboot during the installation process got me back into W8, so I had to restart with the F12 option/legacy boot to finish W7 installation.
8. Finally got W7 installed. Logged in. OK so far.
Dual Boot Problems
1. No boot menu.  Computer booted directly into W8.1. And, yes, Fast Startup in W8.1 still disabled. 
2. Downloaded and installed EasyBCD.  Created boot menu for W8.1 and W7 with W8.1 the default.
3. Reboot, select W8.  Fine, I'm into W8.1
4. Reboot, select W7. All I get is one bar of hieroglyphics across top of screen.  Hard freeze.  Had to unplug computer.
5. Do an F12 reboot and select legacy boot from the SATA drive.  Get a different boot menu  with Windows 7 on top and W8 Media version below.  Select W7.  It loads and I log in.
6. Do an F12 reboot and select legacy boot from the SATA drive. This time, select W8.  Get an error that it can't find W8.
Current State
1. The default boot into W8 works fine.
2. Can't get into W7 unless I do an F12 legacy boot from SATA at startup.
3. If I do an F12 legacy boot from SATA, I can't get into W8.
I do not want to rely on F12 for 2 reasons: first, I want W7 to be my default working enviroment. Please do not try to convince me that there is no good reason for that.  I want to do this, have legal, paid for copies of W7 (actually, I now have four.)
Second, it will make installing W7 updates nightmarish since I'll have go go through the whole F12 thing for every reboot.
I am assuming that the problem stems from the original GPT/MBR  split (with the SSD being GPT and the SATA being MBR) - although I could be wrong.  And, remember, the only reason I changed the SATA from GPT to MBR was because the W7 setup froze
at the initial screen when I first tried to install W7 with a normal boot from DVD.
Things I've tried:
1. Via W8, got to a command prompt where I ran bootsect.exe /scanos.  The result was that it found NO Windows Installations. Obviously incorrect.
2. Uninstalled EasyBCD from W8.
3. Rebooted.  Same boot menu as before: W8.1 on top, Windows 7 below (as I had set things up in EasyBCD).
2. Via W8 Command Prompt did a bcdboot c:\windows to try to get GUI boot menu.  Got the error message: failure when attemptng to copy boot files.
What I want to do seems to me to be quite simple: run W8 from the SSD, run W7 from the SATA.  It's my understanding that I should be able to install W7 on a GPT drive and that would, I am hoping,
solve the boot menu problem.  But see Installation Problems above: I couldn't do the default boot from the DVD and install W7 because it froze at the first screen.  Is there some other way to get past the freeze and install W7 to a GPT?
I've been working on this for two weeks now, have read more articles, watched more YouTube videos than I care to list. Need Help Desperately.
<textarea style="height:80px;width:444px;border:1px solid grey;padding:2px;"></textarea><select><option value="af">Afrikaans</option><option value="sq">Albanian</option><option value="ar">Arabic</option><option
value="hy">Armenian</option><option value="az">Azerbaijani</option><option value="eu">Basque</option><option value="be">Belarusian</option><option value="bg">Bulgarian</option><option
value="ca">Catalan</option><option value="zh-CN">Chinese (Simplified)</option><option value="zh-TW">Chinese (Traditional)</option><option value="hr">Croatian</option><option
value="cs">Czech</option><option value="da">Danish</option><option selected="selected" value="auto">Detect language</option><option value="nl">Dutch</option><option
value="en">English</option><option value="et">Estonian</option><option value="tl">Filipino</option><option value="fi">Finnish</option><option value="fr">French</option><option
value="gl">Galician</option><option value="ka">Georgian</option><option value="de">German</option><option value="el">Greek</option><option value="ht">Haitian
Creole</option><option value="iw">Hebrew</option><option value="hi">Hindi</option><option value="hu">Hungarian</option><option value="is">Icelandic</option><option
value="id">Indonesian</option><option value="ga">Irish</option><option value="it">Italian</option><option value="ja">Japanese</option><option value="ko">Korean</option><option
value="la">Latin</option><option value="lv">Latvian</option><option value="lt">Lithuanian</option><option value="mk">Macedonian</option><option value="ms">Malay</option><option
