vista and xp

[Guest]

I have downloaded the latest vista beta and I want to load it but i only have
two computers and both have xp on them and I don't want to get rid of it on
any of them. Can I load vista on the same computer that has xp? Im guessing
that I have to re-partition the harddrive or something? Also do I have to
burn the vista .iso to a dvd or can I try to load it from an external
harddrive or can I load vista on an external harddrive and run it on one of
my computers? Sorry for so many, probably stupid questions, but I have never
tryed to run multiple os.

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

Yes, you should either obtain some sort of test unit, or at the very least,
create a separate partition of at least 20 GB.

Yes, you must burn the image to either a DVD disc or to a virtual drive.
This is not the same as transferring a file to a disc. Look for the phrase
"burn image" or something similar in your DVD/CD software suite.

Booting from or installing to an external hard drive has been unsuccessful
with the exception of a couple of absolutely brilliant people who frequent
this forum, so unless you include yourself in this group, no, that will not
be an option.

Back up all your data on the computer you are going to experiment with, not
on the same hard drive, BEFORE you do anything else. Use an external hard
drive for the backup.

Feel free to search the forum and the internet for help with instructionals
and applicable software for performing these tasks.

Good Luck and Godspeed!

 

[Tony Rizz]

Why don't you get yourself an extra hard drive, then you can swap them out
and put Vista on one and keep XP on the current one.

T

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

Excellent idea Tony! Not enough coffee, yet...

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Without information about your computer I have to say do not install Vista
Beta 2. Just a hunch based on the lack of a description of your hardware.

You mention a download. Do you also have the Product Key?

 

[Guest]

Just another warning, in addition to the most important one of BACKING UP
EVERYTHING so you can go back when and if you need to. I installed Vista in
it's own partition and dual booted with XP. I'm finding some problems on the
drives that I share with XP and Vista (like my data drives). When I go back
to XP, it often finds problems with the recycle bin due to incompatabilities
between the way XP and Vista structure the recycle bin. So the bin gets
emptied when you may not want it to be emptied in an attempt to clean up the
corruption. I also accidentally deleted a folder in XP and it didn't go to
the recycle bin as is should have--again I think because of Vista settings on
the drive. So it might be good not to share drives between the two.

Also, I found my restores made in Vista were gone after I booted into XP and
then came back to Vista. Would like to know if anyone else has had problems
with the System Restore feature in Vista, especially when dual-booting.

Thanks!

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Search the newsgroup on "volsnap.sys". It has been discussed at length.
Booting into XP will delete your Vista restore points but it is not caused
by System Restore. It is caused by a known incompatibility between the
Volume Shadowcopy Service drivers in XP and Vista. MS does not plan to fix
this because of the extensive rewrite to XP that it would take. There are a
couple of ways of adjusting to prevent this, but it sounds to me like hiding
the system volumes from each other would be the best approach for you.

 

[Mark D. VandenBeg]

The restore point deletion is a known issue with dual-booting Vista and XP
and has been discussed. Search for "volsnap.sys" for a couple of different
threads.

As for one O/S installation "messing" with another, why not hide the
existing O/S partition when installing a new one? Can't touch what it can't
see...

 

[Chris Game]

As for one O/S installation "messing" with another, why not hide
the existing O/S partition when installing a new one? Can't
touch what it can't see...

So how do we do that...?