Which should I install, XP or VISTA

warp4dennis · 27 Feb 2017

I now have three XP drivers and two PCI cards that I would like to use again.
My desktop has Windows 7 64bit installed and running. There is also a partition
that I have set aside so I can dual-boot another OS. The question is which one
should I use, VISTA or XP.

I tried to install Windows XP but about 40% of the way through the installation it
came to a halt. I tried to find either one of the error folders but couldn't. I was told
that Windows copies the installation errors to a couple of folders at some point in
time, but they were not where they were suppose to be.
Since the MoBo is an ASUS M5A97 Plus and only two years old, there is the possibility
that some Windows XP drivers have incompatibility problems.
I have read that Windows VISTA can be downloaded and run along side Win 7.
And logic tells me that VISTA would be a better choice to run with the ASUS MoBo
because it's a newer OS. But I don't know.
I have heard that most XP drivers will work with the VISTA OS.
Does anybody have any suggestions?

johnhoh · 27 Feb 2017

what exactly are the PCI card models you want to install? Note that Win7 and Vista have the same API for drivers and vista drivers tend to work fine in Win7, so you really don't need XP if you have a vista driver, as the vista driver will most likely work in win7.

samuria · 27 Feb 2017

Install an old system it wont understand the win7 boot so will mess up the boot you always have to install the old first. The simple solution is run what you want as a virtual pc with free Downloads – Oracle VM VirtualBox it has its own drivers so you can run Linux. win98.xp vista and it doesnt alter boot so its dead simple trouble free and its safer

warp4dennis · 28 Feb 2017

I have two PCI cards that I would like to be able to use again.
One is TechniSat SkyStar HD2 and the other is Promise Tech.
Ultra 133 TX2. And then there is a s/w program that I use to
crop Video and Audio recordings.
The TechniSat people say that their XP drivers will work with Vista.
And the Promise Tech people say the same about their product, but
they have stopped supporting it. It is no longer listed in their
download section on their website. As a result there are so many
versions on the Internet it is hard to know which one to use.
My last attempt at installing WinXP in it's own partition was not
successful. BSOD

Megahertz07 · 28 Feb 2017

I would NEVER do what you trying to do. The chances you mess around your Win 7 installation are high.
- Detach your Win 7 disk and put in place an old HDD. Then you can do whatever you want to try on.
- Win 7 is a better Vista. So, if you have Win 7, you don't need Vista.
- For the PCI cards. Boot win 7 and do a Restore point. Shut down and attach the PCI cards. See if Win 7 finds the drives. Try windows update. If it finds, no need to install XP.
Why do you want to install Promise Tech Ultra 133 TX2. It's a IDE 133 and today SATA is 300 or 600. Do you have data on the IDE disk you want to recover?

johnhoh · 28 Feb 2017

I assume you have some old drives you want to retrieve data from. If you find those drives are old and have gone bad, you'll have to search for a data recovery place that may have better luck with them. There are places that specialize in this. Meanwhile here's my input...

I'm not seeing any reason for windows xp here - you can do this on win7 for a worst case of $20, best case of $0.

Your ASUS M5A97 has a (2) PCIe x16, (2) PCIe x1, and two PCI slots.

Here is your SkyStay HD2 driver for windows 7, so this should work
SkyStar HD 2 Driver - Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP driver.

For the other card, first just try it and see if windows 7 detects it. If not, try this Promise driver update utility program to automatically find your driver.

Promise Driver Update Utility for Windows 10, 8, 7, XP, Vista

If you can't find any drivers that work with your promise card, here's a couple other options.

According to startech, this single-port $20 IDE controller card is plug and play comtaible with win7
Amazon.com: StarTech.com 1 Port PCI Express IDE Controller Adapter Card PEX2IDE: Electronics

three ports for $19 from VIA
Amazon.com: VIA VT6421A 3-Port SATA and IDE PCI Controller Card with RAID Support: Computers & Accessories

warp4dennis · 01 Mar 2017

The MoBo that you are referring to is not the one I have. Mine is the "Plus" version
which has one less PCIe slot so that the "Plus" version can offer people like me one
more PCI slot. I try to 'recycle' as much of the stuff that I have laying around here
so I can save money.
I have quite a few IDE Hard Drives that I would like to dig into and see if there
is anything there worth saving. And since I have some time on my hands, I thought
about this job that I have been avoiding over the years.
I have owned the Promise Super Swap for many years, and it still works.
Since my income has been reduced, I thought it would be a good idea to get it connected
and running with the new MoBo and Windows 7. I have two Super Swap adapters, so it
doesn't take long to change from one IDE Hard Drive to another, without having to open up
the Desktop case, which is very convenient. So changing an IDE drive only takes two or
three minutes.
I bought an external IDE adapter that uses a USB port, but it takes time to set it up.
Not only that, it requires desktop space, which I don't have a lot of.
Thank you for providing these e-mail addresses where I may be able find some drivers
that I've been looking for.