invisible12
New Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2009
- Messages
- 8
If you put windows 7 on a separate disk, skip my first point.
If you need to resize your current partition then read on:
- The main issue is the resizing of your current partition if you don't the space already reserved. You need either a paid software like Partition Magic or a free one like gparted livecd. Either way, resizing partition is always risky. You can loose access to your XP. Often fixable but need to be prepared in case it happens.
- Driver-wise, no real issue - worst case scenario something won't be recognize.
- About deleting it. Once Windows7 is installed it changes the MBR so never delete the Windows 7 partition afterwards or you will also loose access to XP. You need to reinstall the XP MBR before you can delete the win7 partition. There is software to manage and reisntall boot entries call "Easy BCD".
I have XP, Vista & Win7 installed. Multi-boot came up after I installed Win7. I had dual boot after installing Vista.
I used EasyBCD to edit both wording & boot sequence.
I basically use a test computer for new operating systems and software. I partitioned and added the RC next to the Beta and then transferred installations I had on the Beta to the RC since I always keep a copy of the install program in My Briefcase. After everything was transferred I then partitioned and formatted the old drive. This saves me from downloading or copying to disks or external drives all the programs again.
Since I test a lot of software and hardware on Windows 7 I do create a large partition since I am forever adding/removing programs plus I test dual booting with other operating systems both Windows and Linux. I realize this OS is just in a testing phase but presently not many companies are creating software or drivers for this OS. In just 5 days of testing I have already found flaws in the security specially the Windows firewall, ie, I created a rule against some IP's but 7's firewall still allows the IP to communicate. Any good firewall should be able to block individual IP numbers and not just ports.
Driver-wise; so my chipset should be okay with that? How about network card?
Hmm we don't know what computer you have or chipset so how could we answer that !! Anyway, if you are not up for some testing you should probably wait for final release. RC is NOT the final version. Something could go wrong...
My point is this is a test release - for testing. If you don't have all your files backup and are afraid of loosing something, it's probably better you don't install it. On top of that, repartitionning is an even riskier step.
My mantra for OS testing is expect to loose everything then whatever happens is always better