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Question about partition size for 98/XP dual boot on 120GB drive

I

iluvdeal

Golden Member
I'm getting a 120GB hard drive pretty soon (SWEET!), I want to dual boot 98 and XP. XP will be my main system, I'm just keeping 98 around for certain games/apps that don't work in XP. I know I have to create a Primary DOS partition C: to install 98 to, it will be FAT32. Can I make this partition any size I want? Say 15GB? I thought I remember reading something that each OS you want to dual boot has to be within the first 8GB or something. Is that correct? Or can I just make C: any size I want?

Also, when I am in FDISK, do I have to create the partition I want to install XP to? I want to install it to a NTFS partition. Or when I am installing XP from within 98, will it let me specify the size/file system of what's available on my hard drive?

Any other tips on how I should partiton my 120GB drive? I'm thinking of the following if I have to install each OS with the first 8GB:

C: 2GB - FAT32 - 98 OS
D: 5GB - NTFS- XP OS
E: 20GB - FAT32 - Games/Apps for 98
F: 40GB - NTFS - Games/Apps for XP
G: 53GB - FAT32 - Data files


Thanks for any tips.
 
That is pretty close to the configuration I use. I FDISK a 2 gig primary partition and then install Win98. Then I install XP and it will create and format an NTFS partition and install the bootloader during setup. I then finish creating and formatting the remaining partitions using the disc management utility in XP's Control Panel. I don't think XP needs to be installed within the first 8 GB of a disc, it just places some boot files and the bootloader on the C: drive.
 
You can shave more than 1 gig from xp's partition (4 gb is plenty for th os alone). More importantly, you have allocated two separate partitions for the apps/games for both win98 and xp. This is not always necessary & you may waste valuable space (however, there are certain applications that would require reinstallation in a different partition).

Read Andy Hui's FAQ

For using your gigantic amount of hard drive space, I don't know what type of data files you have but I've found virtual cd software such as deamon, virtual CD, and CD Space to be very handy if you have lots of games that require a cd to play the game. No more swapping cds and slightly better gaming performance (maybe no real increase in fps but no noise from the cd spinning at 50x+!).
 
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