Dual HD or dual boot

[sdf]

In a couple of months I plan on doing a complete system build and could use some advice. I plan on using XP 32 and either vista or maybe windows 7 depending on how things work out. I was looking at either using two hard drives; one small (XP) and one larger (vista or W7) or one large hard drive and just doing a dual partition on it. The reason was to use the XP OS for some of my older games and the drivers that work with them and then using vista or W7 for things more up to date.

So basically which is the best way to go?

 

[captaincharisma]

the safest way to go would be to have one OS per hard drive. that way you do not have to worry about the installs getting messed up and also if something happens to one of them you do not have to install the 2 OS'es again

 

[taylorjes]

I would argue that depending on your budget you may choose a large HD because of the cost per GB. The ideal is one small fast HD per OS(and apps) and a large "green" drive for data

 

[chjade84]

If it's important to you, keep in mind XP 32 and Vista 32 only really support up to 3.5GB of RAM. Although some drivers won't work in x64.

I agree with Taylor and charisma. I have done both and haven't had a problem with either. At least if you go two drives and one crashes you will only have to reinstall one os...

 

[sdf]

If it's important to you, keep in mind XP 32 and Vista 32 only really support up to 3.5GB of RAM. Although some drivers won't work in x64.

Ya I know, I don't care as its really only for some older games like Medal of Honor allied assault, COD ect. Its looking like I'm going to do two HD's, I did find one from western digital, a 40 gig SATA drive for about $30. Figure that and a 200+ drive should do me just fine. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Outlander_04]

Its way more tedious to have two OS's on separate drives .

Dual boot is fine .

 

[Zorg]

With the new mobos you can dual boot from the mobo. I like keeping my OSs as separate as possible, but that's just me.

If you decide to go two drives, then definitely unplug the other drive when loading the second OS, or you will have dual boot whether you like it or not. The only real hassle is if the drive (2nd OS) that has the bootloader on it craps or you remove it, then you will have to run the recovery console and fixmbr to get the MBR back on the first OS.

 

[sdf]

Its way more tedious to have two OS's on separate drives .

Dual boot is fine .

Stupid question maybe but why is that? Would the answer be similar to Zorg's post?

 

[Zorg]

It's just a matter of personal preference. The bootloader is a little quicker than using the mobo BIOS, but it also screws with the MBR on the other OS, so flip a coin.