How do i install Win 7 on my HP V 6560?

Hi all...been out of the loop for more than a year. Good to be back on Toms

ok i have this HP DV 6516 laptop with Win XP on it ( i had to downgrade it from Vista about a year ago). Now that Win 7 build is coming in two days, i would like to upgrade it.

I have just two NTFS partitions C (140GB) and D (8 GB) in this laptop, and i have no idea how to go about installing Win 7 on it. If i install the OS in either of the drives, the data would presumably disappear. Would someone please advice me?

Also, is there a way to have two OS (XP and Win 7) on a laptop?

Also, i have a PC with XP and would like to put Win 7 in it. I have XP on the C Drive, and if i install Win 7 on one of the partitions (say D Drive), will the system will let me choose which OS to load at startup?

Long nooby post, sorry . Any help much appreciated many thanks!

if u want to load windows 7 u can load it to either partition in ur case C or D and it will ask which u want during install.

it will format that drive then load win 7 so all data on the partition u slect will be lost, so back it up onto an external hard drive.

loading win 7 shoould be fine. just load it onto the partition which has XP on it atm.

as for sual booting u can do easily but u need an install disk of XP and win 7, ur HP recovery disk wont do as it creats the partitions and stuff for u. u cant really load win 7 onto the 8Gb recovry partition lol.

to dual boot do this... get an xp and win 7 disk

put in xp disk format entire hard drive and repatition half each so both partitions are like 70GBish in ur case. then load xp onto eiether partition.

remeber these partitions will be formatted when loading windows so all data will be lost

after xp is ready inset win 7 disk and it will ask to load, select the other empty partition. then load it as normal

after thats done when the PC starts it will come up with a selection screen which says :
select prefered OS win 7 or xp it will give 30 seconds then select the default one

u can change this in an options menu in windws i forget where, but u can change the default OS and the count down time

hope this helps.



in ur case unless u have an XP disk u will only be able to have win 7 on its own and not very easily be able to dual boot

so dual booting u need both disks

theres a lot of information about installing Windows 7 on the internet, inparticular you should look at VHD booting. This allows you to install it to a virtual HDD without needing to partition your current hdd or loosing you current install/data.

r.e. drivers: i found alot of my hardware had there drivers installed from there first time i booted up where as on vista somethings still required me to dig out the install disc

as for drivers ul just have to look. u can try using the vista and xp ones in win 7 or win 7 beta drivers. although u wont know till they work

btw if u get win 7 pro or better there is an XP emulator like the news articals said which can pretty much run any program XP could, although it just needs higher resources from CPU and RAM. so as long as ur not using XP for gaming just compatability and u have win 7 pro or better then u may not need dual boot ....

yeah when the computer has two operation systems loaded as long as its (windows xp, vista or win7) it will then just say which do u want. u dont need to do any thing special just load both operating systemslike u would normally and it will sort its self out

personally id load win 7 and create a partition for xp and format it. but not load XP yet. try and use ur computer like u would normally but on win 7 u may not need xp. if u need it load it. but dont load it if u dont actually need it

u can always load xp later as long as u create the partition in the first place. if u dont ever load XP use the partition as a data drive

it has a function where it can run a virtual operating system kinda thing. so its XP inside of windows 7 with all XP program and driver support. u dont need to load xp its part of win 7 as long as u have professional or better

I think one of the earlier posters was saying you needed a larger D: partition then you could load one of the OS onto it. If that is the case then there are ways to increase the size of the D: partition, essentially shifting part of the C: space into D:. Then you could load Win7 onto D: without reinstalling XP or needing to do anything with your data. However it would be a good idea to backup your data no matter what.

yeah mihirkula is right u can shift a partition without relaoding windows, i dont like doing this cause its not as good as preforming a full format and re partition before loading the OS, its a good solution if u cant be bothered to the job correctly.

kinda like cleaning ur room by shoving all the cloths under the bed

mildiner and r_manic thanks very much once again!

I did find that quasi post interesting, thnks for the heads up.

btw.... for dual booting OS, is it necessary to have both XP and Vista on the same hard disk? I was thinking i could just borrow my friend's 80GB SATA and hook it up along with my primary HD, and install Win 7 in the 80GB one.

Saves a lot of trouble of trying out disk partitioner doesnt it? Or do i need to have both the OS on same Hard Disk?

Thnx.

^Thnx for confirmation mildiner86. Yes i shall set up boot order accordingly in BIOS.

BTW it looks like its virtually impossible to install Win 7 for my laptop, considering there are hardly any drivers available .

Moreover partitioning softwares tend to screw up HP laptops according to many. (i got just 140GB C drive and 8 GB D drive in my HP laptop)

So i guess i cant install Win 7 in laptop, leave aside dual booting

I'll try putting up Win 7 directly on laptop, without bothering to try dual boot... i hope it works

+1 to Zoron
For your desktop, if you have two HDDs available, disconnect your XP drive and connect the 2nd HDD up, power on, load Win 7. Power down and reconnect XP HDD.

Make XP (or win7) your primary boot drive. When you want to run the other Op system, just select " boot from" at start up and select your Win 7. (F12 on my gigabyte board).

NOTE: Your drive letters will swap, when you boot to XP, XP will be drive C (Which some older XP programs prefer) and when you boot to win 7 that should become drive C and your XP partitian should change to "D:" - No problem as long as you're aware of it. I have two HDDs (one for XP, one for Vista - soon to add a 3rd for Win 7) drive lettes C -> G and they all change, not had a problem in the two years running this.

Enjoy

Resize of partions:

Yes doing a resize of the HDD partions can cause problems, but not if it is done right!
In Vista - you can do it from computer manager.
in Xp use something like partion magic.

NOTE: you should do a full disk scan and defrag before doing the resize. In most cases if you do the prep work, all will be fine.

R

Mihirkula
A good percentage of individuals dual boot using a single drive. What the probabilities of corrupting your HDD are is any ones guess. As long as you are prepared it should be no biggie - Able to reload operating system, have all your program disk and keep a current back-up of your files. There is a higher chance of lose when both op systems are on the same drive. Funny I say this as I have XP on a pair of raid 0 drives and Vista on a 2nd pair of raid0 drives. Raid0 (?? increased performance??) but also increases the possibility of loosing everything as opposed to single drive.

In your case dual boot from single HHD is your only option, unless your Laptop supports two HHD.

PS you can pick up a 2nd HDD for approx $40 and just swap HHD. This is what I do, have one HHD with XP, one with Vista, an know one with Win 7 and I just plop in the Drive I want to use. My laptop has the place for a 2nd HDD, but chincy Tosibia left the connector off (the solder points are there)