Installing Win 7 on dual boot XP/2000 machine

[greypound]

My desktop has 2000 Pro and XP Home installed on two separate hard
disks.
I have already imaged both disks to an external hard drive.

I wish to replace the 2000 with Win 7. Do I format and repartition
that disk or can I simply reformat the Primary partition (15Gb of an
80Gb disc)? Will I need more than 15Gb for a Win 7 primary partition.

Should I disconnect the XP disc or simply be careful and make sure I
install on the correct disc ?
Will it be simpler if I use Windows 'Easy Transfer' system to migrate
info from XP to Win 7 after installation rather than transferring
imaged files ?

Installing on a separate disk appears simple. Are there any known
pitfalls I should avoid ?
Will the upgraded system automatically dual boot ?

I have researched through most of the XP sites - the above questions
are just to clarify my mind.

 

[peter]

If I was you I would disconnect the XP drive before installing W7.
W7 would replace the XP boot sector and then give you the option when
booting of
which OS to start with. By disconnecting the XP drive no boot sector will be
changed .. W7
will create its own boot sector on the install drive and then you get to
chose which Hard drive to boot from.
If you have a fairly modern Mobo this should be accomplished by means of
pushing the F12 on boot up.
If not you would need to enter the BIOS each time you wish to boot from a
different drive then what is listed
as the 1st (or maybe the 2nd if you have CD/DVD drive as 1st) boot drive.
Take a look at these newsgroups and look for people looking for help in
getting rid of a dual boot with XP and Vista/W7
and you will see why.

As for that 15gb partition I would expand that to at least 25gb now instead
of being forced to do it later when updates and
SP become available for W7....and you just know they are coming. Then there
is the matter of W7 drivers for your Hardware..

I have never used the "easy transfer" method in any change of OS...I prefer
to backup my "saved" files/pictures/whatever
and reinstall my programs from scratch. I normally change the default "save
to" for programs to a Folder I create under
MYDocuments...and that is where I restore my backups to.

but that is just my opinion

peter

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

My desktop has 2000 Pro and XP Home installed on two separate hard
disks.
I have already imaged both disks to an external hard drive.

I wish to replace the 2000 with Win 7. Do I format and repartition
that disk or can I simply reformat the Primary partition (15Gb of an
80Gb disc)? Will I need more than 15Gb for a Win 7 primary partition.

Should I disconnect the XP disc or simply be careful and make sure I
install on the correct disc ?
Will it be simpler if I use Windows 'Easy Transfer' system to migrate
info from XP to Win 7 after installation rather than transferring
imaged files ?

Installing on a separate disk appears simple. Are there any known
pitfalls I should avoid ?
Will the upgraded system automatically dual boot ?

I have researched through most of the XP sites - the above questions
are just to clarify my mind.

About the Windows 7 disk space requirements: I have a brand-new Win7 laptop
in front of me, with no user data and only the Student Edition of MS Office
installed. Here are the disk space figures:
- Program Files: 5.7 GBytes
- OEM: 2 GBytes
- Windows: 15 GBytes
- Paging file, hibernation file: 7.5 GBytes
- Total (including small stuff): 31 GBytes

15 GBytes sounds grossly inadequate. 45 GBbytes would be a more reasonable
figure.

I have never done a Win7/WinXP dual boot but the general recipe goes like
this:
- Keep the second disk connected. If you don't then the Win7 installation
process won't give you the dual boot option.
- Install the older OS first (which you have already done).
- Let the newer OS take care of the dual boot option.

 

[Gordon]

About the Windows 7 disk space requirements: I have a brand-new Win7
laptop in front of me, with no user data and only the Student Edition of
MS Office installed. Here are the disk space figures:
- Program Files: 5.7 GBytes

Eh? My Program Files with Office 2007 Standard installed and Windows Live is
only 1.5 GB!!!! Something wrong there then.....

- Windows: 15 GBytes

Windows 7 Home Premium - the Windows folder is only 9.7 GB.........
Something odd there as well then!

- Paging file, hibernation file: 7.5 GBytes
- Total (including small stuff): 31 GBytes

My C drive only 13 GB in total - and that includes a hibernation file 1.5 GB
and pagefile of 2GB. Interestingly, although I have 2GB RAM, the
Windows-managed pagefile is only 2GB....

 

[greypound]

I have never done a Win7/WinXPdualbootbut the general recipe goes like
this:
- Keep the second disk connected. If you don't then the Win7 installation
process won't give you thedualbootoption.
- Install the older OS first (which you have already done).
- Let the newer OS take care of thedualbootoption.

Thanks for that. I formatted the primary partition of the second drive
(15Gb) and installed Win 7 there.

I now have to tidy up the dual boot screens - my first option is Win 7
or 'earlier operating system'.
Choosing the latter sends me to the XP or 2000 choice - I need to
eliminate the 2000 but cannot remember where to modify the boot
choice.

A more prosaic query - I wish to access my media player 11 library (My
Music on C drive) from media player 12 (J drive).
I don't wish to import tracks to WMP 12 merely access them where they
are. Any ideas?

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I have never done a Win7/WinXPdualbootbut the general recipe goes like
this:
- Keep the second disk connected. If you don't then the Win7 installation
process won't give you thedualbootoption.
- Install the older OS first (which you have already done).
- Let the newer OS take care of thedualbootoption.

Thanks for that. I formatted the primary partition of the second drive
(15Gb) and installed Win 7 there.

I now have to tidy up the dual boot screens - my first option is Win 7
or 'earlier operating system'.
Choosing the latter sends me to the XP or 2000 choice - I need to
eliminate the 2000 but cannot remember where to modify the boot
choice.

==========

Run msconfig.exe under WinXP, then look at the boot.ini tab. If you're into
multi-booting then it's a good idea to compile a list if tips and tricks
about the technique - there are quite a few of them . . .

 

[greypound]

Choosing the latter sends me to the XP or 2000 choice - I need to
eliminate the 2000 but cannot remember where to modify the boot
choice.

==========

Run msconfig.exe under WinXP, then look at the boot.ini tab. If you're into
multi-booting then it's a good idea to compile a list if tips and tricks
about the technique - there are quite a few of them . . .

I replaced the boot ini file with an example XP file and now XP boots
up directly after 'earlier operating system' option

Many thanks