Having 2 OS ?

K

KrizQoo

New Member
Right now I have 2 hard disks.
HD No.1 has 2 partitions : 1 for my current OS ( XP ) and the other for softwares and games.
HD No.2 has 1 partition of itself which is for storage purpose.

I understand if I want to run another OS ( Win7 ), I'll have to reinstall the drivers, howabout the softwares I have installed?

and if I manage to install Win7 on one of the partitions in HD No.1, would I have access to HD No.2 while I'm in Win7?

Thank you in advance guys. :)
 
Yes, you will need to reinstall drivers, primarily because most XP drivers aren't compatible with W7, but also because it doesn't just know the drivers are there (the files have to be located in the W7 installation's own folders and stuff).

Yes, you will need to reinstall most software, mainly because of the registry (it needs to recreate whatever stuff it has in the registry in order to work properly). Some software work without reinstalling, though, but it's still safer to just go ahead and re-install everything.

And yes, you should have access to all partitions from both operating systems.
 
You'll be able to dual-boot without a problem. Since you already have XP installed, you can just install 7 on a separate partition. Then when the computer boots, it'll display a screen to Boot To: Windows 7 or Older Version of Windows. You'll still be able to access all your other partitions as well. And then should you want to run XP, just reboot and boot to XP.

With Windows 7 you probably won't have to worry about drivers, as it usually gets every driver automatically.
 
Thanks for the replies!

There is one more thing though, if I am to install Win7, is it a must that I install it in an empty partition?
 
Argh that means I either gotta create another partition or get a new HD then I guess :/

so let's say I have c: ( XP), d: (software, games) and e: ( storage ) right now. If I install Win7 in, let's say, a new partition f:, I will still have access to d: and e: but I won't be able to run anything in d: ?
 
After you install windows 7, any games you want to have access to would have to be reinstalled in windows 7, no other way around that.
 
so in the scenario of my previous post, what HD drives will I see in Win7 in 'My Computer'?
d: e: and f: ? and the software/games in d: are useless and I have to install them again somewhere else?
 
KrizQoo said:
so in the scenario of my previous post, what HD drives will I see in Win7 in 'My Computer'?
d: e: and f: ? and the software/games in d: are useless and I have to install them again somewhere else?
Click to expand...

You will be able to see all the hard drives in windows 7, however most games require registry entrie for them to work correctly so you will have to reinstall all games to make certain they play correctly. So when you make your partition, make it big enough for the OS and all your games you have to install.
 
Last edited:
KrizQoo said:
Argh that means I either gotta create another partition or get a new HD then I guess :/

so let's say I have c: ( XP), d: (software, games) and e: ( storage ) right now. If I install Win7 in, let's say, a new partition f:, I will still have access to d: and e: but I won't be able to run anything in d: ?
Click to expand...

Just shrink one of your partitions with GParted and make it just big enough for Win7. Then you can just install your programs somewhere else.
 
I don't know if I am too late to give any advice on this one since the last post was yesterday.

I used to dual-boot with both of my operating systems installed on the same hard drive. I now use two different hard drives. Linux Ubuntu is installed on one drive and Windows Vista on the other hard drive.

I just change the hard drive boot priority in BIOS when I want to switch from Linux to Windows or Windows to Linux. It gives you an advantage. If Windows or Linux gets damaged you don't have to reinstall both the operating systems.

The only disadvantage is having to go into BIOS to switch operating systems. It only takes about 20 seconds total to make the switch in BIOS.
 
Thank you for your advice, I shall try that.

I've been thinking, let's say I have XP in C: and other softwares like games in D:
I want to format C: and reinstall XP in there, will that make my softwares in D: unloadable?
or they'll work just fine?
 
I'm fairly sure that if you reinstall your os even if it is the same as what you are replacing, you will have to reinstall your programs.
 
You will have access to the other partition but i highly doubt if u can run specific softwares which are installed in different OS..sum might work but some wont
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top