Dual boot Vista Ultimate x32 and x64 HDD Question!

I am in process of finishing my first build. (With the support of an experienced builder) I have not loaded any software yet. The experienced builder who is helping me has not done any dual boots he only uses Vista Ultimate X64

I want to use both Vista Ultimate x32 and Vista Ultimate x64 dual boot ( I have purchased a copy of both Vista x32 and x64 software). I would like to use only Vista Ultimate X64 as my OS but I also need a 32 bit OS for VPN/Cisco connection for work and some applications which are only available in 32bit.

For Vista Ultimate X64, my main set up, I have 5 Sata HDDs: 2 HDDs in Raid 0 for the OS and applications, 2 HDDs in Raid 0 for Scratch dives and another internal HDD for storage and e-sata for external storage. I am using this set up for mainly graphics PS CS4 and some video. I work with very large raw files. I might do some gaming.

I also have a 6th internal HDD for the Vista Ultimate x32 OS and limited applications and plan to Partition this HDD for limited storage. I also have another external HDD for storage.

I do not want to partition the 5 HDD's I am using for Vista Ultimate X64. I want to use a separate 6th HDD for Vista Ultimate X32 just in case something happens to one of the OS HDDs I will still have one OS operational in my case.

Question: From what I have read when I load the first OS the x64 it will load on the First HDDs (my 2 HDDs in raid 0) I will call my C drive. Then from what I read is that the second OS the X32 will load on my Second HDD's I will call my D drive. How do I set up the HDDs in my case so that each OS will load to the correct HDDs?

I am thinking that the way I have my HDD's set up in my case right now might not load the way I want them to load for dual boot. The first two slots are two HDD's for raid 0 for the x64 and the third and fourth slots have two HDD's for raid 0 for the x64 scratch drives and fifth slot has the one HDD for storage for x64 and I have the 6th HDD for X32 in the sixth slot.

Please give me some feedback..... I want to load my software tomorrow and fire up this new rig.

Thanks so much for your help!



Ruth, A newbie to dual boot

Hello Ruth, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I would recommend to install Vista X32 first, then Vista X64 so that the Vista X64 will be the default OS that starts. During installation, you can select which drive you want the OS to install to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Brink said:

Hello Ruth, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I would recommend to install Vista X32 first, then Vista X64 so that the Vista X64 will be the default OS that starts. During installation, you can select which drive you want the OS to install to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Click to expand...

If you need to though, you could install anyone you want first, then simply change the default OS. We can tell you how if you need to. (Brink I know you knew this...)

Welcome to the forums!

~Lordbob

LOL, yeah. It's just easier when installed that way at first instead.

Brink said:

LOL, yeah. It's just easier when installed that way at first instead.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I made that mistake with installing seven. I had vista on there, and put on seven weeks later, and realized that it always started up to seven until I figured it out..... But either way works in the end....

~Lordbob

Brink said:

Hello Ruth, and welcome to Seven Forums.

I would recommend to install Vista X32 first, then Vista X64 so that the Vista X64 will be the default OS that starts. During installation, you can select which drive you want the OS to install to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Click to expand...

Shawn, thanks for the information....your reply make sense to me...but I am still not clear if the order I have my drives in my case makes a difference. i.e. if load Vista x64 (my default) to the my first set of Raid 0 drives and I load Vista x32 to my last drive? my sixth drive will this work or do I need to put the drive I want to load Vista x32 my non-default OS into the 3rd slot in my case. Sorry I know I am just a newbie...but I would rather do it right the first time, if possible.

Thanks
Ruth

lordbob75 said:

If you need to though, you could install anyone you want first, then simply change the default OS. We can tell you how if you need to. (Brink I know you knew this...)

Welcome to the forums!

~Lordbob

Click to expand...

Lordbob thanks for your advise!
Ruth

You're welcome Ruth. Let us know if you have anymore questions about this.

Brink said:

You're welcome Ruth. Let us know if you have anymore questions about this.

Click to expand...

OK......I am still not completely clear if the order I have my drives in my case makes any difference. i.e. if I load Vista x64 (which I want as my default) to the my first set of Raid 0 drives (slots 1 & 2) and I load Vista x32 to my last drive a single drive (slot 6) will work when I indicate which drive designations I want for each OS. Or if the two drives designations also need to be sequential order and drives physically next to each other. :huh:


Tomorrow I would like to load just Vista x64 first and make sure my new system build is working properly and stable. After everything is working well I would then add another new drive and load Vista x32 to the new drive which will then be in the last slot, slot number 6 and then at that time designate Vista x64 the default.

Thanks so much for your help!
Ruth

azsilver said:

Brink said:

You're welcome Ruth. Let us know if you have anymore questions about this.

Click to expand...

OK......I am still not completely clear if the order I have my drives in my case makes any difference. i.e. if I load Vista x64 (which I want as my default) to the my first set of Raid 0 drives (slots 1 & 2) and I load Vista x32 to my last drive a single drive (slot 6) will work when I indicate which drive designations I want for each OS. Or if the two drives designations also need to be sequential order and drives physically next to each other. :huh:


Tomorrow I would like to load just Vista x64 first and make sure my new system build is working properly and stable. After everything is working well I would then add another new drive and load Vista x32 to the new drive which will then be in the last slot, slot number 6 and then at that time designate Vista x64 the default.

Thanks so much for your help!
Ruth

Click to expand...

No problem Ruth.

It should not matter where the HDDs are physically, or what order they are plugged in. In BIOS you can change all the boot settings and stuff. You should also be able to access the other HDDs from both OS's, so it should not be a problem.

~Lordbob

lordbob75 said:

azsilver said:

Brink said:

You're welcome Ruth. Let us know if you have anymore questions about this.

Click to expand...

