new install-dual boot-using partition magic

[Guest]

I am install vista onm a 150GIG dr. NTFS. I was going to use Partition Magic
, creat a new partiton, making it primary, about 50Gigs, then make it active
and load Vista to it.
Sound about right?
Does vista have to be first on the drive? Or any other things I should be
thinking about?
Or should I just Resize the current drive with xp on it and just leave
50G's of unallocated space and load vista that way?
PM has a load new OS wizard, but I am skeptical, sense vista is new and not
in the options,,,,
Will vista see the unallocated space? will vista give me the option of
where to put it?
I really want to do this correct the first time. so any help is appreciated.
thanks
B
Would there be a walk thru anywhere out there? Ive looked, but not had any
luck.

 

[Reed [MVP]]

Hi,

I've done this successfully using Partition Magic.

On my notebook I had Windows XP installed on a 60GB drive, using about 25GB
total space.
First, I defragged the drive to make sure that all of my files were moved
into the lower half of the drive. You can use the graphical display of the
defragger in XP's Disk Manager to insure that nothing is left over in the
upper half of the drive.
Then I used Partition Magic to split the single 60GB partition into two 30GB
partitions.
That's where I stopped using PM and installed Vista.
I booted from the Vista DVD. After some initial setup, the Vista installer
presents a screen that allows you to perform a default installation or
specify options. I selected the optional setup, where I was given the
opportunity to specify which partition to install on (I selected the second,
new partition) and allowed to format that partition (I did). Everything
worked well from there.
Now, when I boot, the Vista boot manager gives me the opportunity to choose
which partition to boot from.

Hope this helps.

-Reed Rinn
MVP Shell / User

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The false error message is a known bug in your newsreader. The web-based
newsreader has the problem. OE 6 does not.

Partition Magic is not necessary. You can do the same thing with Disk
Manager in XP. I use all kinds of volumes to install Vista. I have x64 on
an external SATA drive (it has a pass-through to a controller on the mobo so
it is just like an internal drive), Vista x86 as the only OS on an internal
hard drive, and XP Pro x64 as the base system on drive 0.

I devote a drive to each installation of Vista. The Win95 days of worrying
about partition locations and dinking around with boot managers are past
unless you have developed great fondness for a particular program. It will
be easier for MS to process a bug report if you encounter problems with the
installation if you stick to the tools in XP and Vista. Since this is a
beta test program and you will not be using Vista for production work (and
will have to replace it anyway since it expires) I would simplify as much as
possible.

Vista can install to a raw volume (unallocated space). I prefer to create a
new partition with Disk Manager in XP and do a quick format so I can name
the volume something like "Vista x86". Then I can easily recognize where I
have planned to install once I am in the Vista volume selector window.

The simplest way to install is to run Setup from the XP desktop as long as
you are not installing Vista x64 on a system running only XP x86 (In such a
case you would boot with the dvd). You will get options to upgrade Windows
or do a Custom installation. Chose Custom (meaning a clean install) and you
will be presented with the volume chooser. Pick your volume and proceed.
If you do not see available volumes, then you need to use the Load Drivers
button to provide a driver for your hard disk controller.

That's about it. KISS is very apt here.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Colin on loading from XP for dual boot setup. I had been
setting up dual boots from just booting DVD and then with 5384 setup-Vista
ate my XP boot files. So after a clean reformat of XP I now will only load
Vista from XP. I do wish they waited and released this new beta 5456 as the
public beta-it is so much better than 5384.