[SOLVED] Installing new OS on a HDD

[techking_dinesh]

Hello,
I have ordered a new 1TB Seagate 7200.12 HDD for my new i7-2600K config. it is supposed to arrive tomorrow and so i m starting this today.

I would obviously be using Windows 7 on it , mostly 64 bit
but i am an IT engineering student, we code and learn on 16bit softwares like Turbo C , VB 6 and many more. These Softwares do not run comfortably on Windows 7 without dosbox and morevoer, i have some very old utilities and some self made small programme that shall run only on Win XP.
So i plan to dual boot both the OS.

Can someone please tell me how do i go about ?
I wanna know , d pros , d cons , which os to install first , how to go about making d partitions ? (I knw to make them via control panel )

Tell me even the most basic of things as i have never done this before. Moreover i dont wish to give XP more than 100-150GB of space.

My current knowledge is as follows :

Option 1:

i ll have 1TB new HDD which has no partitions, on first start i will install it with XP , then i will go in control panel and Shrink d C drive where XP is installed to 150GB,
the remaining 850GB i will split up in 2-3 partitions as per my convenience
( say 400 for win 7 (D Drive) , and 450 for storage purposes (E drive) )
(I am a designer , will be storing lot of stock photos plus some movies and games)
then i boot with win7 DVD , select D Drive and install..

This is my idea of dual booting , is this correct ??

Correct me if i am wrong. i need XP just for my Engineering Learning Work, they can run in Win 7 using dosbox but i m not interested doing it that way

Option 2:
Googling for my task , i came across this stuff.. XP mode for win7 , Shud i jus install 7 on FULL HDD and then use this mode for my job

Download Windows XP Mode

so throw up ur ideas and correct me if i m wrong

[Tech&ME]

^^

Okay , first congrats for the new HDD

Now, the partitions:

I hope you know the basics of connecting it to your mobo. So, will skip that part.

1. First insert Windows XP CD and boot and then in the Setup Screen opt to partition it.

2. Make 4 partitions as per your requirement.

3. (a) Partition 1 of 150 GB for Windows XP
(b) Partition 2 of 400 GB for Windows 7
(c) Partition 3 of 450 GB for your Movies / Documents / Stock Images

[techking_dinesh]

Originally Posted by Tech&ME

^^

Okay , first congrats for the new HDD

Now, the partitions:

I hope you know the basics of connecting it to your mobo. So, will skip that part.

1. First insert Windows XP CD and boot and then in the Setup Screen opt to partition it.

2. Make 4 partitions as per your requirement.

3. (a) Partition 1 of 150 GB for Windows XP
(b) Partition 2 of 400 GB for Windows 7
(c) Partition 3 of 450 GB for your Movies / Documents / Stock Images

Alright , u mean i can partition it in the setup screen itself.. kk great..

what is better , installing XP first or 7 first ? considering i need 150gb only for XP and 400 for 7

I hope you know the basics of connecting it to your mobo. So, will skip that part.

Elaborate on this plz

[mohityadavx]

XP mode for win7

This is better option i use it in windows 7 32 bit and it works fine

i tried turbo C on it and runs fine

though its a memory hogger so keep this in mind

[gameranand]

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

i ll have 1TB new HDD which has no partitions, on first start i will install it with XP , then i will go in control panel and Shrink d C drive where XP is installed to 150GB,
the remaining 850GB i will split up in 2-3 partitions as per my convenience
( say 400 for win 7 (D Drive) , and 450 for storage purposes (E drive) )
(I am a designer , will be storing lot of stock photos plus some movies and games)
then i boot with win7 DVD , select D Drive and install..

I would suggest to go for somewhat smaller drives for OS drives like 70GB for both Win 7 and XP. 70GB is more than enough to have many installations and other stuff. I am suggesting this because if somehow you screwed up OS in future then your data won't be lost because if you have to do a clean re install then you format OS drive and if it stores so much data then it would be hard for you to backup all of em. So better safe than sorry right.

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

Googling for my task , i came across this stuff.. XP mode for win7 , Shud i jus install 7 on FULL HDD and then use this mode for my job

If you would only use XP occasionally for programming then its OK or you can go for dual boot.

About Pros and cons
You have to install many softwares twice on each OS in order to use them in both.
Disk space is obviously wasted because of this.
If you have switch OS then you have restart the system and thats the reason I prefer visualization.

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

which os to install first

First XP then Win 7.

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

how to go about making d partitions ?

When you'll use Disk for the first time and plan to install OS then you can easily make partitions from the OS setup itself.

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

i need XP just for my Engineering Learning Work, they can run in Win 7 using dosbox but i m not interested doing it that way

Why not??

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

Elaborate on this plz

First Connect your SATA cable to your Hard disk and then to Motherboard.
Connect the power connector to HDD. It would be the thin one. You are done.

[techking_dinesh]

my pc config will be as follows
i7 2600K
4gb ddr3
1TB single HDD
I will mostly opt for win 7 Ultimate edition 64bit

[gameranand]

Then go for visualization. No need for dual boot if you only plan to use XP for programming.
Your PC is powerful enough to handle that.

