need help partitioning hard drive....

rome,

Ok to allow for all kinds of growth, my recommendation is:

Create one and only one partition at this time.
Leave the rest of the space as unused.

When and if you decide to put XP on there, then you can create a partition to receive XP.

You should be perfectly safe creating a single partition of 150 GB.

In just a second, I'll send another post showing you how to use your Win 7 DVD to prepare your hard drive as desired.

rome,

What many people do not know is that you can get to a command prompt using your Win 7 DVD.

Once you are at that command prompt, then you are going to use the DISKPART program to prepare your hard drive.

HOW TO GET TO A COMMAND PROMPT WITH A WIN 7 DVD

1. Boot up from your Windows 7 DVD.
   At the first dialog window, press SHIFT + F10 key combo
2. You will have a X:> command prompt
3. X: is a ram drive created by Windows 7.

Actually, you can access the command prompt from any dialog window during the Win 7 install by using Shift+F10.

Thanx so much all...... for now i will do exactly as Karlsnooks has explined.

rome,

Now with you being at a command prompt, the next step will be to wipe the hard disk clean.

WIPE A DISK CLEAN

· type DiskPart, Enter key
· type List disk, Enter key
note the numeral of the disk you want to clean
for example purposes, I’ll be using the numeral 0
· type Select disk 0, Enter key
· type Detail disk, Enter key
this info will let you know if you selected correctly
· type Clean ALL, Enter key
your entire disk is being overwritten with zeros.
This can take a considerable amount of time, in your case probably an hour. Be patient. Do not interrupt this "clean". That little led which indicates disk activity will be blinking furiously.


Now after you see the DiskPart prompt again,
the "clean" will be finished and you can continue.


type List Disk and hit Enter
type Select Disk 0 and hit Enter
type Detail Disk 0 and hit Enter
that will help you see the present status


type Create Partition Primary SIZE=153600 and hit Enter
...the size parameter specifies megabytes
...1024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte
...150 GB = 150 x 1024

type Select Partition 1 and hit Enter
type Detail Partition and hit Enter
...just for you own edification
type ACTIVE and hit enter
...this will declare this as a bootable partition
type FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK and hit Enter
...wait for the format to finish
type ASSIGN and hit Enter
...a drive letter is assigned to the partition
type EXIT and hit Enter

...will exit DiskPart
type EXIT and hit Enter
...will exit the command shell back to the Win 7 install program.

what exactly is a restore disc??

rome,

The term system restore disk means different things to different people, to differernt OSes and to different manufacturers.

The world will not come to an end and your computer will not self-destruct and go up in a cloud of smoke if you simply follow the procedure I gave.

That is going to give you a WIN 7 system with plenty of room for you to set space aside for a 2nd operating system or for a large amount of data storage.

Get yourself a solid system, up and running, and become acquainted with the marvels of Win 7.

After using Win 7, you will never look back and want to use an ancient OS whose lifetime is very limited. Sometimes people get very attached to their old Model A's but put them in a modern Mercedes and they never go back.

This procedure will allow you to go backwards and install XP.

rome,

The great master himself, Brink, wrote a tutorial on installing Win 7 and XP on the same computer, covering both Win 7 first or XP first.

Here's the link:
Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP