Downsides of dual booting?

911aaron · 04-03-2008, 05:57 AM

I'm tired of dealing with Vista. I want to go back to XP. So I looked up how to dual boot Vista and XP on the same hard drive. It sounds great and all, but my question is, are there any downsides of dual booting?

Do you think it would be a wiser choice to replace my current hard drive with a new clean one and install XP on it?

I don't mind losing some of files. I got nothing too important on my hard drive anyways. I'm really sick of Vista and I want to avoid it as much as possible.

Vizy93 · 04-03-2008, 06:00 AM

as far as i know, if u execute evrything write, there is no downside.

911aaron · 04-03-2008, 07:38 AM

can anyone confirm that?

PC eye · 04-03-2008, 07:47 AM

The one main downside of dual booting XP along with Vista is that when booting into XP that will cancel out the Vista restore points. That's the known one since most prefer a dual boot ease over seeing two separate hard drives used for two separate stand alone versions of Windows.

As far as Vista I've been running the same edition since Vista was first released and now have it as the default OS. Why replace a drive while you can simply add another one in and have both versions running?

royalmarine · 04-03-2008, 11:52 PM

as pc eye said ^^

for reassurance if you doing it, make sure you have 2 harddrives.

if not, partition the drive into 2.

use 1 for vista, 1 for xp.

saves you so much hassle if you need a restore point in vista and then you realise xp friggin removed it!

911aaron · 04-03-2008, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC eye

The one main downside of dual booting XP along with Vista is that when booting into XP that will cancel out the Vista restore points. That's the known one since most prefer a dual boot ease over seeing two separate hard drives used for two separate stand alone versions of Windows.

As far as Vista I've been running the same edition since Vista was first released and now have it as the default OS. Why replace a drive while you can simply add another one in and have both versions running?

I think my motherboard can only have 1 Hard drive. I'm not exactly sure. Can anyone please check for me? heres the link to my motherboard:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...t=3397528#N935
Sorry I'm still somewhat of a beginner.

PC eye · 04-04-2008, 12:52 AM

You have one ide channel typical of newer boards but 4 sata ports to work with as far adding drives in. Eventually I'll replace the one ide optical drive here and see a second sata type cd writer accompany a sata dvd drive eliminating the larger data cable for just one drive alone now that the last ide hard drive is gone.

When first dual booting Vista with XP the ide saw Vista there while setting the first sata as the default with XP. Each had been stand alone at first until working with a new beta tool hopefully to see general release rather soon.

Dual booting between an ide and sata drive? Not the best! Two ide or two sata for a dual boot while stand alone installations are simply run separate from each other. That is one thing you can't do with both on one drive since the mbr is shared. Seeing the boot information corrected each time you load one version instead of the other doesn't go well either.

911aaron · 04-04-2008, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC eye

You have one ide channel typical of newer boards but 4 sata ports to work with as far adding drives in. Eventually I'll replace the one ide optical drive here and see a second sata type cd writer accompany a sata dvd drive eliminating the larger data cable for just one drive alone now that the last ide hard drive is gone.

When first dual booting Vista with XP the ide saw Vista there while setting the first sata as the default with XP. Each had been stand alone at first until working with a new beta tool hopefully to see general release rather soon.

Dual booting between an ide and sata drive? Not the best! Two ide or two sata for a dual boot while stand alone installations are simply run separate from each other. That is one thing you can't do with both on one drive since the mbr is shared. Seeing the boot information corrected each time you load one version instead of the other doesn't go well either.

Yeah, thats why i want to either partition my current HD, or replace it with a new one. What do you think would be a better choice?

PC eye · 04-04-2008, 03:21 AM

That will depend on what you are planning to run as far as both drives and OSs. For simply seeing XP replace Vista a quick reformat of the drive will see that done.

If you decide you need a 500gb or larger drive for some reason then a simple swap would still see XP go on there. But if you already have plenty of drive space you have the choice of even deleting the existing primary as well as seeing it reformatted in order to see a new one created just for XP alone.

A working dual boot of the two versions will take a little work. That will first require shrinking down the size of the existing Vista primary to see XP added into the newer type of boot loader or planning everything out all over again to see XP installed first and then added in when the newer version is installed fresh. That's where patience with both versions will be needed.

