Windows 7 Win7 and XP dual boot questions

[bikertom]

I downloaded the win7 beta from the microsoft site and burned the ISO file to a DVD disc using ImgBurn. My next plan is to do the install (which I haven't done yet). I have XP on 1 physical disk drive C:
What I want to do is install the win7 beta on another disk drive. Larry at the computer shop has a Western Digital 320GB SATA drive for a good price. What if I had this new disk drive installed as a secondary drive W: and set up a dual boot option between XP and win7 beta. Should I partition this new 320 GB disk drive into multiple partitions now or leave it just 1? I'm thinking that this win7 beta expires August 1st so maybe I can wipe this drive clean after that, reformat and do a clean install of the new OS after Aug 1st. I'm not sure if the dual boot option will use the boot.ini file on C: or not. Will I need a BCD manager like EasyBCD or BCDEdit to manage the dual boot if it doesn't? I didn't go to Vista so I play to go from XP to Windows 7.

 

[LarryLaser]

Personally "bikertom"
I recommend that you partition your drive (which one you desire) and create backup folders for any and all files that you use on your system.

My systems are All set up this way, minimally;

Laptop-Lenovo 3000-n100
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• Drive 0- 3 partitions minimal, 1st for WinXPPsp3, 2nd for Win7 7000x86beta and 3rd for all data files (Apps installed, My Documents, Hardware drivers, Back-Up files...etc...etc)

This Box (My Main machine) Home Built, Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, QuadCore, 8Gig mem, 2vid cards and 3 Terabytes of Storage
(this box is setup {all O.S.'s} as my Home net server for backing up all my systems, laptops, desktops, handhelds and media files)
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• Drive 0- 5 Partitions, 1st for WinXPPsp3, 2nd for WinXPPx64sp2, 3rd for Win7 7000x64beta (first 3 are Primary), 4th test part for experementing O.S.'s, and 5th part is data drive.

LarryLaser