value="mt">Maltese</option><option value="no">Norwegian</option><option value="fa">Persian</option><option value="pl">Polish</option><option value="pt">Portuguese</option><option
value="ro">Romanian</option><option value="ru">Russian</option><option value="sr">Serbian</option><option value="sk">Slovak</option><option value="sl">Slovenian</option><option
value="es">Spanish</option><option value="sw">Swahili</option><option value="sv">Swedish</option><option value="th">Thai</option><option value="tr">Turkish</option><option
value="uk">Ukrainian</option><option value="ur">Urdu</option><option value="vi">Vietnamese</option><option value="cy">Welsh</option><option value="yi">Yiddish</option></select>⇄<select><option
value="af">Afrikaans</option><option value="sq">Albanian</option><option value="ar">Arabic</option><option value="hy">Armenian</option><option value="az">Azerbaijani</option><option
value="eu">Basque</option><option value="be">Belarusian</option><option value="bg">Bulgarian</option><option value="ca">Catalan</option><option value="zh-CN">Chinese
(Simplified)</option><option value="zh-TW">Chinese (Traditional)</option><option value="hr">Croatian</option><option value="cs">Czech</option><option value="da">Danish</option><option
value="nl">Dutch</option><option selected="selected" value="en">English</option><option value="et">Estonian</option><option value="tl">Filipino</option><option
value="fi">Finnish</option><option value="fr">French</option><option value="gl">Galician</option><option value="ka">Georgian</option><option value="de">German</option><option
value="el">Greek</option><option value="ht">Haitian Creole</option><option value="iw">Hebrew</option><option value="hi">Hindi</option><option value="hu">Hungarian</option><option
value="is">Icelandic</option><option value="id">Indonesian</option><option value="ga">Irish</option><option value="it">Italian</option><option value="ja">Japanese</option><option
value="ko">Korean</option><option value="la">Latin</option><option value="lv">Latvian</option><option value="lt">Lithuanian</option><option value="mk">Macedonian</option><option
value="ms">Malay</option><option value="mt">Maltese</option><option value="no">Norwegian</option><option value="fa">Persian</option><option value="pl">Polish</option><option
value="pt">Portuguese</option><option value="ro">Romanian</option><option value="ru">Russian</option><option value="sr">Serbian</option><option value="sk">Slovak</option><option
value="sl">Slovenian</option><option value="es">Spanish</option><option value="sw">Swahili</option><option value="sv">Swedish</option><option value="th">Thai</option><option
value="tr">Turkish</option><option value="uk">Ukrainian</option><option value="ur">Urdu</option><option value="vi">Vietnamese</option><option value="cy">Welsh</option><option
value="yi">Yiddish</option></select>
English (auto-detected) » English

Answer 1

SOLUTION:
The problem I described above stemmed from the fact that I had been unable to install W7 without using the legacy option. (The W7 installation would freeze at the first screen.)  That created the boot incompatibilities between W8.1 and W7because I had
to use legacy for the latter but not for the former.
It turned out that the USB ports were the basic problem.  The Windows 7 installation program doesn't recognize USB 3.0 ports. Unfortunately, the A08 BIOS in the XPS 8700 -Special Edition (as of late Dec. 2014) has only 3 options for enabling/disabling
the USB ports: Front, Top, Back.  The back panel has a mix of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports and I needed a 2.0 port for the mouse and keyboard to work.  However, disabling the Front and Top USB ports was sufficient. The W7 install no longer froze.
So, from my W8 installation, I wiped out the SATA drive, changed it back to GPT, partitioned it, disabled the Front and Top USB ports in the BIOS and booted from the W7 DVD.  The installation went fine.  After installing the network driver, downloaded
previously, and updating W7, I installed the USB 3.0 drivers and then re-enabled the Top and Front in the BIOS.
So, now the EasyBCD boot options work just fine.  Both drives are GPT. No legacy options.
<textarea style="height:80px;width:444px;border:1px solid grey;padding:2px;"></textarea><select><option value="af">Afrikaans</option><option value="sq">Albanian</option><option value="ar">Arabic</option><option
value="hy">Armenian</option><option value="az">Azerbaijani</option><option value="eu">Basque</option><option value="be">Belarusian</option><option value="bg">Bulgarian</option><option
value="ca">Catalan</option><option value="zh-CN">Chinese (Simplified)</option><option value="zh-TW">Chinese (Traditional)</option><option value="hr">Croatian</option><option
value="cs">Czech</option><option value="da">Danish</option><option selected="selected" value="auto">Detect language</option><option value="nl">Dutch</option><option
value="en">English</option><option value="et">Estonian</option><option value="tl">Filipino</option><option value="fi">Finnish</option><option value="fr">French</option><option
value="gl">Galician</option><option value="ka">Georgian</option><option value="de">German</option><option value="el">Greek</option><option value="ht">Haitian
Creole</option><option value="iw">Hebrew</option><option value="hi">Hindi</option><option value="hu">Hungarian</option><option value="is">Icelandic</option><option
value="id">Indonesian</option><option value="ga">Irish</option><option value="it">Italian</option><option value="ja">Japanese</option><option value="ko">Korean</option><option
value="la">Latin</option><option value="lv">Latvian</option><option value="lt">Lithuanian</option><option value="mk">Macedonian</option><option value="ms">Malay</option><option
value="mt">Maltese</option><option value="no">Norwegian</option><option value="fa">Persian</option><option value="pl">Polish</option><option value="pt">Portuguese</option><option
value="ro">Romanian</option><option value="ru">Russian</option><option value="sr">Serbian</option><option value="sk">Slovak</option><option value="sl">Slovenian</option><option
value="es">Spanish</option><option value="sw">Swahili</option><option value="sv">Swedish</option><option value="th">Thai</option><option value="tr">Turkish</option><option
value="uk">Ukrainian</option><option value="ur">Urdu</option><option value="vi">Vietnamese</option><option value="cy">Welsh</option><option value="yi">Yiddish</option></select>⇄<select><option
value="af">Afrikaans</option><option value="sq">Albanian</option><option value="ar">Arabic</option><option value="hy">Armenian</option><option value="az">Azerbaijani</option><option
value="eu">Basque</option><option value="be">Belarusian</option><option value="bg">Bulgarian</option><option value="ca">Catalan</option><option value="zh-CN">Chinese
(Simplified)</option><option value="zh-TW">Chinese (Traditional)</option><option value="hr">Croatian</option><option value="cs">Czech</option><option value="da">Danish</option><option
value="nl">Dutch</option><option selected="selected" value="en">English</option><option value="et">Estonian</option><option value="tl">Filipino</option><option
value="fi">Finnish</option><option value="fr">French</option><option value="gl">Galician</option><option value="ka">Georgian</option><option value="de">German</option><option
value="el">Greek</option><option value="ht">Haitian Creole</option><option value="iw">Hebrew</option><option value="hi">Hindi</option><option value="hu">Hungarian</option><option
value="is">Icelandic</option><option value="id">Indonesian</option><option value="ga">Irish</option><option value="it">Italian</option><option value="ja">Japanese</option><option
value="ko">Korean</option><option value="la">Latin</option><option value="lv">Latvian</option><option value="lt">Lithuanian</option><option value="mk">Macedonian</option><option
value="ms">Malay</option><option value="mt">Maltese</option><option value="no">Norwegian</option><option value="fa">Persian</option><option value="pl">Polish</option><option
value="pt">Portuguese</option><option value="ro">Romanian</option><option value="ru">Russian</option><option value="sr">Serbian</option><option value="sk">Slovak</option><option
value="sl">Slovenian</option><option value="es">Spanish</option><option value="sw">Swahili</option><option value="sv">Swedish</option><option value="th">Thai</option><option
value="tr">Turkish</option><option value="uk">Ukrainian</option><option value="ur">Urdu</option><option value="vi">Vietnamese</option><option value="cy">Welsh</option><option
value="yi">Yiddish</option></select>
English (auto-detected) » English