04-03-2008, 05:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
911aaron Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Inside your computer as a virus Posts: 195	Downsides of dual booting? I'm tired of dealing with Vista. I want to go back to XP. So I looked up how to dual boot Vista and XP on the same hard drive. It sounds great and all, but my question is, are there any downsides of dual booting? Do you think it would be a wiser choice to replace my current hard drive with a new clean one and install XP on it? I don't mind losing some of files. I got nothing too important on my hard drive anyways. I'm really sick of Vista and I want to avoid it as much as possible. __________________ * Processor: Intel core 2 Quad Q6600 * Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L * RAM: G. Skill 2GB F2-6400CL5d-2GBNQ * Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s * VGA: EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 * PSU: Ultra X-Finity 500-Watt * OS: Windows XP Home Edition 32-bit * Monitor: Samsung 906BW LCD 2 ms response time 2000:1 Contrast *CPU cooler: Arctic Cooler 7

04-03-2008, 06:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
Vizy93 Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The Angels Age: 15 Posts: 2,657	as far as i know, if u execute evrything write, there is no downside. __________________ http://www.computerforum.com/6663-funniest-joke-world.html "75% of all statistics are made up, including this one. 62.481% of people who read that believe it is true. And if you're one of the 37.519% who don't, copy and paste this into your signature." - tlarkin, Cromewell, and Rambo.

04-03-2008, 07:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
911aaron Silver Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Inside your computer as a virus Posts: 195	can anyone confirm that? __________________ * Processor: Intel core 2 Quad Q6600 * Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L * RAM: G. Skill 2GB F2-6400CL5d-2GBNQ * Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s * VGA: EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 * PSU: Ultra X-Finity 500-Watt * OS: Windows XP Home Edition 32-bit * Monitor: Samsung 906BW LCD 2 ms response time 2000:1 Contrast *CPU cooler: Arctic Cooler 7

04-03-2008, 07:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,717	The one main downside of dual booting XP along with Vista is that when booting into XP that will cancel out the Vista restore points. That's the known one since most prefer a dual boot ease over seeing two separate hard drives used for two separate stand alone versions of Windows. As far as Vista I've been running the same edition since Vista was first released and now have it as the default OS. Why replace a drive while you can simply add another one in and have both versions running? __________________ Turning the Tongue into a Device Controller http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Sma...ory?id=5647175 Is EBay going out of the Auction Business? http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5626840&page=1

04-04-2008, 12:52 AM	#7 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,717	You have one ide channel typical of newer boards but 4 sata ports to work with as far adding drives in. Eventually I'll replace the one ide optical drive here and see a second sata type cd writer accompany a sata dvd drive eliminating the larger data cable for just one drive alone now that the last ide hard drive is gone. When first dual booting Vista with XP the ide saw Vista there while setting the first sata as the default with XP. Each had been stand alone at first until working with a new beta tool hopefully to see general release rather soon. Dual booting between an ide and sata drive? Not the best! Two ide or two sata for a dual boot while stand alone installations are simply run separate from each other. That is one thing you can't do with both on one drive since the mbr is shared. Seeing the boot information corrected each time you load one version instead of the other doesn't go well either. __________________ Turning the Tongue into a Device Controller http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Sma...ory?id=5647175 Is EBay going out of the Auction Business? http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5626840&page=1

04-03-2008, 11:52 PM	#5 (permalink)
royalmarine Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 374	as pc eye said ^^ for reassurance if you doing it, make sure you have 2 harddrives. if not, partition the drive into 2. use 1 for vista, 1 for xp. saves you so much hassle if you need a restore point in vista and then you realise xp friggin removed it!

04-04-2008, 03:21 AM	#9 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,717	That will depend on what you are planning to run as far as both drives and OSs. For simply seeing XP replace Vista a quick reformat of the drive will see that done. If you decide you need a 500gb or larger drive for some reason then a simple swap would still see XP go on there. But if you already have plenty of drive space you have the choice of even deleting the existing primary as well as seeing it reformatted in order to see a new one created just for XP alone. A working dual boot of the two versions will take a little work. That will first require shrinking down the size of the existing Vista primary to see XP added into the newer type of boot loader or planning everything out all over again to see XP installed first and then added in when the newer version is installed fresh. That's where patience with both versions will be needed. __________________ Turning the Tongue into a Device Controller http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Sma...ory?id=5647175 Is EBay going out of the Auction Business? http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5626840&page=1

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