OS loading order

One hard drive Partitioned, Partition 1 & Partition 2.
Two OS's to load WinXP64 & Windows 7-32bit.
Which Os do I load first? Does it matter which Partition I use?

Thanks

Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100

"Jawade" <> wrote in message
news:090524$...
> Op Zondag 24 Mei 2009 13:57:05 -0400, schreef Kue2 <> in
> artikel <3CB11D11-781A-445F-8F22->:
>> One hard drive Partitioned, Partition 1 & Partition 2.
>> Two OS's to load WinXP64 & Windows 7-32bit.
>> Which Os do I load first? Does it matter which Partition I use?
>
> Always the oldest first. The partition doesnt matter. Maybe Vista on
> the first.
>
> --
> Met vriendelijke groeten, Jawade. Kolibrie Software Tools:
> http://jawade.nl/ 1 april: HexEditor, Diskeditors met MBR-rebuilders!
> Bootmanager (+Vista +Linux +Engels), ClrMBR, SDir(DIRsize), POP3lezer,
> Console-filebrowser, Kalender, Webtellers en IP-log, USB-stick tester.

Hi, Kue2.

> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100

But the rule still applies!

The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST operating
system LAST!

We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important point
is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then it's the same
thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it might not matter which
comes first, so long as you finish with the latest.

The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it will
look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of what to do
about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed when that version
of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.

One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned some
day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go Win7 all the
way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP is installed if
that is not also your "System Partition" that is used to boot the computer.

If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive, I'd
repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite small - maybe
as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then make the other two
partitions for the two operating systems. Then install WinXP to the third
partition; it will write its few startup files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and
Boot.ini) to the first partition and then put its \Windows folder tree with
all those other files into that third partition. Finally, install Win7 to
the second partition; it will put its own few startup files (bootmgr and the
hidden \Boot folder) into the first partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to
be used in dual-booting into WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of
files into the \Windows folder on the second partition.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100

"Kue2" <> wrote in message
newsD77BA37-A143-48CA-8B70-...
> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>
> "Jawade" <> wrote in message
> news:090524$...
>> Op Zondag 24 Mei 2009 13:57:05 -0400, schreef Kue2 <> in
>> artikel <3CB11D11-781A-445F-8F22->:
>>> One hard drive Partitioned, Partition 1 & Partition 2.
>>> Two OS's to load WinXP64 & Windows 7-32bit.
>>> Which Os do I load first? Does it matter which Partition I use?
>>
>> Always the oldest first. The partition doesnt matter. Maybe Vista on
>> the first.
>>
>> --
>> Met vriendelijke groeten, Jawade. Kolibrie Software Tools:
>> http://jawade.nl/ 1 april: HexEditor, Diskeditors met MBR-rebuilders!
>> Bootmanager (+Vista +Linux +Engels), ClrMBR, SDir(DIRsize), POP3lezer,
>> Console-filebrowser, Kalender, Webtellers en IP-log, USB-stick tester.

R.C. White

Thank you very much, your explanation is excellent. The tip about the 1GB
partition first is excellent.
Nice to have someone so knowledgeable in this newsgroup.
I will save your email for further reference.

