What's the ideal way to setup a Dual-Boot (2K/XP)

[Civic2oo1x]

I want to dual boot Win2k and WinXP on my new rig I'm building. I'm going to have 2 WD Raptors in a Raid 0 array. What's the best way to do this? Seperate partitions? Which OS to install first? And if seperate partitions how much space should I allocate to each? Thanks guys.

 

[spyordie007]

The way I would probably do it:
12GB partition for Win 2K
18GB partition for Win XP
~46GB partition for data storage

Install Win 2K first on the 12GB partition, after it's installed boot the machine with the XP cd and install XP on the 18GB partition. The XP install should setup the bootloader for you.

 

[Civic2oo1x]

So if Win 2k would be C: WinXP would be D: and the 3rd partition would be E:, where should I install all my programs onto. E:?

 

[spyordie007]

most of your programs will require additional registry entrys or files within Windows, as such I will generally install an application under each OS I plan on using it on their respective partitions (c:/program files/my_applictaion/ and d:/program files/my_application/). That's also why I reccomened that you make the partitions as large as they are, possibly even larger if you plan on having a number of large applications as they will take up additional space.

 

[SUOrangeman]

When I build systems, I usually leave C: for temp files and swap space. There for, the OS will then be installed to D:.

And, why would you bother dual-booting if you are going to run the same apps?

-SUO

 

[spyordie007]

The problem with that is it leads you to believe that it is safe to trash the C: drive if need be, unfortunetly with Windows this is not the case as some of your system files will still end up there (boot.ini and ntldr come to mind).

-Spy

 

[Civic2oo1x]

One reason I plan on dual booting is because my Win2k will be another language's version. I think that I won't need as much space for Win2k, so maybe I'll cut it down to 10GB and leave 30GB for the XP partition. This is going to be my main array as I plan on having 2 Seagate or WD 120GB's in another Raid 0 for my video editing, music files, etc.

 

[SUOrangeman]

I did not mean to imply that C: is free for pillaging if you use my dual-boot suggestion. However, since all versions of Windows will see C:, you might as well keep it as clear as possible, and not let one version of Windows dominated it.

-SUO