Dual boot 32 & 64bit Vista

R

raydun

New Member
Hi, first post, and looking for some guidance please. I recently purchased a new Dell with Vista 32 Home Premium (OEM). I would really like to try out 64bit Home Premim. If I purchased a 64bit OEM disk could I install it on a partition on Drive C and still retain a fully functional 32bit Vista.

Note : My system has 2 x 640 gb Sata Drives, but the way it has been configured, in windows explorer I see only a c: drive (1.15Tb) and a d: drive which is only 10gb, this is a recovery drive.

Could someone please tell me the detailed steps involved in such a process, also would I have to set up a partition first and if so is that a simple process.


XPS 730
QX9770 @ 3.8ghz
2 x 9800GX2 (Quad SLI)
4 gig DDR3 1.3ghz
2 x 640g SATA
X-Fi Extreme Music
Dell 2408WFP Ultrasharp
Vista 32 Home Premium SP1
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    QX9770 @ 3.8ghz
    Memory
    4 gig DDR3 1.3ghz
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x 9800GX2 (Quad SLI)
    Hard Drives
    2 x 640g SATA
You can make partitions in Disk Management (Right click My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management), just do a good defrag and afterwards you can split your HD in 2 partitions, one with Vista x32 and one empty, then install your x64 on the empty one.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5B-E Plus
    Memory
    4GB Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-667
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS EN8800GT 512
    Sound Card
    Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Packard Bell Maestro 190W
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900 @ 75Hz
    Hard Drives
    WesternDigital 200GB 7200RPM + Iomega Desktop HD 360GB 7200RPM
    PSU
    Xilence Power 600W Gaming Edition
    Case
    Coolermaster Centurion 534 Black
    Cooling
    Standard Coolermaster Case Fans + Standard Intel CPU Fan.
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 V1
    Mouse
    Razer Copperhead Tempest Blue
    Internet Speed
    100.0 Mbps
Many thanks for the reply, do you have any links to a step by step guide, or info on how to make a partition within Disk Management, any assistance greatly appreciated.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    QX9770 @ 3.8ghz
    Memory
    4 gig DDR3 1.3ghz
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x 9800GX2 (Quad SLI)
    Hard Drives
    2 x 640g SATA

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    * BFK Customs *
    CPU
    Intel C2Q 9550 Yorkfield
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro
    Memory
    8GB Dominator 8500C5D
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI 1GB 4870 XXX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD 7-1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1x 47" LCD HDMI & 2x 26" LCD HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080P & 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    2x 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache WD Caviar Black
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX
    Case
    CM Cosmos RC-1000
    Cooling
    Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    HP Enhansed Multimedia
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback 3G
    Internet Speed
    18.6Mb/s
    Other Info
    My First Build ;)
raydun said:
step by step guide, or info on how to make a partition within Disk Management, any assistance greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yep, but apparentely your drives are configured in raid 0 (stripeset), so if you partition in raid 0, do not forget that you won't be able to dismount the second drive.
So in fact with your 2 drives, the configuration will depend of your wishes (speed, security, ....)
 

My Computer

System One

Sidney1st, thanks a lot for the reply, could you explain that in a little more detail please as I do not have a lot of knowledge in this area, thanks,
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    QX9770 @ 3.8ghz
    Memory
    4 gig DDR3 1.3ghz
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x 9800GX2 (Quad SLI)
    Hard Drives
    2 x 640g SATA

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    * BFK Customs *
    CPU
    Intel C2Q 9550 Yorkfield
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5Q Pro
    Memory
    8GB Dominator 8500C5D
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI 1GB 4870 XXX
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD 7-1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1x 47" LCD HDMI & 2x 26" LCD HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080P & 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    2x 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache WD Caviar Black
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX
    Case
    CM Cosmos RC-1000
    Cooling
    Tuniq Tower 120, 2x 140mm and 3x 120mm case fans
    Keyboard
    HP Enhansed Multimedia
    Mouse
    Razer Diamondback 3G
    Internet Speed
    18.6Mb/s
    Other Info
    My First Build ;)
I dual booted x86 and x64 so that i could update my bios - i have an acer laptop and can only update bios in x86 :cry: .

After shrinking the original volume and adding another partition I booted up with x86 and installed - :cool: - flashed my bios successfully and then extended my volume again.

Worked a charm!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5920gmi notebook
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.00GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800 x 4294967296 colors
    Internet Speed
    crawl
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