Windows 7 XP to 7 and back again

[Karnage]

Hey, i have not been able to find this so. I have Windows XP home on my computer and was planing on being apart of the Windows 7 beta testers. I am kinda tech savey (Enough to put 7 beta on my pc and install everything) but i also want to go back to XP when the beta closes.

I no longer have the install disk for xp and my other computer came with Vista Home Premium but it had no disk with it when i bought it (That kinda pissed me off) so i cannot install vista on the computer that i am planing to run the beta on.

I would rather not need to buy a XP disk seems how i plan on buying 7 when it comes out completely, but until then i kinda want to put XP back on the computer when the beta expires. Can you help me?

 

[JustDavid]

Being tech savey as you say, what type of backup solution do you currectly employ? You can do a complete system backup, saving all your installed programs and files and settings. Then after the beta is over, just do a complete restore from this backup and you will be right back to XP as you are right now.

 

[djwayne]

What I did was leave XP on my hard drive, and used a second hard drive for Windows 7Beta. I can go back and forth between the two, simply by plugging in whichever drive I want. I like the idea of keeping the os's seperated, in case of a crash or virus, one doesn't effect the other, and I can go back to XP in a minute, if I want to.

 

[Karnage]

What I did was leave XP on my hard drive, and used a second hard drive for Windows 7Beta. I can go back and forth between the two, simply by plugging in whichever drive I want. I like the idea of keeping the os's seperated, in case of a crash or virus, one doesn't effect the other, and I can go back to XP in a minute, if I want to.

Well i feel dumb... why the hell didn't i think of that.

 

[djwayne]

Just remember to shut down your computer before plugging or unplugging your drives.

 

[Moosetek13]

If you're going to do it that way then disconnect the main OS's drive before installing W7, then reconnect it after the install is complete.

Much easier to simply set the hd boot order in the BIOS to choose which OS boots, and you will have all your other files available

 

[djwayne]

If you're going to do it that way then disconnect the main OS's drive before installing W7, then reconnect it after the install is complete.

Much easier to simply set the hd boot order in the BIOS to choose which OS boots, and you will have all your other files available

I tried that one time, and had a problem. I went to reformat one drive while both were plugged in, and both drives got erased, and I lost all my files. So now I keep one backup drive always unplugged, and in case of system crashes or viruses, I have a nice drive all set up and ready to go.

Sometimes computers don't always do what you expect them to.

In the computer/music/recording business, it's said, you don't have anything unless you have it backed up.

"Back up, Back up, Back up" !!!!

 

[Moosetek13]

That's why I said to disconnect the main drive before installing W7.

 

[wfor1pilot]

If you're going to do it that way then disconnect the main OS's drive before installing W7, then reconnect it after the install is complete.

Much easier to simply set the hd boot order in the BIOS to choose which OS boots, and you will have all your other files available

Keep in mind that this is easy to do with an SATA drive. Not all bios's will give you the choice when using a ATA/PATA drive. Sometimes you have to set the jumpers!
Great advise none the less.
I'm personally using "Win/7" on a Dell XPS laptop. I've got one XP drive and one WIN/7 drive; I just slide in which drive I feel like using.

 

[wpurcell]

Good Morning! I put 7 64bit on a separate HDD. I have XP on another, and Vista on a third. I just choose the "appropriate" OS when booting up. Works great. Cheers!

 

[Radenight]

What I did was leave XP on my hard drive, and used a second hard drive for Windows 7Beta. I can go back and forth between the two, simply by plugging in whichever drive I want. I like the idea of keeping the os's seperated, in case of a crash or virus, one doesn't effect the other, and I can go back to XP in a minute, if I want to.

I also have this type of setup on my secondary PC.. Windows XP was on it first than I installed Windows 7 on the second HDD but I don't unplug each drive as I use a certain OS.. I simply choose which OS to boot into on startup... I really don't like the idea of always unplugging and pluggin back in a HDD, especially not a SATA drive.. seeing as the ports sometimes break if one isn't careful when plugging or unplugging them.. I agree though that keeping the two OS's "seperated" is a good way to avoid both being ruined by things like viruse's.. I just don't see it as a very practical way of doing things I guess... but that's just my opinion..

 

[djwayne]

I agree plugging and unplugging drives can damage them under heavy use, but I just change them once in a blue moon, or if I'm doing a lot of experimenting, like I'm doing now with Windows 7. Once I get done experimenting, I'll settle down with one or maybe two drives hooked up. But now with the uncertainty of what a beta program will bring, I prefer to keep my important drives isolated, in case of some unexpected event, that computers are known to do without warning. No matter what happens, I can plug in my XP drive and be back in business in about a minute.

I'm really impressed with Windows 7's stability on my machines. 7 days of very heavy use and no hiccups. That's pretty good as far as I'm concerned.