Getting ready to buy a new computer and torn between 'staying with technology' and getting vista premium or sticking to what i know works and getting XP loaded on the new computer.....so it made me think of a question....

with a Core 2 Duo or quadcore processor....is it possible to have both XP and Vista loaded on the same computer?

1) Would it allow me to open documents saved in XP on Vista and vice versa? In other words, work off one universal hard drive?

2) Could I even do this on a Dell system?

3) Would I need 2 seperate hard drives, one totally dedicated to XP and nothing else, and one totally dedicated to Vista with no exchange between them?

4) How do I do this?

2/9/2008 12:38:57 PM

Yes you can do this on a Dell, and you don't need 2 hard drives

http://apcmag.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista Step by Step

2/9/2008 12:41:41 PM

but it says you'll have to partition a hard drive....which essentially it two hard drives.....would I be able to access files saved in XP mode if I were in Vista?

2/9/2008 12:49:58 PM

But when you partition a hard drive, you a separating a certain amount of space for each separate boot, like XP on C:/ and Vista on E:/ - but it doesn't need two separate entities, it can be done on one hard drive.

YES XP can access files on a Vista partition and vice versa. Just make sure you do not install the two operating systems in the same partition.

It might be best asking someone to do this for you if you don't understand what a partition is.

[Edited on February 9, 2008 at 1:21 PM. Reason : ]

2/9/2008 1:20:29 PM

You should be able to (I dont know if windows will auto mount another windows install or if it cares, but you should still be able to work it out). The OS on that partition is what controlls access to system files and files on it, if it isn't running it can't say anything about what gets read off the drive.
I used to run dual linux/XP installs on a single harddrive single processor- worked jsut fine. I would often use the linux install to get at XP system files and fix windows.

2/9/2008 1:21:24 PM

i think what I would do is make 3 partitions
1) XP boot drive
2) Vista boot drive
3) shared data, "my documents", etc

as soon as you install XP and Vista, re-map the My Documents, Music, etc special folders to folders on the 3rd drive. Then you will more or less be working with the same data regardless of the OS you boot into.

Use TweakUI in Windows XP to easily remap the folders
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
not sure of the equivalent tool in Vista

2/9/2008 2:26:50 PM

http://www.vmware.com/download/server/

2/9/2008 5:55:50 PM

it's threads like these that make me do the carl face

2/9/2008 5:56:55 PM

Quote :

"the carl face"

?

2/9/2008 5:57:41 PM

apparently you have not been on tww very long

2/9/2008 5:58:13 PM

nope. couple of years.

2/9/2008 5:59:32 PM

Quote :

"apparently you have not been on twwchit chat very long"

fixed that for you

2/10/2008 12:10:31 AM

durr

2/10/2008 2:23:00 AM

bttt - final verdict?

4/4/2008 5:53:50 PM

i like what agentlion said. i'd go with that

4/4/2008 6:01:42 PM

Yes it is possible to use both. So the real question is why do you wan't / need both? It doesn't sound like you really know what you are doing, so why not just pick one and go with it?

4/4/2008 6:04:52 PM

^while I agree with that and is what I ended up doing, I don't think doing a dual boot for a while would be too bad. since vista is so much different, it'd be nice to have xp in case you need to get shit done quickly, or just can't get something done in vista. this allows you to switch over on a good pace and when you want to.

4/4/2008 6:08:07 PM

Why would the computer being a Dell make a difference?

4/4/2008 9:34:42 PM

it doesn't

4/5/2008 9:55:01 AM

The reason mostly is that I have the XP Professional disc and MS Office Professional disc. I don't want to buy a computer with an old operating system, especially when I have the disc for both the OS and Office.

But dell won't give me the Vista DVD and retail on that is so expensive, and since I can buy Office 2007 Ultimate for like $60 through that student site (retail $400), it makes since to upgrade at the same time.

BUT, as we all know there are serious compatibility issues. For instance, Office 2007 MS Word documents can't be read in anything less without a large download. I got a resume for a position at work that I couldn't read in my version of Office without downloading a 50mb file for the MS website - guess where it went? And the guy who sent it doesn't even know....

4/5/2008 10:36:02 AM

You can easily save in 2007 in the native 2003 format.. no big ass downloads required.

yes, if you just hit save, it'll be an incompatible format. if you change the file type to oh shit, get this, 2003, it'll work fine

anyways, i havent read the thread... but as far as partitioning yes you'll be able to see files from both partitions from both OS's.. nothing tricky about it.

4/5/2008 11:08:35 AM

You can also go into Options in word and default to save to Word and 2003 format.

First thing I did out of the box with word, so no more worries about the docx deal

4/5/2008 1:30:29 PM