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Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
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. |
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Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
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. |
|
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Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
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. |
|
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Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
Hi,
That works, but then because you will have two different active sectors you will have to continually change the booted hdd in the system BIOS. Better to have just one and use VistaBootPro to manage the boot. Also, are you aware of the issue regarding dual booting Vista/XP and Vista's restore points? Booting into XP will erase them if the Vista volume is accessible. You can read more on this, and ways to avoid it, he http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html -- 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 ... 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. |
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Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
Thanks again Rick,
Extremely helpful information! I've found Restore Points essential, so want to be sure I preserve them. After 2 time consuming catastrophic crashes in the last year due to defective HDDs (and Norton Ghost), and my frustrating and time consuming experiences with Vista (in which I experienced flashbacks to the whole arc of Windows gridlocks from the beginning) -- now I don't do anything without first researching the issue. You information leads have opened up new vistas (no pun intended). Lot more reading to do before I proceed with the dual boot. A few last questions: 1) In reading about the restore points issue, your helpful link led me to the following in a post on Computer Haven in the restore issue thread: "The problem is with XP. Windows XP automounts every disk it detects, including external or removable hard disks. As part of the automounting process, NTFS writes to the disk, and these writes are detected by the volsnap.sys driver in Windows XP. Because this version of volsnap.sys does not recognize the persistent shadow copies (also known as restore points) made by the volsnap.sys driver in Windows Vista, Windows XP cannot maintain the integrity of the shadow copy storage area and deletes the shadow copies to avoid corrupting them . . . When booting into Vista, restore points in XP are not affected." My question -- I have 2 external USB HDDs, one for all documents, and 1 for backups (use both Vista and Acronis). Plus I make a second backup on a partition of my C (Vista) drive. Do I risk issues with accessing these external HDDs after an appropriate dual boot configuration? Also, I have a partition in C drive, where I do some program installs. Also have some docs there. I assume this could be problematic also...? 2) Upon reading about Terabyte's BootItNG -- if I use that, do I also need BootPro? 3) alternative option to use Virtual PC (MS Tech told me it works with Home Premium) -- I've read that it requires a re-install of Vista? a) Before I go there, do you know if this true? Any opinion about Virtual PC? b) I assume that a Vista re-install wipes out all programs, as with other Windows versions? Am I correct? Thanks again, Aaron "Rick Rogers" wrote: Hi, That works, but then because you will have two different active sectors you will have to continually change the booted hdd in the system BIOS. Better to have just one and use VistaBootPro to manage the boot. Also, are you aware of the issue regarding dual booting Vista/XP and Vista's restore points? Booting into XP will erase them if the Vista volume is accessible. You can read more on this, and ways to avoid it, he http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html -- 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 ... 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. |
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Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
Hi Aaron,
1) Any drive mounted by XP will be affected. Keep in mind that it's only going to be an issue if you have Vista creating restore points for that volume. If it's not monitored by Vista, then there is no issue. 2) If you use BootIT NG you will not need Vista Boot Pro. BootIT NG, when installed to its own embrl volume, will act as the boot manager. Personally, I think it's one of the best utilities available for multibooters and the like. 3) No, it does not require a reinstall of Vista, and yes, the reports are that, though it's not officially supported, it does work in Home Premium. a) I use Virtual PC all the time for running software under older OS's, especially some older 16-bit stuff. b) Moot point as a reinstall is not required, but yes, you would have to reinstall programs if you did a new install of Vista. -- 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 ... Thanks again Rick, Extremely helpful information! I've found Restore Points essential, so want to be sure I preserve them. After 2 time consuming catastrophic crashes in the last year due to defective HDDs (and Norton Ghost), and my frustrating and time consuming experiences with Vista (in which I experienced flashbacks to the whole arc of Windows gridlocks from the beginning) -- now I don't do anything without first researching the issue. You information leads have opened up new vistas (no pun intended). Lot more reading to do before I proceed with the dual boot. A few last questions: 1) In reading about the restore points issue, your helpful link led me to the following in a post on Computer Haven in the restore issue thread: "The problem is with