Creating a new partition

[Evacide]

I have a 320GB SATAII drive with about 220GB used on Vista. I was wondering if it's possible to create a partition from the unused space and install XP for gaming.

 

[montag451]

Yes, but you might want to install a third party boot loader first.

I think it might cause a prob to install an older os next to a newer one, but would be ok if you did it in the opposite order.

 

[Evacide]

What do you mean by 3rd party boot loader? If it's too much of a problem I guess I'll just keep Vista because I have lots of stuff saved on this computer.

 

[montag451]

A good source of info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting

I recommend Acronis Boot loader, but I think you have to pay for that one.
There are plenty free ones - best to post in operating systems forum for more recommendations.

 

[corkyg]

With Vista, that is not necessary. It has all the tools needed to create a partition out of unused space.

 

[Evacide]

Originally posted by: corkyg
With Vista, that is not necessary. It has all the tools needed to create a partition out of unused space.

I've looked through the Accessories and System Tools but I don't see what you're talking about. Where is this tool at??

 

[Evacide]

Alright, I now have Paragon Partition Manager Professional (which works on Vista). I have the option to Move/Resize my C:/ partition. If I change the 298GB (of which 215.7 GB are used) to be 235.7, it leaves me with about 63 GB of unallocated space. Is this smart to do or is there a good chance that I could mess up all the data I'm trying to keep? With the unallocated space I would like to install a copy of XP for strictly gaming use.

::edit::
I forgot to mention that I have Acronis Disk Director 10 as well that has the Boot Manager montag451 was talking about.

 

[montag451]

It is best to keep your drives/partitions less than full - probably 60-70% full max.
This helps for access times and defrags.

If you are just using the drive as a backup - it doesn't matter.