Vista Ultimate x64 on XP x86 system

So, I'm looking to upgrade my system to Vista x64 Ultimate from XP Pro
x86 in preparation of updating to 7 Ultimate x64. (already have the OE
x64 Vista disc with Windows 7 coupon

Looking for a possible easier solution than having to reinstal
everything all over again

Can I get another hard drive, say 150gb (poss velociraptor), an
install Vista x64 on that, while keeping my existing Seagate Baracud
SATA 230gb with XP 32 bit

Then overtime re-install applications to the 150gb drive, and keep th
old 230 for data files

Stupid question- are all the applications that would be on old driv
unusable until re-installed on new drive

Hopefully you can follow my thought process - any ideas. Thank

Chi

--
rharlow

Hi,

"rharlow" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> So, I'm looking to upgrade my system to Vista x64 Ultimate from XP Prof
> x86 in preparation of updating to 7 Ultimate x64. (already have the OEM
> x64 Vista disc with Windows 7 coupon)
>
> Looking for a possible easier solution than having to reinstall
> everything all over again.

There isn't one.

> Can I get another hard drive, say 150gb (poss velociraptor), and
> install Vista x64 on that, while keeping my existing Seagate Baracuda
> SATA 230gb with XP 32 bit.

Certainly, but that doesn't change anything. You are still faced with
creating a clean installation. You could accomplish the same by installing
cleanly without formatting to the existing 230GB drive. When you do this,
the existing x86 installation will be moved to a windows.old folder on the
root of the drive where you can still access data.

> Then overtime re-install applications to the 150gb drive, and keep the
> old 230 for data files.

Yes.

> Stupid question- are all the applications that would be on old drive
> unusable until re-installed on new drive?

Not a stupid question, but you're assumption is correct. Installing an
application adds needed supporting registry entries and places files in the
system folders for use by the application. Until this happens, the
application will not run correctly, if they even run at all,

> Hopefully you can follow my thought process - any ideas. Thanks
>
> Chip

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Ok, so no easy way out.

Next series of questions, Just ordered a WD Cavier black 640g drive to
be my primary, and to install Vista/7

What is the best way to handle this. Goal is to have WD drive as
primary OS and application drive and existing Seagate drive for data
(possibly use it for backup?)

I will be installing Vista Ultimate x64 with 7 Ultimate x64 to follow.

Should I clone existing drive to new WD drive and then switch them to
make WD drive "C" drive?

Should I remove Seagate Drive, install Vista on WD drive and then
re-install seagate drive? (it will have old xp on it - I do not
want/need dual boot capability)

Thanks

Chip


--
rharlow

Hi, Chip.

> Should I remove Seagate Drive, install Vista on WD drive and then
> re-install seagate drive? (it will have old xp on it - I do not
> want/need dual boot capability)

This ought to work fine. After installing Vista x64 on your new WD HDD, you
can plug in your Seagate HDD and use it as a data drive. No need to
"reinstall" it; just use Vista's Disk Management to be sure the drive is
recognized, and you probably will need to re-assign drive letters to the
volume(s) on it.

So far as your new Vista is concerned, WinXP doesn't exist - except as a
bunch of files taking up a lot of room on that HDD. If you don't want WinXP
anymore, just delete its boot folder (formerly C:\Windows - it may now be
D:\Windows or some other drive letter) to recover all that disk space.

As you guessed - and Rick confirmed - you'll need to reinstall your apps -
for two reasons. First, each app's setup file will need to write entries
into your new Vista's Registry, in addition to copying the files on the new
HDD. Second, those 32-bit applications will need to be installed into Vista
x64's C:\Program Files (x86) folder; in a 64-bit system, the C:\Program
Files folder (without the "(x86)") is reserved for 64-bit applications.
Since Win7 will arrive in just 11 more days (October 22), you might spare
yourself some of the hassle by waiting until you have Win7 x64 installed
before reinstalling your apps.

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

Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

"rharlow" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Ok, so no easy way out.
>
> Next series of questions, Just ordered a WD Cavier black 640g drive to
> be my primary, and to install Vista/7
>
> What is the best way to handle this. Goal is to have WD drive as
> primary OS and application drive and existing Seagate drive for data
> (possibly use it for backup?)
>
> I will be installing Vista Ultimate x64 with 7 Ultimate x64 to follow.
>
> Should I clone existing drive to new WD drive and then switch them to
> make WD drive "C" drive?
>
> Should I remove Seagate Drive, install Vista on WD drive and then
> re-install seagate drive? (it will have old xp on it - I do not
> want/need dual boot capability)
>
> Thanks
>
> Chip