How to run 2 os on 1 machine?

G

gambino

New Member
i currently have a 500 gb hard drive. i have a vista oem already installed on it and i may want to intstall linux on it (ubuntu). i have a few questions ot it:
-can i have 1 hard drive for vista and the other for linux?
-if so, how do am i able to choose between the 2 during startup?
-can i just split this current hd to 2 seperate 250gb partitions to each partition and add 500gb internal hard drives to each os?

thanks boys
 
Most versions of linux when installing on a machine that have windows already on it will give you options for setting up partitions, be wary though, they are not always full proof. The best method is to create you partitions prior to installing and ensuring that you are not dual booting on the same partition as windows. Sometimes during install the OS partition of windows may become corrupted or unresponsive. I would recommend Opensuse or if you feel a little more comfortable with linux/unix to try Solaris or Redhat.
 
Why don't you try VirtualPC?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en

I posted the link to the download page and not the direct file because I don't know if your Vista OS is 32 or 64 bit, so choose the appropriate one. I am running it, and created a virtual hard drive (using the program) inside the documents folder on Vista. Plus, then you can easily and effectively switch between Vista and Linux. On OS selection, if Linux does not show, choose other. It will work fine. I suggest creating a virtual hard drive at around 120gb.

And one point of advice, never give the virtual machine more than 1/2 of your RAM (unless you have loads, but always leave 1gb free for Vista on the host machine).

I would really not recommend dual booting Linux and Windows, multiple instances of Windows, yes. Linux, no. Linux is just too unstable (no offence) to dual boot alongside Windows. It may overwrite Windows, or Windows may delete it (getting rid of the opposition!) by calling it a virus. Be wary, but I think VirtualPC's your best bet.
 
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