"R. C. White" <> wrote in message
news:ED1461EC-28A2-43B0-B70C-...
> Hi, Kue2.
>
>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>
> But the rule still applies!
>
> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST operating
> system LAST!
>
> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important point
> is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then it's the same
> thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it might not matter which
> comes first, so long as you finish with the latest.
>
> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
> Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it will
> look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of what to do
> about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed when that
> version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>
> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned some
> day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go Win7 all
> the way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP is installed
> if that is not also your "System Partition" that is used to boot the
> computer.
>
> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive, I'd
> repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite small -
> maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then make the
> other two partitions for the two operating systems. Then install WinXP to
> the third partition; it will write its few startup files (NTLDR,
> NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) to the first partition and then put its
> \Windows folder tree with all those other files into that third partition.
> Finally, install Win7 to the second partition; it will put its own few
> startup files (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder) into the first
> partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used in dual-booting into
> WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of files into the \Windows folder
> on the second partition.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
>
> Microsoft Windows MVP
> Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100
>
> "Kue2" <> wrote in message
> newsD77BA37-A143-48CA-8B70-...
>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>>
>> "Jawade" <> wrote in message
>> news:090524$...
>>> Op Zondag 24 Mei 2009 13:57:05 -0400, schreef Kue2 <> in
>>> artikel <3CB11D11-781A-445F-8F22->:
>>>> One hard drive Partitioned, Partition 1 & Partition 2.
>>>> Two OS's to load WinXP64 & Windows 7-32bit.
>>>> Which Os do I load first? Does it matter which Partition I use?
>>>
>>> Always the oldest first. The partition doesnt matter. Maybe Vista on
>>> the first.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Met vriendelijke groeten, Jawade. Kolibrie Software Tools:
>>> http://jawade.nl/ 1 april: HexEditor, Diskeditors met MBR-rebuilders!
>>> Bootmanager (+Vista +Linux +Engels), ClrMBR, SDir(DIRsize), POP3lezer,
>>> Console-filebrowser, Kalender, Webtellers en IP-log, USB-stick tester.
>

What about partition alignment? I have recently read multiple posts and
articles about Win 7 automatically aligning partitions for better
performance. Most of the articles point out that Vista also aligns
partitions but it wasn't a hot subject last year.

I'm still trying to find Paul Harvey's "rest of the story" on partition
alignment. And, yes, I know it was previously thought to only be
applicable to RAID, but as I said before, it seems to be the current 'in
thing' for all hard drives.

I am really curious about the whole alignment idea.



R. C. White wrote:
> Hi, Kue2.
>
>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>
> But the rule still applies!
>
> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST
> operating system LAST!
>
> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important
> point is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then it's
> the same thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it might not
> matter which comes first, so long as you finish with the latest.
>
> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
> Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it will
> look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of what to do
> about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed when that
> version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>
> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned
> some day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go Win7
> all the way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP is
> installed if that is not also your "System Partition" that is used to
> boot the computer.
>
> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive,
> I'd repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite small
> - maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then make the
> other two partitions for the two operating systems. Then install WinXP
> to the third partition; it will write its few startup files (NTLDR,
> NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) to the first partition and then put its
> \Windows folder tree with all those other files into that third
> partition. Finally, install Win7 to the second partition; it will put
> its own few startup files (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder) into the
> first partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used in dual-booting
> into WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of files into the \Windows
> folder on the second partition.
>
> RC

Hi Bobby
Yes, sounds very interesting. I was not aware of partitioning aligning in
Vista or in Win7. Maybe someone that is familiar with it
will explain it in more detail.

"Bobby Johnson" <> wrote in message
news:...
> What about partition alignment? I have recently read multiple posts and
> articles about Win 7 automatically aligning partitions for better
> performance. Most of the articles point out that Vista also aligns
> partitions but it wasn't a hot subject last year.
>
> I'm still trying to find Paul Harvey's "rest of the story" on partition
> alignment. And, yes, I know it was previously thought to only be
> applicable to RAID, but as I said before, it seems to be the current 'in
> thing' for all hard drives.
>
> I am really curious about the whole alignment idea.
>
>
>
> R. C. White wrote:
>> Hi, Kue2.
>>
>>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>>
>> But the rule still applies!
>>
>> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST operating
>> system LAST!
>>
>> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important
>> point is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then it's
>> the same thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it might not
>> matter which comes first, so long as you finish with the latest.
>>
>> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
>> Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it will
>> look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of what to do
>> about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed when that
>> version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>>
>> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned
>> some day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go Win7
>> all the way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP is
>> installed if that is not also your "System Partition" that is used to
>> boot the computer.
>>
>> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive, I'd
>> repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite small -
>> maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then make the
>> other two partitions for the two operating systems. Then install WinXP
>> to the third partition; it will write its few startup files (NTLDR,
>> NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) to the first partition and then put its
>> \Windows folder tree with all those other files into that third
>> partition. Finally, install Win7 to the second partition; it will put
>> its own few startup files (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder) into the
>> first partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used in dual-booting into
>> WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of files into the \Windows
>> folder on the second partition.
>>
>> RC

I first ran across the information the OZC SSD Forum. After seeing it
there I checked the hard drives I had used for Vist and for Win 7 with a
relatively old Microsoft utility called 'diskpar' which dates back to
Win 2000 and the difference was significant. Diskpar was used with Win
2000 to align partitions for RAID use, but starting with Vista all hard
drive partitions are aligned.

