triple boot question

[bossmayank619]

hi i have just triple booted my system and as per a tutorial here gave vista and xp drives a drive letter ... but can i make a 4th partition and install bittorrent , limewire , my games , outlook etc on that 4th partition and if i do that will i be able to run it when i am in any of the OS xp , Vista or 7 ... anyone tried it ... any suggestions ... :shock:

 

[johngalt]

Yes ... and no.

First off, do you already have free space?

Second, are you ever planning on making more than a 4th partition?

(If no to the second) - Do you have to have it be a primary partition?

Short answer - yes you can. The questions I am asking have to do with logistics and what you'll need to create the partition(s)....

 

[bossmayank619]

well i know the space is less but i do have some space left ...
first i dont want to create any more partitions
second i want to make it as primary partition

 

[johngalt]

That is the tricky part.

By default Windows won't let you make a 4th partition as prijary - so you'll need a third party tool.

Best bet - get gparted (ISO format), burn it, boot from it, and create your 4th partition as a primary partition, then boot back into windows.

***DO NOT MESS WITH THE FIRST THREE PARTITIONS***

 

[bossmayank619]

That is the tricky part.

By default Windows won't let you make a 4th partition as prijary - so you'll need a third party tool.

Best bet - get gparted (ISO format), burn it, boot from it, and create your 4th partition as a primary partition, then boot back into windows.

***DO NOT MESS WITH THE FIRST THREE PARTITIONS***

will it matter if i dont make the 4 th partition as primary or what should i do to achive my purpose make the programs installed on it work on vista and win 7 and also not messing my 3partitions .


also can i launch the program right off of my vista partition and run in windows 7 in that way i wont be required to make a 4th partition.

 

[johngalt]

Easiest is to use the Windows 7 Disk Management console to make the 4th partition....

but that is not going to be primary - but since you are not using it to boot off into *another* OS non primary is actually OK....

 

[bossmayank619]

also can i launch the program right off of my vista partition and run in windows 7 in that way i wont be required to make a 4th partition. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

[johngalt]

Ummm, Short answer - you *may* be able to - the problem with trying that is that if it is a program, and especially one that got installed, then it might have installed files in the windows partition - *of the OS that it was installed under* - meaning it needs those files. If W7 also has the files then you're golden - but then there are the (possibly) missing registry entries as well.

It is better to have each OS have it's own copy of the program for installed programs.

Standalone apps, though, are a completely different animal - by their very definition, they are not OS dependent, and thus can be run from any location at any time by any OS.

Games will most likely not work - you can install it in each OS to the same location on the 4th partition and then be able to play it in each OS - but without it most likely not. Outlook - I would not even begin to tell you to do that unless you are familiar with manipulating .pst files and OutLook settings - and even then, it will still install different things based on the OS (as will some games, for that matter, as Vista and W7 support DX 10 whereas XP only does 9).

Personally, with W7 installed, I wouldn't game in Vista at all. Then, I'd install the games to the new partition you're gonna make. Finally, I'd make sure the save games are on that new partition as well - so if you are forced to install the game again in a different OS at least your saved games are intact.

Finally, last but not least - bittorrent and other P2P apps and such are better off being installed with the OS _ just have them all use the same *download* and *sharing* folders on the new partition and you'll be set.

 

[MilesAhead]

also can i launch the program right off of my vista partition and run in windows 7 in that way i wont be required to make a 4th partition. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Programs that use an .ini file in the install folder or let you choose the folder where they keep their profile are likely to work. Anything MS is likely to have problems if you try to run one physical copy booting various OS.

Of course if it's some trivial utility that's not what I mean. As example I had Visual Studio programming IDE on a partition visible from 2 different versions of Windows. The fact that it kept settings it 2 registries wasn't bad. I did install under one, then install under the other, and the reverse on uninstalls. It was settings for the environment addons like editor wizards, help files etc. were hard coded in such a way that every time I customized something on one side, even if I booted to the other OS and mirrored the customization, it wouldn't buy it. It would come up and work, but it was just a royal pita.

Unless you know the program is designed to be self-contained the disk space saving isn't worth the hassle.