<textarea style="height:80px;width:444px;border:1px solid grey;padding:2px;"></textarea><select><option value="af">Afrikaans</option><option value="sq">Albanian</option><option value="ar">Arabic</option><option
value="hy">Armenian</option><option value="az">Azerbaijani</option><option value="eu">Basque</option><option value="be">Belarusian</option><option value="bg">Bulgarian</option><option
value="ca">Catalan</option><option value="zh-CN">Chinese (Simplified)</option><option value="zh-TW">Chinese (Traditional)</option><option value="hr">Croatian</option><option
value="cs">Czech</option><option value="da">Danish</option><option selected="selected" value="auto">Detect language</option><option value="nl">Dutch</option><option
value="en">English</option><option value="et">Estonian</option><option value="tl">Filipino</option><option value="fi">Finnish</option><option value="fr">French</option><option
value="gl">Galician</option><option value="ka">Georgian</option><option value="de">German</option><option value="el">Greek</option><option value="ht">Haitian
Creole</option><option value="iw">Hebrew</option><option value="hi">Hindi</option><option value="hu">Hungarian</option><option value="is">Icelandic</option><option
value="id">Indonesian</option><option value="ga">Irish</option><option value="it">Italian</option><option value="ja">Japanese</option><option value="ko">Korean</option><option
value="la">Latin</option><option value="lv">Latvian</option><option value="lt">Lithuanian</option><option value="mk">Macedonian</option><option value="ms">Malay</option><option
value="mt">Maltese</option><option value="no">Norwegian</option><option value="fa">Persian</option><option value="pl">Polish</option><option value="pt">Portuguese</option><option
value="ro">Romanian</option><option value="ru">Russian</option><option value="sr">Serbian</option><option value="sk">Slovak</option><option value="sl">Slovenian</option><option
value="es">Spanish</option><option value="sw">Swahili</option><option value="sv">Swedish</option><option value="th">Thai</option><option value="tr">Turkish</option><option
value="uk">Ukrainian</option><option value="ur">Urdu</option><option value="vi">Vietnamese</option><option value="cy">Welsh</option><option value="yi">Yiddish</option></select>⇄<select><option
value="af">Afrikaans</option><option value="sq">Albanian</option><option value="ar">Arabic</option><option value="hy">Armenian</option><option value="az">Azerbaijani</option><option
value="eu">Basque</option><option value="be">Belarusian</option><option value="bg">Bulgarian</option><option value="ca">Catalan</option><option value="zh-CN">Chinese
(Simplified)</option><option value="zh-TW">Chinese (Traditional)</option><option value="hr">Croatian</option><option value="cs">Czech</option><option value="da">Danish</option><option
value="nl">Dutch</option><option selected="selected" value="en">English</option><option value="et">Estonian</option><option value="tl">Filipino</option><option
value="fi">Finnish</option><option value="fr">French</option><option value="gl">Galician</option><option value="ka">Georgian</option><option value="de">German</option><option
value="el">Greek</option><option value="ht">Haitian Creole</option><option value="iw">Hebrew</option><option value="hi">Hindi</option><option value="hu">Hungarian</option><option
value="is">Icelandic</option><option value="id">Indonesian</option><option value="ga">Irish</option><option value="it">Italian</option><option value="ja">Japanese</option><option
value="ko">Korean</option><option value="la">Latin</option><option value="lv">Latvian</option><option value="lt">Lithuanian</option><option value="mk">Macedonian</option><option
value="ms">Malay</option><option value="mt">Maltese</option><option value="no">Norwegian</option><option value="fa">Persian</option><option value="pl">Polish</option><option
value="pt">Portuguese</option><option value="ro">Romanian</option><option value="ru">Russian</option><option value="sr">Serbian</option><option value="sk">Slovak</option><option
value="sl">Slovenian</option><option value="es">Spanish</option><option value="sw">Swahili</option><option value="sv">Swedish</option><option value="th">Thai</option><option
value="tr">Turkish</option><option value="uk">Ukrainian</option><option value="ur">Urdu</option><option value="vi">Vietnamese</option><option value="cy">Welsh</option><option
value="yi">Yiddish</option></select>
English (auto-detected) » English