From what I have found on the subject aligning the partitions is
supposed to improve overall disk performance. Partitions made with XP
and prior would have 63 hidden sectors with the partition starting on
sector 64. Supposedly when the disk is accessed with 4096 clusters this
forces data to be read or written in 2 steps. Where as if the partition
is aligned to a multiple of 4096, 32KB being the minimum, the access is
completed in 1 step. OCZ found that XP's alignment was the cause of
stutter with SSDs. I currently have SSDs in a Dell 1501 and an Eee PC
1000HE both with Win 7 x86 and it's great. Boot time is less than 30
seconds after POST is complete.

If you look at a drive that Win 7 has partitioned there are 2048 hidden
sectors for a starting offset of 1,048,576. Also with Win 7 it creates
a 100MB system partition where most of the system files needed for
booting are placed. This partition is hidden in Win 7.

So Vista and Win 7 should always do the partitioning during installation
for optimum hard drive configuration and performance.


Kue2 wrote:
> Hi Bobby
> Yes, sounds very interesting. I was not aware of partitioning aligning
> in Vista or in Win7. Maybe someone that is familiar with it
> will explain it in more detail.
>
> "Bobby Johnson" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> What about partition alignment? I have recently read multiple posts
>> and articles about Win 7 automatically aligning partitions for better
>> performance. Most of the articles point out that Vista also aligns
>> partitions but it wasn't a hot subject last year.
>>
>> I'm still trying to find Paul Harvey's "rest of the story" on
>> partition alignment. And, yes, I know it was previously thought to
>> only be applicable to RAID, but as I said before, it seems to be the
>> current 'in thing' for all hard drives.
>>
>> I am really curious about the whole alignment idea.
>>
>>
>>
>> R. C. White wrote:
>>> Hi, Kue2.
>>>
>>>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>>>
>>> But the rule still applies!
>>>
>>> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST
>>> operating system LAST!
>>>
>>> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important
>>> point is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then
>>> it's the same thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it
>>> might not matter which comes first, so long as you finish with the
>>> latest.
>>>
>>> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
>>> Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it
>>> will look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of
>>> what to do about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed
>>> when that version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>>>
>>> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned
>>> some day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go
>>> Win7 all the way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP
>>> is installed if that is not also your "System Partition" that is used
>>> to boot the computer.
>>>
>>> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive,
>>> I'd repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite
>>> small - maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then
>>> make the other two partitions for the two operating systems. Then
>>> install WinXP to the third partition; it will write its few startup
>>> files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) to the first partition and
>>> then put its \Windows folder tree with all those other files into
>>> that third partition. Finally, install Win7 to the second partition;
>>> it will put its own few startup files (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot
>>> folder) into the first partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used
>>> in dual-booting into WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of
>>> files into the \Windows folder on the second partition.
>>>
>>> RC
>

In Windows 7 or Vista, it's a GPT partition, and aligned at 1MB. Next, you
have a 100MB reserved partition, then the "first" partition starts at 101MB.
You can use diskpart to verify.







