> I have installed on my machine ( as OS ) MS Windows Vista Home Premium x64
Quote:
> Service Pack 1 ( Drive E: [ Local Disk ] ).
>
> I want to install on my machine MS Windows 7 Beta ( January build ) but in
> another Drive ( D: [ Local Disk ] ). After I finish the installation
> process,
> I want to install all the required drivers ( the same drivers - what I
> have
> installed for Vista ) and maybe some software programs ( as Live
> Messenger,
> Office ).
>
> Can I do this things without to alter my Windows Vista system integrity
> and
> functionality ( because Win 7 I want only for fun and test but Vista will
> remain the working system, personal system )? I mean... Can I use Windows
> 7
> from another Drive ( Local Disk ) without to alter anything from the
> previous
> system performance and stability ( of Vista )?
>
Good question. In the past installing a newer version of Windows to a
different partition results in a dual boot environment, with the newer
Windows handling the boot files. That works fine until you want to remove
the newer version and boot again from the old, which is a difficult and
tricky business in my experience. If you want to avoid a lot of grief I
suggest you create an image of your Windows Vista partition (before
installing Windows 7) so you can restore it if necessary. Another possible
option is to install Windows 7 in a Virtual Machine in Vista. This is
probably what I'll do first just to try it out. Assuming this works I
should think 3 or 4 gigs of ram would be necessary for decent performance.