[mohityadavx]

well U should go 4 XP mode then as u r having a super cool config

it even runs fine on my config which is core2duo @ 2.8 Ghz 4GB RAM (only 3.25 GB usable in Windows 7 32 bit)

[techking_dinesh]

EDIT :

Thnx a lot gameranad
So i will make a 150Gb partition for win 7 OS install and then add up Win XP mode to it

(Suppose my 150Gb is running out , can i just shrink one of the other volumes and add it to the main drive of OS install ? will that be acceptable or there will be errors ? , if no errors , then i will go by d above suggestion and keep OS drive minimal arnd 100-150GB , and if it pops error i ll keep it safe to 300GB atleast)


How is the Win XP mode ? what exactly happens in it ? i have just heard about it 20 mins ago , have no idea on it. I know it can run all our xp stuff on win 7
but i m asking d basics like
how to enter , how to exit that mode , will i still need to install drivers and softwares in d XP mode too ??

and i m not using dosbox coz though the software runs in win7 , it lags a lot spclly VB 6 .. i have seen it myself..
so i wanna know whether i should dual boot or go the WIN XP MODE way

[gameranand]

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

How is the Win XP mode ? what exactly happens in it ? i have just heard about it 20 mins ago , have no idea on it. I know it can run all our xp stuff on win 7
but i m asking d basics like
how to enter , how to exit that mode , will i still need to install drivers and softwares in d XP mode too ??

It basically creates a environment just like XP for the software to run thus enabling its execution. You can even install Ubuntu or other OS in win 7 itself using Virtual Box software.
Here are some tutorials you might like.
Windows XP Mode
Windows 7 Virtualization

[techking_dinesh]

but is it a permanent mode or i can turn it on off as required ?

If d softwares / drivers r installed in Win 7 and i start d XP mode , can i still use them ?
or double installation as d dual boot ?

[Tech&ME]

I will still recommend you to install windows XP in a small partiton. Why ?

1. B'coz that XP MODE is a resourse hogger.
2. You need to download it separatly from MS website.

3. You will not be able to install Windows XP (as dual boot) later when you already have windows 7 on it. ( You can but that is a very long procedure and you will need to edit the bootloader manually and is not recommended for you!)

So, please consider a small partition for XP and install XP first.

AS a THUMB rule:

Always install XP and then 7.

[gameranand]

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

but is it a permanent mode or i can turn it on off as required ?

No its not permanent mode. You can use it as per your requirement.

Originally Posted by Tech&ME

I will still recommend you to install windows XP in a small partiton. Why ?

Yes I agree with you but the thing is OP is not going to use XP at all. He just want that for some programming and for that virtualization is good enough. Also his PC is powerful enough to handle virtualization anyway. Also he is not going to something resource hungry on XP mode he'll just do some coding. Thats the reason he should go for virtualization rather than dual boot.

[techking_dinesh]

Originally Posted by gameranand

No its not permanent mode. You can use it as per your requirement.

Yes I agree with you but the thing is OP is not going to use XP at all. He just want that for some programming and for that virtualization is good enough. Also his PC is powerful enough to handle virtualization anyway. Also he is not going to something resource hungry on XP mode he'll just do some coding. Thats the reason he should go for virtualization rather than dual boot.

Yes, right..
To list it out...
Turbo C
VB 6
Microsoft Sql 2005
Netbeans

thats it !!

[Tech&ME]

^^

Okay, As he wishes to do. Pros and Cons are all here for him.

[techking_dinesh]

I need ans to dis,
as gameranand suggested.. suppose i go for minimal space partition for OS install drive.. say 200gb for now and later if it is running out of space , can i just shrink one of my storage volumes out of the 800gb and add it to the main drive ??

Can this be done , or will it give errors ?

and using Windows XP mode ,
will i be able to run my softwares in full screen ? or small screen ?? i wanna run them in full screen

[gameranand]

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

I need ans to dis,
as gameranand suggested.. suppose i go for minimal space partition for OS install drive.. say 200gb for now and later if it is running out of space , can i just shrink one of my storage volumes out of the 800gb and add it to the main drive ??

First of all you won't. 100GB is just more than enough for anyone unless you start storing your music and other stuff in that drive. But still if you run out of space then yes you can extend the partition without any data loss or errors as per Se.

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

and using Windows XP mode ,
will i be able to run my softwares in full screen ? or small screen ?? i wanna run them in full screen

You can run the software in maximized window. Say you have a XP OS running in a maximized window and you can get a full srcreen on XP and maximized on win7. Got the idea ????

[techking_dinesh]

Yeah..
So i will partition my HDD into 3-4 partitions as per need
C Drive of 150Gb for Win 7
and then Windows XP mode on it for my coding needs..

Hoping it all runs well in full screen mode

[gameranand]

Originally Posted by techking_dinesh

Hoping it all runs well in full screen mode

Don't worry it would. :-P

[techking_dinesh]

kk Thnx Everyone , doubt solved , thread closed for now. will BUMP up if i face troubles.