Windows will set up partitions on its own. Why do you think that 99%had problems with booting?
I had no problems, i have XP-15GB, both vista and win7 - 30GB, and ubuntu on other drive.
No problems with me either.
I think the trick is to start with a neat n' tidy machine first.
I have two drives. One is split 50/50 into two partitions. One for XP Pro, the other for a clean install of Seven.
The second drive holds all the data, docs, photos, and so on. I can access this from either XP or Seven.
For example my Outlook pst file is on the data drive so I am using the same database for emails, whether I am in XP or Seven.
Works well for me, hope it works well for you
No problems with me either.
I think the trick is to start with a neat n' tidy machine first.
I have two drives. One is split 50/50 into two partitions. One for XP Pro, the other for a clean install of Seven.
The second drive holds all the data, docs, photos, and so on. I can access this from either XP or Seven.
For example my Outlook pst file is on the data drive so I am using the same database for emails, whether I am in XP or Seven.
Works well for me, hope it works well for you
Hi Guy -- don't forget there's now a nice Outlook backup facilty you can download from the Microsoft site -- file name is pfbackup.exe.
After install you'll see another addition to the outlook menu (file=== backup)
Cheers
jimbo
For the OS -- you don't really need to give XP very much at all
I'm running XP PRO 64 bit with LOADs of applications and my OS partition size is set to just 20GB and that's plenty. Much the same for XP 32 bit (the usual one)
Like Kyle I'd have the OS'es first and then the data.
I don't dual boot as I have separate machines for testing but in the past I've dual / triple / even quadrupled booted -- to avoid problems install WINDOWS XP first. If you install LINUX or W7 first then XP will kill the boot manager and you'll only see the XP system. (The other systems are still there --you just won't be able to access them without some real trickery).
As I've said before don't bother with FAT32 anymore on hard disks. It also has problems with large files -- and when dealing with Video production / streaming etc you can get some very large files.
Even Linux can read / write to NTFS now so keeping FAT32 just to share with Linux isn't necessary anymore.
I've posted on this board elsewhere how to convert to NTFS without losing data / reformatting disks and hbow to mount an NTFS file system for READ / WRITE on a typical Linux machine.
Cheers
jimbo
I wouldn't give Win7 any less than 40 GB to play with.
As for XP, that size will depend on what else you're installing. Personally, I'd have both the OS partition first, then the data partition last, as it separates them more. If the data partition is in the middle, that means there can be sector errors on both sides, giving a better chance of corruption.
I'd do this; Put the WinXP disk in, and make three partitions, all NTFS. First partition: 30 GB for XP, second partition 40 GB for Win7, and the rest to Data (Will be less than 90 GB, due to formatting, etc). Then, install XP, then Windows 7.
I decide on this then, tell me if I missed something.
1 HD= 3 partitions all in NTFS format
1st=XP - 30GB
2nd=W7 - 30GB
3rd=Data - rest (90GB) - email, data, music, photos, videos, etc.
2HD - complete mirror/backup of 1st HD
Also that way I can do easy back of 2 nd HD to my 250GB USB external hard drive.
Done
Any comments?
TIA
I shall anyway, Bill....when win 7 get released for good, will you have to reinstall everything after you install the new version of Win 7,BillD
Interesting discussion, wish I would have read it before I installed everything....
I have 2-500gb hard drives. I put Win XP sp3 on one by itself (drive C) and split the other one in half with
Win 7 (7022) (drive E) on one partition and the other partition empty (new drive F). Drive D is my CD/DVD drive.
Both drives dual boot fine, but I was wondering if I could go backwards with out reinstalling the OS's, or at least not re installing win xp again. I guess I'm asking, can I shrink the XP partition and then reinstall win 7 on the same drive, tehn do the 30gb xp, 40gb win7 and the data stuff on the rest. I dont have that much data installed, since I just installed everything last week.I actually really don't need the second hd at this time, then I could add it in the future.
Another issue also may be when win 7 get releaded for good, will you hvae to reinstall everything after you install the new version of Win 7, since it wont be an upgrade.........correct?
rock on
BillD