xp 32 or 64? or vistat 32 or 64???

[ingeborgdot]

I think I have decided to do a dual boot and keep my xp pro and add vista on my new machine. I have never done it before. What are the recommendations on doing this?

 

[Scarpozzi]

Vista has had some GUI bugs in it. Out of the box, I've had 2 Vista PCs show up with Taskbar problems. I had to run registry fixes to repair the problems, but there were similar issues reported in XP as well... I just never saw them.

Vista hsa 2 major issues that I don't appreciate. 1. Slowness: When I double click something, I expect it to open quickly. It's a few steps behind. 1GB of RAM is nothing anymore...even for starting up IE. That's ridiculous. 1GB of RAM should be lightning. Despite what you newbies may have talked your parents into buying you, the Vista version that 95% of companies sell is the 32 bit version. To a 32 bit OS, 1GB should be plenty....but even 2 seems slow. It makes me think the whole OS GUI was written in Java and there's a memory leak in explorer or whatever it's called now.

2. Secuirty is too high: Whenever you want to run a program or even uninstall something, Vista has to check with you to make sure you initiated it...even when you're the one that physically clicked on the button to uninstall a program... My point is that it's overkill and once you disable the alerts, you're on your own for security. I wish they had a more in-between level.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

If there was nothing wrong with Vista why would Microsoft offer a downgrade to XP option?

Because most people are idiots and scared of change.

If that were true we'd all be using DOS so learn up. It's actually because of the many incompatibilities of Vista with business applications. Next time use the brain that you were born with.

 

[stash]

Secuirty is too high: Whenever you want to run a program or even uninstall something

Nice hyperbole. Uninstall something, yes. Every time you run something? No.

Vista has to check with you to make sure you initiated it...even when you're the one that physically clicked on the button to uninstall a program...

How does Vista know you physically clicked anything? (it doesn't, and no OS does).

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
I think I have decided to do a dual boot and keep my xp pro and add vista on my new machine. I have never done it before. What are the recommendations on doing this?

1) unplug the XP Pro hard drive from its data cable

2) add a new hard drive and install Vista on it while the XP Pro drive remains unplugged

3) plug the XP Pro drive back into its data cable afterwards

4) use your motherboard's boot-device selection menu to boot the OS you want (F8 during POST on Asus boards, for example)

If there was nothing wrong with Vista why would Microsoft offer a downgrade to XP option?

If there were nothing wrong with WinXP Pro, why would Microsoft offer a downgrade to Win2000 Professional (as they have since ca. 2001)? Don't read too much into the availability of downgrade rights... heck, I believe the downgrade rights even entitle you to use WinME if you want to :shocked:

 

[ingeborgdot]

This will be on a brand new install.

But now for something else I am debating. I really have some important things that I can't lose. I was wondering how many of you feel about raid 1. I know, I know it is not as fast as raid 0, but I have seen in many reports that it is faster in almost everything else than a single drive.
So, what do you think if I get 2 320gb hdd and partition them for xp and vista. I use a raid 1 to make my system a little more fool proof. Then I add two more 500gb hdd and raid those to use for my videos, pics, docs etc.
Right now I have a 500gb external hdd that I use as backup with acronis and I would use that with this new system to add another line of backup.
What would be your ideal system?

 

[konakona]

The only solid criticism I see is people with creative (ugh) soundcards not getting their EAX. Well, for me vista is a VAST improvement in audio and audio the foremost. Gone is the nasty kmixer ah heck. It is just funny how Vista makes one crowd 🙂 and at the expense of making the other 🙁 (no, not microsoft's fault) Glad I belong on the other side of the fence 😀

 

[ingeborgdot]

If I am going to dual boot using xp 64 and vista 64 what things do I really need to know?
Hardware?
Software?
How do I find out what works?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
If I am going to dual boot using xp 64 and vista 64 what things do I really need to know?
Hardware?
Software?
How do I find out what works?

If it were me, I'd dual boot XP32 and Vista64. As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm doing 😉 I've been dual booting XP32 and Vista32 since January, but I haven't had any need to go into XP at all. I just installed Vista64, and kept my XP partition just in case, but I really don't forsee needing it. I imagine I'll wipe that partition on my next full reinstall.

Edit:
This is assuming you have an XP32 license to use. I wouldn't bother buying one if you don't already have it. If you have to purchase, just get Vista64, but double check compatibility on the various software, and hardware websites.

 

[ingeborgdot]

It says you are using 4gb of memory. How are you getting it to recognize all 4gb in your 32 bit system?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
It says you are using 4gb of memory. How are you getting it to recognize all 4gb in your 32 bit system?

I didn't. Windows only saw 3.07gb of my 4gb installed. That's why I just installed Vista64. Also, I'm going to get a 8800gt shortly, and I think that would have eaten into my ram amount even more.

 

[ingeborgdot]

If I would happen to use 32 bit for my os, is 3gb or 4 just wasting money?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
If I would happen to use 32 bit for my os, is 3gb or 4 just wasting money?

With XP you would, not quite as much with Vista. XP doesn't really put excess ram to use, but Vista will with SuperFetch. If you wanted to fill your ram in Vista, I'd get 4gb so your computer will still run in dual channel. You wouldn't get to use all of the ram, but prices are so low now it's not a huge deal.