Windows 7 Dual Boot Questions

[invisible12]

Hello,
I heard that Windows 7 runs pretty good on systems a few years old, so I thought I'd give it a try for the heck of it on mine. I'd like to dual boot with XP, with XP still being the primary OS I use. At some point, whether it's a couple weeks later if I end up not liking it, or in March when it starts shutting down every 2 hours, I'd like to delete it. I'd like to put them both on the same drive, and resize my current partition and make a new one...I've read a page on how to do this. My questions are...what risk will this pose with my XP installation? How much of a risk is there that I could corrupt my primary partition? Another concern is about the drivers...what issues could that pose? Also, when I go to delete it, will it be just a simple delete the partition and resize the XP one again to cover the rest of the drive? Will there be a possibility of screwups with the master boot record?

Thank you!

 

[Ikshaar]

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".

 

[invisible12]

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".

Ishaar,

Thanks for the reply. As much as I'd like to put it on a separate disk, I don't have one. I do have an old 30GB one, but my computer takes SATA and that one is a PATA. (Though I am using a desktop w/2 bays for hard drives) Is there an easy and cheap way to make that one possibly work?

There should be enough room on my hard drive for both, but yeah, I was kinda worried about the partition resizing. GParted is indeed what I saw on the site giving the directions. What would be entailed in preparing for possible issues with my XP partition?

Driver-wise; so my chipset should be okay with that? How about network card?

What is there to reinstalling the XP MBR and fixing that?

 

[EQ2000]

Multi-boot

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.

 

[greenarrow1]

Installations

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.

 

[invisible12]

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.

Have you had many issues with this?

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.

Greenarrow1, thank you for your thoughts. That is one of the things (of many) that I've been concerned about, just not having drivers for much of my stuff to work and compatibility with security software.

I'm still kinda split on doing this, lol.

 

[Ikshaar]

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

 

[invisible12]

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

I just meant in general, if it worked with most chipsets out of the box...I don't expect you to know what exact one I have lol. I definitely know it isn't the final version, and I may not do it. I do have my stuff backed up, I just did a reformat a week ago, but I still don't want to get this thing into a mess and have a hard time fixing it, especially if I end up going to college this fall. Thanks again for your reply.

 

[tw33k]

I have a 120gb hdd on my notebook. It is cut into 3 partitions, 20gb, 50gb and 40gb. 7 is loaded on the 20gb partition but I need to extend it by 20gb. Nothing I try works. The option is greyed out on both Vista Ultimate and 7. I tried gparted to no avail. And I read that partition magic won't run on Vista.
Any help would be appreciated.