wondering how to set up

[mn9500]

so right now i have a 250 gb hdd, which came with my computer, and i just bought a 1tb hdd recently, and moved all my videos and music to the new hdd, now have 107 gb free on my old hdd. Should i make a partition on my old hdd for windows 7 and dualboot with my existing windows xp installation, or install windows 7 on the new hdd and dualboot?

i heard the MBR will be on the first hdd no matter what, so i was originally thinking to make a partition on the old hdd and install all my games and apps on the new hdd.

 

[sup3rsprt]

I would put Windows on whichever disk performs the fastest, on a partition at the very beginning of the disk.

 

[mn9500]

could i just use the new hard drive to install on, or would it be better to make a partition on it just for windows 7?

 

[Perrybucsdad]

Why dual boot? Put a VM on W7 if you have programs that require XP, but it makes no sense to dual boot any longer.

I always prefer having a partition for just the OS. This way, if the partition goes bad, or I need to reinstall the OS (Yearly Digital Enema) I don't have to worry about all of my data as it is on a different disc/partition.

Always do frequent backup's of your data, and always wear clean underwear!

 

[sup3rsprt]

Why dual boot?

In my case I do it mostly to play around with Windows 7, and to help people on the forum. I still use Windows XP as my primary OS.

I agree that he should at least create a separate partition for data. I would never recommend storing lots of important data on the same partition that Windows is installed to.

 

[Perrybucsdad]

In my case I do it mostly to play around with Windows 7, and to help people on the forum. I still use Windows XP as my primary OS.

But why not just create a virtual machine? So much easier if you ask me. You can be in both OS's at the same time.

 

[zigzag3143]

In my case I do it mostly to play around with Windows 7, and to help people on the forum. I still use Windows XP as my primary OS.

But why not just create a virtual machine? So much easier if you ask me. You can be in both OS's at the same time.

I would love to VM but cant.

 

[Perrybucsdad]

I would love to VM but cant.

Curious... why is that?

 

[mn9500]

In my case I do it mostly to play around with Windows 7, and to help people on the forum. I still use Windows XP as my primary OS.

But why not just create a virtual machine? So much easier if you ask me. You can be in both OS's at the same time.

I would love to VM but cant.

yea i think i wont be able to vm either, at least what that little app tells me. my cpu must be too old to virtualize.

 

[zigzag3143]

I would love to VM but cant.

Curious... why is that?

Intel core duo<g> not core 2

Its a DELL

 

[Bill]

You can even download microsoft's virtual pc 2007 if you wanted to... it's not that bad.

 

[mn9500]

would installing it on a faster hard drive make the boot faster, if the mbr is on the slower hard drive?

here are the speeds for the hard drives.

 

[Dave76]

I would put Windows on whichever disk performs the fastest, on a partition at the very beginning of the disk.

Why dual boot? Put a VM on W7 if you have programs that require XP, but it makes no sense to dual boot any longer.

I always prefer having a partition for just the OS. This way, if the partition goes bad, or I need to reinstall the OS (Yearly Digital Enema) I don't have to worry about all of my data as it is on a different disc/partition.

Always do frequent backup's of your data, and always wear clean underwear!

so i think im going to make a partition on the new 1tb hdd (its the second set of results) and use it for windows 7.

Good advice.

I always use one partition for the OS and another partition for data/files. Makes it easier to re-install.

Your new 1tb hdd with the 32mb cache will be the fastest (which you proved already), as sup3rsprt mentioned, be sure to put it as the first usable partition on the disc.

 

[mn9500]

I would put Windows on whichever disk performs the fastest, on a partition at the very beginning of the disk.

Why dual boot? Put a VM on W7 if you have programs that require XP, but it makes no sense to dual boot any longer.

I always prefer having a partition for just the OS. This way, if the partition goes bad, or I need to reinstall the OS (Yearly Digital Enema) I don't have to worry about all of my data as it is on a different disc/partition.

Always do frequent backup's of your data, and always wear clean underwear!

so i think im going to make a partition on the new 1tb hdd (its the second set of results) and use it for windows 7.

Good advice.

I always use one partition for the OS and another partition for data/files. Makes it easier to re-install.

Your new 1tb hdd with the 32mb cache will be the fastest (which you proved already), as sup3rsprt mentioned, be sure to put it as the first usable partition on the disc.

how do i make sure its the first usuable partition? and can i do that if i already have it formatted with files on it?

edit: okay, im in acronis disk director, do i make the new partition active, primary, or logical? im guessing either active or primary.

 

[mn9500]

can i make a second partition on the 1 tb hdd for windows to use? the hdd is already formatted with files on it, can i just make another partition in acronis disk director and use it for windows 7, or does it have to be the first partition on the disk?

 

[wallyinnc]

can i make a second partition on the 1 tb hdd for windows to use? the hdd is already formatted with files on it, can i just make another partition in acronis disk director and use it for windows 7, or does it have to be the first partition on the disk?

mn, I am confused. You will make one partition to install the OS, right? I think you want to make a partion for the OS and wants to know if it can be the second one (since you have the data on the first).
Answer is Yes.
Some people say it will be faster if the OS is in the first partition (logic tells you so, the access times to those sectors should be faster, I just don't know how much difference it really makes. Before I get spanked, I have not researched either, so there might be tons of evidence to it).
One think to consider: if you have teh OS on teh second partition and you need to expand it to the left, you might need to do a repair install, since you wil be moving the whole installation on the disk and Windows does nto always like it. Expanding to the right can be done easily.

 

[mn9500]

can i make a second partition on the 1 tb hdd for windows to use? the hdd is already formatted with files on it, can i just make another partition in acronis disk director and use it for windows 7, or does it have to be the first partition on the disk?

mn, I am confused. You will make one partition to install the OS, right? I think you want to make a partion for the OS and wants to know if it can be the second one (since you have the data on the first).
Answer is Yes.
Some people say it will be faster if the OS is in the first partition (logic tells you so, the access times to those sectors should be faster, I just don't know how much difference it really makes. Before I get spanked, I have not researched either, so there might be tons of evidence to it).
One think to consider: if you have teh OS on teh second partition and you need to expand it to the left, you might need to do a repair install, since you wil be moving the whole installation on the disk and Windows does nto always like it. Expanding to the right can be done easily.

yea, thats i was thinking, how much faster can it be. and i will have no problem expanding to the right, theres a whole lot of space free on the hard drive.

 

[kegobeer]

I would love to VM but cant.

Curious... why is that?

Intel core duo<g> not core 2

Its a DELL

Swap that out with a Core 2 Duo! I did it to my e1705 and wow - what a performance increase!

 

[mn9500]

so can anyone tell me how much faster it would be to have windows on the first partition of a hard drive rather than on the second partition?

 

[Dave76]

so can anyone tell me how much faster it would be to have windows on the first partition of a hard drive rather than on the second partition?

You probably won't notice much of a difference, it's a generally accepted practice and less work for the HD.

Acronis Disk Director can add that partition as the first on the disk easily and with no problems affecting your files that are there, even if you had an OS there it won't affect it's ability to function.

I have done this several times, all files are intact and the OS just keeps on going...