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What is the best way to set-up a dual boot XP/Vista system?

1

1ManArmY

Golden Member
It will be a fresh install on a 500 Gig Seagate barracuda 7200.11 perpendicular recording hard drive. I was hoping to create a partition of XP (~40gig), then create another partition of Vista (~140) then have the remainder of the drive to be used for programs and applications.
I will re-format my existing 320 WD SATA HD and use that to store MP3's, Movies and Photos.
Is there a guide out there to assist me in this endeavor?
 
There's really nothing to it, all you need to know is to install XP first, then Vista.

Do you still need XP for something in particular? I used to dual boot, but found I wasn't using XP anymore, Vista works good for almost everything you should need.

30-40GB should be more than enough for Vista.
 
Originally posted by: Cutthroat
There's really nothing to it, all you need to know is to install XP first, then Vista.

Do you still need XP for something in particular? I used to dual boot, but found I wasn't using XP anymore, Vista works good for almost everything you should need.

30-40GB should be more than enough for Vista.
Click to expand...

well I still a little attached to XP so I figured I would leave myself an option if I run into incompatibility issues with Vista Home Premium 64 bit. I will be replacing my Audigy 2 sound card with an X-FI and removing the old 120 Gig IDE hard drive.

I've just heard horror stories with the boot file getting corrupted and causing all sorts of issues and I wish to avoid that if at all possible.

Would it be feasable to have a 40 gig partition for XP and Vista both then have the remainder of the hard drive for games (Crysis, COD4, MOH Airborne, TF2, and Bioshock)?

Can you go into more detail as a guide the proper way to complete the process?
 
Originally posted by: 1ManArmY
Originally posted by: Cutthroat
There's really nothing to it, all you need to know is to install XP first, then Vista.

Do you still need XP for something in particular? I used to dual boot, but found I wasn't using XP anymore, Vista works good for almost everything you should need.

30-40GB should be more than enough for Vista.
Click to expand...

well I still a little attached to XP so I figured I would leave myself an option if I run into incompatibility issues with Vista Home Premium 64 bit. I will be replacing my Audigy 2 sound card with an X-FI and removing the old 120 Gig IDE hard drive.

I've just heard horror stories with the boot file getting corrupted and causing all sorts of issues and I wish to avoid that if at all possible.

Would it be feasable to have a 40 gig partition for XP and Vista both then have the remainder of the hard drive for games (Crysis, COD4, MOH Airborne, TF2, and Bioshock)?

Can you go into more detail as a guide the proper way to complete the process?
Click to expand...

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2123507&enterthread=y
 
is it feasable to have 2 OS's partitioned on one drive and then boot into whatever OS you choose and then run the programs installed? How should it work?
 
The best way to do it is to install each OS to a separate drive, without the other drive installed. This way you can use your motherboards F8 boot menu to choose which drive to boot from, this way the OS's don't share anything. When you want to get rid of XP all you need to do is delete the folder.

Maybe something like this...
500GB drive partitioned 30-40GB for Vista, rest for games, apps, and anything else you don't back up. Perhaps 100-200GB partition for extra backups depending on how much stuff you back up.
320GB drive partitioned 30-40GB for XP, rest for storage, mp3's, videos, and anything else you do back up.
Use your 120GB drive externally for backups. Get Acronis True Image to back up your OS partitions and data.

The newest BIOS for your P5K Deluxe is 0603. There have been some improvements, you may get a better overclock.
 
Originally posted by: Cutthroat
The best way to do it is to install each OS to a separate drive, without the other drive installed. This way you can use your motherboards F8 boot menu to choose which drive to boot from, this way the OS's don't share anything. When you want to get rid of XP all you need to do is delete the folder.

Maybe something like this...
500GB drive partitioned 30-40GB for Vista, rest for games, apps, and anything else you don't back up. Perhaps 100-200GB partition for extra backups depending on how much stuff you back up.
320GB drive partitioned 30-40GB for XP, rest for storage, mp3's, videos, and anything else you do back up.
Use your 120GB drive externally for backups. Get Acronis True Image to back up your OS partitions and data.

The newest BIOS for your P5K Deluxe is 0603. There have been some improvements, you may get a better overclock.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your clear and concise recommendations. If I have issues with the dual boot loader file I will switch to installing each OS on a separate drive as I have already begun the process using the guide from apcstrat.com. The plan is to install XP Media Edition with a partition of 80 gigs, the install HP Vista 64 with 120 gig partion and have the remaining of the drive for games. My understanding is that it is best to install programs such as spyware, virus, and anything that needs to load during the start-up on the same drive as the OS, is this correct? I will then need to install virus protection and drivers for each OS on the same drive as the OS, correct me if I am wrong.
 
I've never heard that you should install AV on the same drive as th OS, but I always do anyway. All my apps are on the same drive as the OS, I only use a separate drive for games. The advantage is I can image my entire OS and apps (total size ~20GB) without having to image games or media, this image is used if I bork my OS somehow. I have a separate backup on a separate drive for my media, I don't backup my games. All of my documents are redirected to a separate drive as well.

Here's my setup...

150GB Raptor: 40GB for Vista, 100GB for media (stuff I back up)
7K1000 750GB: 125GB backup for media, 225GB for games, 110GB for junk (stuff I don't back up), 200GB for Acronis secure zone (OS images)

I have way too much space, most of those partitions on the Hitachi 7K1000 750GB drive are larger than I will need for a long time.
 
Originally posted by: Cutthroat
I've never heard that you should install AV on the same drive as th OS, but I always do anyway. All my apps are on the same drive as the OS, I only use a separate drive for games. The advantage is I can image my entire OS and apps (total size ~20GB) without having to image games or media, this image is used if I bork my OS somehow. I have a separate backup on a separate drive for my media, I don't backup my games. All of my documents are redirected to a separate drive as well.

Here's my setup...

150GB Raptor: 40GB for Vista, 100GB for media (stuff I back up)
7K1000 750GB: 125GB backup for media, 225GB for games, 110GB for junk (stuff I don't back up), 200GB for Acronis secure zone (OS images)

I have way too much space, most of those partitions on the Hitachi 7K1000 750GB drive are larger than I will need for a long time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all of your assistance.:beer:
 
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