Dual Boot Vista and Windows 7

N

nnicko

New Member
Hi. I'm currently running Vista Ultimate 64 and wish to add Windows 7 Ultimate (clean install) and have dual-boot capability. Does it make a difference if I create a new partition on my current HD (250GB/140GB free) or if I add a second HD and put 7 on it? Is one method better than the other?

Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self-built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition
    Motherboard
    ASUS M3A78-T
    Memory
    Crucial 4GB 240PIN DDR2 DIMM Unbuffered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated ATI Radeon HD 3300 GPU
    Sound Card
    On-Board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG Flatron 24" L246WP-BN
    Screen Resolution
    Native 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    Seagate SATA 320GB
    PSU
    Enermax Pro 82+ 625W
    Case
    Lian LI PC65
    Cooling
    4 80mm (2 front,1 rear, 1 top) + PSU fan
    Keyboard
    Saitek Eclipse II
    Mouse
    Logitech MX1000
    Internet Speed
    Verizon DSL 3Mbps download 768Kbps upload
hey , ive had no experience with two separate harddrives with two seperate os'es (one on each) but i can tell you in my opinion , creating a partition an using that for another os works well , like i said i cant vouch for two harddrives
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    AMD Athlon x4
    Motherboard
    MSI 790FX-GD70
    Graphics Card(s)
    XFX ATI Radeon HD4870 512MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek onboard
    Hard Drives
    1 x 120GB Western digital (IDE)
    Case
    ATX Galaxy 3
    Cooling
    2 x 80mm Fans
    Mouse
    Logitec optical Mouse
    Internet Speed
    Download: 9.85Mbps Upload: 0.45Mbps
There is no real difference between having Windows installed on another partition or hard drive. Although the way hard drives are designed means that the second and any subsequent partition is slower than the previous (although I believe the difference is insignificant). Windows 7 should automatically detect vista and add it to the boot loader as appropriate allowing you to easy boot either operating system.
 

My Computer

System One

Hello,

Both will work perfectly. However 140gb free may not be a huge amount depending on what you use it for. This will be fine, unless you KNOW it will not be fine (ie you know you use a lot of drive space, maybe you are a developer or graphics designer)

If you don't have a second hard disk, try a partition and see if it suits your needs. If you do have another hard disk, use it, unless that is your backup data drive or you have some other use for it.

Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top