"Kue2" <> wrote in message
news:6E283D58-0E49-4207-BA95-...
> Hi Bobby
> Yes, sounds very interesting. I was not aware of partitioning aligning in
> Vista or in Win7. Maybe someone that is familiar with it
> will explain it in more detail.
>
> "Bobby Johnson" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> What about partition alignment? I have recently read multiple posts and
>> articles about Win 7 automatically aligning partitions for better
>> performance. Most of the articles point out that Vista also aligns
>> partitions but it wasn't a hot subject last year.
>>
>> I'm still trying to find Paul Harvey's "rest of the story" on partition
>> alignment. And, yes, I know it was previously thought to only be
>> applicable to RAID, but as I said before, it seems to be the current 'in
>> thing' for all hard drives.
>>
>> I am really curious about the whole alignment idea.
>>
>>
>>
>> R. C. White wrote:
>>> Hi, Kue2.
>>>
>>>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>>>
>>> But the rule still applies!
>>>
>>> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST
>>> operating system LAST!
>>>
>>> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important
>>> point is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then it's
>>> the same thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it might not
>>> matter which comes first, so long as you finish with the latest.
>>>
>>> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
>>> Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it will
>>> look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of what to do
>>> about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed when that
>>> version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>>>
>>> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned
>>> some day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go Win7
>>> all the way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP is
>>> installed if that is not also your "System Partition" that is used to
>>> boot the computer.
>>>
>>> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive,
>>> I'd repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite
>>> small - maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then
>>> make the other two partitions for the two operating systems. Then
>>> install WinXP to the third partition; it will write its few startup
>>> files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) to the first partition and then
>>> put its \Windows folder tree with all those other files into that third
>>> partition. Finally, install Win7 to the second partition; it will put
>>> its own few startup files (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder) into the
>>> first partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used in dual-booting
>>> into WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of files into the \Windows
>>> folder on the second partition.
>>>
>>> RC
>

You cannot boot from a GPT partition with the current hardware except
for the IA64 Itanium. Vista na Win 7 can make a GPT partition, but you
cannot boot from. The Win 7 alignment for the 1st partition is at
1,048,576 bytes, not 1024.

The forum's I'm finding references to partition alignment in are using
MFT partitions, not GPT.


John Fullbright [MVP] wrote:
> In Windows 7 or Vista, it's a GPT partition, and aligned at 1MB. Next,
> you have a 100MB reserved partition, then the "first" partition starts
> at 101MB. You can use diskpart to verify.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Kue2" <> wrote in message
> news:6E283D58-0E49-4207-BA95-...
>> Hi Bobby
>> Yes, sounds very interesting. I was not aware of partitioning aligning
>> in Vista or in Win7. Maybe someone that is familiar with it
>> will explain it in more detail.
>>
>> "Bobby Johnson" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> What about partition alignment? I have recently read multiple posts
>>> and articles about Win 7 automatically aligning partitions for better
>>> performance. Most of the articles point out that Vista also aligns
>>> partitions but it wasn't a hot subject last year.
>>>
>>> I'm still trying to find Paul Harvey's "rest of the story" on
>>> partition alignment. And, yes, I know it was previously thought to
>>> only be applicable to RAID, but as I said before, it seems to be the
>>> current 'in thing' for all hard drives.
>>>
>>> I am really curious about the whole alignment idea.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> R. C. White wrote:
>>>> Hi, Kue2.
>>>>
>>>>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>>>>
>>>> But the rule still applies!
>>>>
>>>> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST
>>>> operating system LAST!
>>>>
>>>> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important
>>>> point is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then
>>>> it's the same thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it
>>>> might not matter which comes first, so long as you finish with the
>>>> latest.
>>>>
>>>> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP
>>>> or Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes,
>>>> it will look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of
>>>> what to do about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed
>>>> when that version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>>>>
>>>> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be
>>>> abandoned some day on the "other" partition. That way, when you
>>>> decide to go Win7 all the way, it will be easy to delete the
>>>> partition where WinXP is installed if that is not also your "System
>>>> Partition" that is used to boot the computer.
>>>>
>>>> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard
>>>> drive, I'd repartition it before I start. Make the first partition
>>>> quite small - maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active
>>>> (bootable). Then make the other two partitions for the two
>>>> operating systems. Then install WinXP to the third partition; it
>>>> will write its few startup files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini)
>>>> to the first partition and then put its \Windows folder tree with
>>>> all those other files into that third partition. Finally, install
>>>> Win7 to the second partition; it will put its own few startup files
>>>> (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot folder) into the first partition -
>>>> preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used in dual-booting into WinXP - and
>>>> then put all those other GBs of files into the \Windows folder on
>>>> the second partition.
>>>>
>>>> RC
>>

1MB = 1024 * 1024 bytes is 1048576 bytes.



