Thanks Rick.

I've read up, but did not know that XP will not install on a Vista formatted
partition. Good call.

I've learned about the boot over-writing issue, and have been planning to
use Vista Boot Pro.

Some suggest that the Vista HDD be disconnected, while XP formats and
installs on the 2nd HDD. And then reconnect. Any opinion?

Thanks



"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Hi Aaron,

Don't preformat it, or even partition it. Partition and format it as part of
XP setup. XP will not install on a Vista formatted partition. Boot files for
XP will be installed to the existing system volume and will overwrite the
Vista boot files. This cannot be avoided without the use of a third party
boot manager. You will need to be able to repair this, and that's normally
done from a Vista DVD, something not normally provided for in a preinstalled
system.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Aaron" wrote in message
...
Advice please:
I have installed 2nd 250 G HDD and plan to install XP on it, and then do a
dual boot configuration with Vista Home Premium (which came installed on
new
Dell E520). I've read up on the dual boot issues -- so my question is not
about dual boot. It's about HDD formatting.

Any recommendations about the best way to pre-format the 2nd HDD to
provide
for:
1) boot partition
2) XP installation
3) and third partition for data

Thanks.