I currently run Windows 7 from a 256GB SSD as my Operating System. Lately, for school, I've been using openSUSE linux inside a VirtualBox PC and I'm really liking it. I'm starting to hate even working in Windows. But I can't just abandon Windows.

I've been considering dual booting openSUSE and will likely purchase another SSD for openSUSE.

Once I have the dual boot set-up, there is going to be times I need to do something quick in the operating system that I'm not currently in. It would be a pain to have to reboot the computer each time I need to switch the OS for a simple task, especially from Windows since it doesn't let you save it's state.

From openSUSE, I want to be able to start a VirtualBox Machine using my Windows Drive. And in Windows, I want to be able to start a VirtualBox Machine of my openSUSE Drive. Would this be possible?

The issue I'm worried about is drivers. For instance, the OS will be installed on native hardware and have the native hardware's drivers configured. When I try to boot the OS in a VirtualMachine, I feel like the OS is not going to know what to do, and have to reconfigure itself or just not work.