I have a computer with two hard drives, operating off of one whole operating system set up. Steam, which basically as I ignorantly understand, roots into the entire system. I play Skyrim generously modded, I am not knowledgeable on the programming level, so it is a very fragile tinkering game i play when it comes to mods.

What I would like is to be able to have two dimensions of Skyrim isolated from one another on my computer, which I do not know how to do.

That way I can have one Skyrim play a particular way, while I can try multiple variations of Skyrim another way, never having to worry about Nuking the entire set up.

What would I need to do to create isolated instalations of Skyrim on the same computer for the above purpose?

There's no way of having multiple installs on the same OS, but you might like to have a look at Mod Organizer (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334), which allows multiple different modlists. It keeps your default Skyrim data directory clean, installing each mod into a virtual data directory, allowing multiple different set-ups.

I've never used it, but it may do the job for you. !!!!!

SIS - Skyrim Installation Swapper

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19034/?