"Bobby Johnson" <> wrote in message
news:...
> You cannot boot from a GPT partition with the current hardware except for
> the IA64 Itanium. Vista na Win 7 can make a GPT partition, but you cannot
> boot from. The Win 7 alignment for the 1st partition is at 1,048,576
> bytes, not 1024.
>
> The forum's I'm finding references to partition alignment in are using MFT
> partitions, not GPT.
>
>
> John Fullbright [MVP] wrote:
>> In Windows 7 or Vista, it's a GPT partition, and aligned at 1MB. Next,
>> you have a 100MB reserved partition, then the "first" partition starts at
>> 101MB. You can use diskpart to verify.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Kue2" <> wrote in message
>> news:6E283D58-0E49-4207-BA95-...
>>> Hi Bobby
>>> Yes, sounds very interesting. I was not aware of partitioning aligning
>>> in Vista or in Win7. Maybe someone that is familiar with it
>>> will explain it in more detail.
>>>
>>> "Bobby Johnson" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> What about partition alignment? I have recently read multiple posts
>>>> and articles about Win 7 automatically aligning partitions for better
>>>> performance. Most of the articles point out that Vista also aligns
>>>> partitions but it wasn't a hot subject last year.
>>>>
>>>> I'm still trying to find Paul Harvey's "rest of the story" on partition
>>>> alignment. And, yes, I know it was previously thought to only be
>>>> applicable to RAID, but as I said before, it seems to be the current
>>>> 'in thing' for all hard drives.
>>>>
>>>> I am really curious about the whole alignment idea.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> R. C. White wrote:
>>>>> Hi, Kue2.
>>>>>
>>>>>> Not loading Vista loading Win7 - 32 RC build 7100
>>>>>
>>>>> But the rule still applies!
>>>>>
>>>>> The Golden Rule of dual-booting is to ALWAYS install the NEWEST
>>>>> operating system LAST!
>>>>>
>>>>> We usually hear it as Jawade said: oldest first. But the important
>>>>> point is to install the newest last. If there are only two, then it's
>>>>> the same thing, but if you are installing 3 or more OSes, it might not
>>>>> matter which comes first, so long as you finish with the latest.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Win7 Setup.exe knows exactly how to deal with any Win2K, WinXP or
>>>>> Vista - or earlier Win7 - installations that it finds (and, yes, it
>>>>> will look for them). But WinXP Setup hasn't the foggiest idea of what
>>>>> to do about either Vista or Win7, neither of which even existed when
>>>>> that version of Setup.exe was written back in 2001.
>>>>>
>>>>> One other fine point: Put the OS that is most likely to be abandoned
>>>>> some day on the "other" partition. That way, when you decide to go
>>>>> Win7 all the way, it will be easy to delete the partition where WinXP
>>>>> is installed if that is not also your "System Partition" that is used
>>>>> to boot the computer.
>>>>>
>>>>> If it were my system and I were starting fresh with a new hard drive,
>>>>> I'd repartition it before I start. Make the first partition quite
>>>>> small - maybe as small as 1 GB - and mark it Active (bootable). Then
>>>>> make the other two partitions for the two operating systems. Then
>>>>> install WinXP to the third partition; it will write its few startup
>>>>> files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) to the first partition and
>>>>> then put its \Windows folder tree with all those other files into that
>>>>> third partition. Finally, install Win7 to the second partition; it
>>>>> will put its own few startup files (bootmgr and the hidden \Boot
>>>>> folder) into the first partition - preserving NTLDR, etc., to be used
>>>>> in dual-booting into WinXP - and then put all those other GBs of files
>>>>> into the \Windows folder on the second partition.
>>>>>
>>>>> RC
>>>