XP. Windows XP automounts every disk it detects, including external or removable hard disks. As part of the automounting process, NTFS writes to the disk, and these writes are detected by the volsnap.sys driver in Windows XP. Because this version of volsnap.sys does not recognize the persistent shadow copies (also known as restore points) made by the volsnap.sys driver in Windows Vista, Windows XP cannot maintain the integrity of the shadow copy storage area and deletes the shadow copies to avoid corrupting them . . . When booting into Vista, restore points in XP are not affected." My question -- I have 2 external USB HDDs, one for all documents, and 1 for backups (use both Vista and Acronis). Plus I make a second backup on a partition of my C (Vista) drive. Do I risk issues with accessing these external HDDs after an appropriate dual boot configuration? Also, I have a partition in C drive, where I do some program installs. Also have some docs there. I assume this could be problematic also...? 2) Upon reading about Terabyte's BootItNG -- if I use that, do I also need BootPro? 3) alternative option to use Virtual PC (MS Tech told me it works with Home Premium) -- I've read that it requires a re-install of Vista? a) Before I go there, do you know if this true? Any opinion about Virtual PC? b) I assume that a Vista re-install wipes out all programs, as with other Windows versions? Am I correct? Thanks again, Aaron "Rick Rogers" wrote: Hi, That works, but then because you will have two different active sectors you will have to continually change the booted hdd in the system BIOS. Better to have just one and use VistaBootPro to manage the boot. Also, are you aware of the issue regarding dual booting Vista/XP and Vista's restore points? Booting into XP will erase them if the Vista volume is accessible. You can read more on this, and ways to avoid it, he http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html -- 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 ... 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. |
|
|||
Format 2nd HDD to add XP Dual Boot
Rick,
Thanks so much for your kindness and wisdom! Aaron "Rick Rogers" wrote: Hi Aaron, 1) Any drive mounted by XP will be affected. Keep in mind that it's only going to be an issue if you have Vista creating restore points for that volume. If it's not monitored by Vista, then there is no issue. 2) If you use BootIT NG you will not need Vista Boot Pro. BootIT NG, when installed to its own embrl volume, will act as the boot manager. Personally, I think it's one of the best utilities available for multibooters and the like. 3) No, it does not require a reinstall of Vista, and yes, the reports are that, though it's not officially supported, it does work in Home Premium. a) I use Virtual PC all the time for running software under older OS's, especially some older 16-bit stuff. b) Moot point as a reinstall is not required, but yes, you would have to reinstall programs if you did a new install of Vista. -- 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 ... Thanks again Rick, Extremely helpful information! I've found Restore Points essential, so want to be sure I preserve them. After 2 time consuming catastrophic crashes in the last year due to defective HDDs (and Norton Ghost), and my frustrating and time consuming experiences with Vista (in which I experienced flashbacks to the whole arc of Windows gridlocks from the beginning) -- now I don't do anything without first researching the issue. You information leads have opened up new vistas (no pun intended). Lot more reading to do before I proceed with the dual boot. A few last questions: 1) In reading about the restore points issue, your helpful link led me to the following in a post on Computer Haven in the restore issue thread: "The problem is with XP. Windows XP automounts every disk it detects, including external or removable hard disks. As part of the automounting process, NTFS writes to the disk, and these writes are detected by the volsnap.sys driver in Windows XP. Because this version of volsnap.sys does not recognize the persistent shadow copies (also known as restore points) made by the volsnap.sys driver in Windows Vista, Windows XP cannot maintain the integrity of the shadow copy storage area and deletes the shadow copies to avoid corrupting them . . . When booting into Vista, restore points in XP are not affected." My question -- I have 2 external USB HDDs, one for all documents, and 1 for backups (use both Vista and Acronis). Plus I make a second backup on a partition of my C (Vista) drive. Do I risk issues with accessing these external HDDs after an appropriate dual boot configuration? Also, I have a partition in C drive, where I do some program installs. Also have some docs there. I assume this could be problematic also...? 2) Upon reading about Terabyte's BootItNG -- if I use that, do I also need BootPro? 3) alternative option to use Virtual PC (MS Tech told me it works with Home Premium) -- I've read that it requires a re-install of Vista? a) Before I go there, do you know if this true? Any opinion about Virtual PC? b) I assume that a Vista re-install wipes out all programs, as with other Windows versions? Am I correct? Thanks again, Aaron "Rick Rogers" wrote: Hi, That works, but then because you will have two different active sectors you will have to continually change the booted hdd in the system BIOS. Better to have just one and use VistaBootPro to manage the boot. Also, are you aware of the issue regarding dual booting Vista/XP and Vista's restore points? Booting into XP will erase them if the Vista volume is accessible. You can read more on this, and ways to avoid it, he http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html -- 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 ... 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. |