Dual boot: Vista 64 or XP 32 first?

[hagatha]

Greetings,

What I'm going to try and do is, load XP 32 on a 250gb HD by itself to be the C:\
And then have Vista 64 Ultimate on another pair of 250bg HD's in RAID 0. Which do I install first. Any good reads on this subject?

Both are full copies (OEM). Once I'm comfortable with Vista 64 and make sure everything is working correctly... I'd like to dump XP32 and load up a distro of Linux to experiment with....

Thanks
hagatha

[Nick04263]

As in my sig, I use 2 150GB Raptors to run XP 32 and Vista 64 (one OS on each). I don't really think it matters which you install first. You simply setup the raid in bios and install as normal. You also determine which drive(s) will boot first or use your boot menu at startup to determine which OS boots.

Anyway, when your system boots, it should automatically toggle the C drive to whichever drive you are booting from. The other drives will still be present but under a different drive letter.

I would like to dump XP 32 right now but it just works so much better than Vista 64 for me. Vista constantly gives me errors or incompatibilities (even after all updates). I just continue to fix one problem when another one pops up. XP runs twice as fast and I might get one application error a week. I know others have had better luck than I.

There are good reads regarding Raid setups as stickies on this board. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=150176

[binormalkilla]

TBH you'll be dumping XP x86 a lot faster than you thought.........I did the same thing you're describing 5 months ago and I never even booted into XP, so I just formatted that XP HDD and made it a media storage driver :p
Vista x64 is so damn fast and stable man, don't even worry about it.
You might want to go ahead and grab another 2Gb of RAM, as it's so cheap......VIsta's superfetch owns with 4Gb of RAM, as it will preload all of your most commonly used files, such as game maps, texture and sound files, as well as audio and video files. I can check my systems activity sorted by file path and see that it's preloading COD4 maps (online) when I start Vista. I end up loading a map in literally 3s

[hagatha]

Thanks...

The other 2 sticks of RAM are on the way as we speak... I know I will have to get use to Vista 64... But I had to do the same when I switched from 98 to XP... LOL...

I'll leave XP on here until my wife gets use to Vista... then it's flush time! I've been waiting for the right opportunity to tinker with Linux too...

Thanks!
hagatha

[KoHaN69]

like u said,
install them on 2 drives (not partitions)

you should install XP first, then
DISCONNECT YOUR XP DRIVE and install vista on ur other one
if u dont, vista will overwrite the other drives bootsexor

[Gig4moller]

TBH you'll be dumping XP x86 a lot faster than you thought.........I did the same thing you're describing 5 months ago and I never even booted into XP, so I just formatted that XP HDD and made it a media storage driver :p
Vista x64 is so damn fast and stable man, don't even worry about it.
You might want to go ahead and grab another 2Gb of RAM, as it's so cheap......VIsta's superfetch owns with 4Gb of RAM, as it will preload all of your most commonly used files, such as game maps, texture and sound files, as well as audio and video files. I can check my systems activity sorted by file path and see that it's preloading COD4 maps (online) when I start Vista. I end up loading a map in literally 3s

That's all nice n dandy, but too bad your machine is still crippled by DRM :p

Either way, if you're going to dualboot, install XP first. Vista's bootloader will detect XP and put it into it, whereas XP won't detect Vista's bootloader when Vista was installed first.

[cadaveca]

I installed XP first, then Vista from XP desktop.


Yes, this destroyed XP boot.ini(renamed it boot.bak), and then isntaleld Vista boot gui so you can select OS you use on boot.(for the reason mentioned in teh post jsut above mine).


Works a treat!

[KoHaN69]

I installed XP first, then Vista from XP desktop.


Yes, this destroyed XP boot.ini(renamed it boot.bak), and then isntaleld Vista boot gui so you can select OS you use on boot.(for the reason mentioned in teh post jsut above mine).


Works a treat!

Now get rid of vista and try to run XP (you can't)
This is the reason all other drives mst be invisible to vista during installation.

i recommend using grub (open linux ) bootloader (if one must be used)

most of the time a boot loader isnt needed at all,
most motherboards have a key (F10/esc) to change ur boot device during post

[systemviper]

You should also take a hard look at XP 64 it's a great OS and very solid and a bit faster then XP 32 and I am not sure yet if it's faster then vista but I am also doing a multi boot to find out for sure.....

Yea XP 64 don't forget about it!

[cadaveca]

Now get rid of vista and try to run XP (you can't)
This is the reason all other drives mst be invisible to vista during installation.

i recommend using grub (open linux ) bootloader (if one must be used)

most of the time a boot loader isnt needed at all,
most motherboards have a key (F10/esc) to change ur boot device during post

Um, it just requires a bit of work, currently no harder than it is to slipstrem drivers to an install cd...you simply replace the removed files. Of course, this is easiest from another windows install...

Boot your computer in to Windows XP.
Ensure you have the Vista DVD image emulated or in the DVD drive.
Go to “Start” and “Run”. Type in “e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force” (without quotes, and replacing e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD).
Restart the computer, and you will notice the boot selection menu is gone.
Format the partition/drive where you had Vista installed.
Remove two files (Boot.BAK & Bootsect.BAK) on your XP drive’s root folder (C: ), these were backup files of your previous bootloader, now no longer useful.
Optional: Restart to ensure it still works.
Use your partition software to merge your partitions together

http://www.istartedsomething.com/200...-boot-with-xp/

[Oc-Ghost]

dualbooting: vista first + xp or xp first + vista & linux
The definitive dual-booting guide: Linux, Vista and XP step-by-step

[Hurin]

I was wondering if you guys who have XP 32bit and Vista 64bit have had any problems with hardware drivers or anything else. Also would it be ok to run 4GB of ram even though XP 32bit only accept like 3.25 but Vista 64bit would use it.