OK......I am still not completely clear if the order I have my drives in my case makes any difference. i.e. if I load Vista x64 (which I want as my default) to the my first set of Raid 0 drives (slots 1 & 2) and I load Vista x32 to my last drive a single drive (slot 6) will work when I indicate which drive designations I want for each OS. Or if the two drives designations also need to be sequential order and drives physically next to each other. :huh:


Tomorrow I would like to load just Vista x64 first and make sure my new system build is working properly and stable. After everything is working well I would then add another new drive and load Vista x32 to the new drive which will then be in the last slot, slot number 6 and then at that time designate Vista x64 the default.

Thanks so much for your help!
Ruth

Click to expand...

No problem Ruth.

It should not matter where the HDDs are physically, or what order they are plugged in. In BIOS you can change all the boot settings and stuff. You should also be able to access the other HDDs from both OS's, so it should not be a problem.

~Lordbob

Click to expand...

So If I only load Vista x64 today and run the new build to make sure it works and is stable. I can then add the 6th HDD and load Vista x32 to that new drive and make Vista X64 my default drive at that time?
I am waiting to go over to my friends house and start up my new build for the first time and start loading software.

Thanks, Ruth

azsilver said:

lordbob75 said:

azsilver said:

OK......I am still not completely clear if the order I have my drives in my case makes any difference. i.e. if I load Vista x64 (which I want as my default) to the my first set of Raid 0 drives (slots 1 & 2) and I load Vista x32 to my last drive a single drive (slot 6) will work when I indicate which drive designations I want for each OS. Or if the two drives designations also need to be sequential order and drives physically next to each other. :huh:


Tomorrow I would like to load just Vista x64 first and make sure my new system build is working properly and stable. After everything is working well I would then add another new drive and load Vista x32 to the new drive which will then be in the last slot, slot number 6 and then at that time designate Vista x64 the default.

Thanks so much for your help!
Ruth

Click to expand...

No problem Ruth.

It should not matter where the HDDs are physically, or what order they are plugged in. In BIOS you can change all the boot settings and stuff. You should also be able to access the other HDDs from both OS's, so it should not be a problem.

~Lordbob

Click to expand...

So If I only load Vista x64 today and run the new build to make sure it works and is stable. I can then add the 6th HDD and load Vista x32 to that new drive and make Vista X64 my default drive at that time?
I am waiting to go over to my friends house and start up my new build for the first time and start loading software.

Thanks, Ruth

Click to expand...

Correct. Or you could install it on the 3rd drive or wherever you choose.

~Lordbob

azsilver said:

So If I only load Vista x64 today and run the new build to make sure it works and is stable. I can then add the 6th HDD and load Vista x32 to that new drive and make Vista X64 my default drive at that time?
I am waiting to go over to my friends house and start up my new build for the first time and start loading software.

Thanks, Ruth

Click to expand...

Correct Ruth.

Since the default OS to start will always be the last OS installed, you will just need to set Vista x64 as the default OS to start to afterwards. The tutorial below will show you how to.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/82664-boot-partition-default.html

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions.

UPDATE:
My new build is up and running on Vista Ultimate x64 and is very stable. I am going to wait a few more days and then add the 6th HDD and load Vista Ultimate x32. I will use the valuable information given to me on the Forum to Reset the default OS back to x64.

It was a very interesting build. I learned so much as did my friend who helped me (he had done multiple builds). My friend also told me that this build had the most issues to work out of any of the other build he had done to date. We found that the user’s manual for this MOBO was lacking vital key information.

Our biggest issue was the difficult time setting up the second raid array. After spending many hours, about 8 hours, trying different things to have the second Raid 0 array on JMicron chip be seen by Vista, after many calls to Customer support, we were finally informed that the South Bridge of the Intel chip set would support multiple Raid arrays. Customer support then finally told us not to use the JMicron chip for the second Raid array since it does not work. (Interesting that the specifications on the MOBO list the JMicron chip supporting Raid arrays)

After getting this new information it took 5 minutes to set up the second Raid 0 array with Vista recognizing it right away.....talk about frustration. But we hung in there and just kept working on the all issues until they were solved.

I will write an update after I load the Vista x32 OS to my 6th HDD and reset my default.

Thanks again!

Ruth

You're welcome Ruth. I'm happy to hear that everything is working great at this stage. Thank you for including your results. I'll be looking forward to hearing how the 6th HDD went.

Shawn

Have fun working with your RAID setup...

Glad you got it working.

~Lordbob

Brink said:

You're welcome Ruth. I'm happy to hear that everything is working great at this stage. Thank you for including your results. I'll be looking forward to hearing how the 6th HDD went.

Shawn

Click to expand...

Shawn, My friend who helped me with the build suggests that I wait at least a week to make sure my computer is stable before I add the 6th HDD and load Vista x32 as my dual boot OS.

Ruth

azsilver said:

Brink said:

You're welcome Ruth. I'm happy to hear that everything is working great at this stage. Thank you for including your results. I'll be looking forward to hearing how the 6th HDD went.

Shawn

Click to expand...

Shawn, My friend who helped me with the build suggests that I wait at least a week to make sure my computer is stable before I add the 6th HDD and load Vista x32 as my dual boot OS.

Ruth

Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. Would be worth doing.

~Lordbob

azsilver said:

Brink said:

You're welcome Ruth. I'm happy to hear that everything is working great at this stage. Thank you for including your results. I'll be looking forward to hearing how the 6th HDD went.

Shawn

Click to expand...

Shawn, My friend who helped me with the build suggests that I wait at least a week to make sure my computer is stable before I add the 6th HDD and load Vista x32 as my dual boot OS.

Ruth

Click to expand...

Ruth,

I would agree with that. If you had any troubleshooting to do, this would make it a lot easier to do without one more possible problem added to the list.