Two O/S in one PC?

[Alejandro Rhodes]

I was wondering ,Is it possible to install without consequences in each of my two drives in One winXp and the other Windows VISTA without crossing Info between each other ,I mean absolutely Independent operating system,is this possible without problems?

I think FSX runs better and faster in Vista while in Xp is a bit slower , I would have my normal xp with all my softwares and my hardwares and in the other with vista would be Just for using FSX..

Thanks

[Fozzer]

What I do, Alex, is to have one OP System (XP) on my main Hard Drive, and another OP System (Win '98 SE) on a separate (second) Hard Drive...

Then select which Drive I wish to use in the Boot-UP Sequence via DOS... ...!

This ensures that the two Windows Registers are kept separate.!

Paul... 8-)...!

Most of my "Old Games/Software" are running on my Win '98 SE Drive

[Alejandro Rhodes]

I was thinking due for the complexity of VISTA ,neither Xp has such auto thinking system

[Fozzer]

[quote] I was thinking due for the complexity of VISTA ,neither Xp has such auto thinking system

[ozzy72]

You've got two real options Alex;
A) dual boot system (best choice for you methinks)
B) VMware virtualised system such as ESX (expensive but VERY effective)

[dodger]

This might not be completely relevant to your question, alrot, but I have just installed the beta (test) version of Windows 7, the proposed successor to (and based on) Vista. I installed it to a second, 80 GB hard drive, while keeping the main (250GB) drive for XP. I now get a choice of OS when I start the computer (that boot choice was provided automatically when I installed 7). I have since installed FSX on both drives. So far, they behave as if they are two different computers (good!), but it's early days yet as I've only just done this over the last 2 weeks. (Not so good ) Otherwise it works fine, as Fozzer says. BTW, both drives are SATA on my system so I did not need to set Master/Slave protocols and jumpers.

[drummer_tom]

The best bet is deiniftely a dual boot. There are two ways you could do this - partition your existing hard drive in to 2 so the computer sees them as two seperate hard drives, OR buy another hard drive.

I would go with another hard drive if you can afford it as this means you're not going to have anything else anywhere on the HDD enhancing performance even more.

You will then need to select the drive you want to use in the BIOS.

HTH!


Tom

[Keep It Simple]

I've been running a dual boot (XP/ Vista) sys for quite some time now with no problems.
This is

[J.]

I think most people would recomend you not use one hard drive partioned. use two seperate hard drives.

I currently have Windows 7 beta installed, and I run a VM (Microsoft Virtual PC) to run a Linux Distribution which is used for work. Thats one way to tun two OS's but i dont think it would be very good for gaming.

[Fozzer]

I think most people would recommend you not use one hard drive partitioned. use two separate hard drives.

I currently have Windows 7 beta installed, and I run a VM (Microsoft Virtual PC) to run a Linux Distribution which is used for work. That's one way to tun two OS's but I don't think it would be very good for gaming.

...which is what I recommended right at the start of this Post......

A fully installed Operating System on each separate Hard Drive, and select the desired Drive during Boot-up time......!

Each Hard Drive will contain its own Operating System and Registry...so no confusion between them!

Paul...Win '98 on one Drive...Win XP Pro on the other... ...!

[Keep It Simple]

Don't each OS operate independenly with "no confusion between them" even when installed on partioned drive?

They are complertely independent installs.
The only thing they share is a boot loader.

Even your computer views the partitions as seperate drives.

I believe the "myth" obout seprate drives for an XP/Vista dual boot came about due to lossing the Vista boot loader when reformatting XP and most didn't know how simple it was to resore it.
I have seen scores of threads on the net telling people how to possibly restore the Vista boot loader using rather contrived methods that never worked when all they had to do was to simply run the "Boot repair"  option from Vista.

Like I said, I have been running a dual boot sys on a partioned drive for a long time. I nerver had a problem even after reformatting XP.

BTW, this is on a sys tweaked to the max for FSX and gaming.
The main reason I have Vista installed it for DX10 games.
I should also add that I run SATA drives.

[HarvesteR]

I've had dual boot configurations before, and i'm pretty sure that they don't get in each other's way... you can still access the other drive from the one you're currently running the OS, and even mess with the other OS's system files (although that's not generally recommended  ;) )

but they can coexist peacefully... it's a very common configuration and very simple to put into practice

about the partitioning vs separate drives, i would recommend separate drives, not because of problems that might arise from not using them... i can't really see how that would give you trouble, but mostly because it keeps things simpler and safer... say, if one of those drives break down, you can just remove it and keep using the computer on the other one, it's just more flexible that way

Cheers