Upgrade XP to Vista

[newguy]

Dear group:

I have a HP DV9040us notebook with 2 SATA drives. It came with XP Media
Center Edition 2005. I want to install Vista on the second drive. I don't
want to dual boot or overlay the OS since I understand there are many
problems doing this. Correct?

I would like to set up 4 partitions as follows: XP; Vista: Programs; Data I
want to avoid duplicating all the programs and files on the new drive. My
plan is to physically remove the first hard drive, load Vista on the second,
and then reconnect both drives. I should technically be able to switch
drives through the BIOS.

My friends said that you need special software to do this. I'm confused
about the overall process.

Has anyone done this successfully? If so, please share this with everyone.

Thanks for all replies.
newguy

 

[Rock]

Dear group:

I have a HP DV9040us notebook with 2 SATA drives. It came with XP Media
Center Edition 2005. I want to install Vista on the second drive. I don't
want to dual boot or overlay the OS since I understand there are many
problems doing this. Correct?

I would like to set up 4 partitions as follows: XP; Vista: Programs; Data
I want to avoid duplicating all the programs and files on the new drive.
My plan is to physically remove the first hard drive, load Vista on the
second, and then reconnect both drives. I should technically be able to
switch drives through the BIOS.

My friends said that you need special software to do this. I'm confused
about the overall process.

Has anyone done this successfully? If so, please share this with everyone.

Thanks for all replies.

You're friends are wrong. No special software is needed if the OS's are
installed on different drives, where each OS is installed without the other
OS knowing it's there, and you use the BIOS to set the boot drive.

If each OS is aware of the other, in a dual boot configu8ration then you
must use either the windows boot loaders, or a 3rd party boot loader.

I wouldn't say there are "many problems" in a dual boot, but there are
things to be aware of. The most significant is that if the XP OS can see
the Vista partitions when XP boots, then it will delete all the Vista
restore points and shadow copies.

I think this will happen even in the scenario you want to do unless the
Vista drive is hidden from the XP drive. A common way to hide it is to use
BootIt NG. See this link:

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html

 

[Don]

I'm still a bit confused. Will a partitioning utility from Acronis enable me
to set up those 4 partitions without interference?Thanks again newguy

Acronis Disk Director will let you setup/move/resize your partitions
however you want. The important point here is 'hiding' the Vista
partition from XP while you are running it, and that function is done
by the boot manager, not by the partitioning utility.

Both BootItNG and Acronis DiskDirector are bundled with their own boot
manager, and apparently each is able to do this 'hiding' function once
you know how to use it.

 

[newguy]

I'm still a bit confused. Will a partitioning utility from Acronis enable me
to set up those 4 partitions without interference?Thanks again newguy

 

[Rock]

I'm still a bit confused. Will a partitioning utility from Acronis enable
me to set up those 4 partitions without interference?Thanks again newguy

BootIT NG will do partitioning work, as will Acronis Disk Director Suite.
Both are compatible with Vista. Do no use partition magic. You can use
Vista's disk manager to set up the partitions on the drive that Vista is
installed on. I'm not sure about using it to manage the partitions on the
drive where XP is installed.

Both BootIT NG and Acronis Disk Director can hide the Vista partition from
the XP partition.

 

[newguy]

Thanks, Rock but could you walk me through this process? ng

 

[mikeyhsd]

why not just turn off/disable the drive in the bios.
lots safer than unplugging cables.



(e-mail address removed)



I'm still a bit confused. Will a partitioning utility from Acronis enable me
to set up those 4 partitions without interference?Thanks again newguy

 

[newguy]

Thanks mikeyhsd, that makes sense. ng
why not just turn off/disable the drive in the bios.
lots safer than unplugging cables.



(e-mail address removed)



I'm still a bit confused. Will a partitioning utility from Acronis enable me
to set up those 4 partitions without interference?Thanks again newguy

 

[Rock]

Thanks, Rock but could you walk me through this process? ng

There is a lot of info on the web site for BootIt NG including video
tutorials.