Installing Two Os on same HD?

Hi

Iv got windows vista which came with my laptop, (1GB RAm, AMD Turion 63x2 Mobile technology 32bit and 120GB HDD) but vista is running quite slow for me when i do coding work since i have alot of apps opening and closing every few mins. So i want to install windows xp pro on my laptop aswell but also want to keep vista.

Is this possible if yes does it affect the speed of the system or the preformance?

Thanks in advance.

 

AFAIK, you would have to partition the drive.

 

Do you know if it affects the preformance of the two os's?

 

I dual boot xp and ubuntu without issue. You would, as the above poster mentioned, want to partition the drive in half to do this. The only performance issue you should notice is that xp is likely much faster

The only real point I see in running Vista is dx10 for nextgen gaming.

hope that helps,
Nigel

 

Partition the HD like others said... Very simple, just go to computer management...

BUT the easiest the MOST inexpensive way... (except with linix obviously...)
Just get another GIG of ram.,... Your Processor can take vista... its just your ram. You need at least two gigs for vista.

 

Thanks all for your input and help.

 

I agree you need at least 2 gigs of ram, I am running on Vista on another comp with 2gig ram and it still isnt as fast as my 1.5gig ram XP Pro that I use. But if you want to dual boot I recommend Linux -- Ubuntu it is very simple and fast, and free. Although if you want XP that works too, I dual boot XP Pro and Ubuntu as I am not a fan of OS X or Vista.

 

Right, Vista is awful with only 1GB of RAM. I'm not quite sure why they even sell Vista laptops with only 1 GB.

 

Yeah i wonder the same thing, i wish i had done some research before i bought a vista laptop on a 1GB ram.

 

This is called a dual boot system and it can be done with very little problems. In fact, dual boot installs used to be taught in microsoft certification courses - but its no longer supported. Back in the mid to late 1990s, part of the microsoft certification courses was to do a side by side install of windows 95 and NT4. At least in my class it was.

All this requires is a side by side install of the 2 operating systems. This means that vista would be installed to a c:/windows folder and windows XP could be installed to a c:/winxp folder.

If you have a secondary hard drive, you could install XP to the second drive. Which is really what I recommend.

During the system start up you should see a selection of the 2 operating systems for 30 seconds. The worst you may have to do is edit the boot.ini file to point towards windows XP. If XP can not be installed to the vista partition, buy a second drive and install XP there. The XP installer should edit the ntldr file during the install process.

For more information, do a google search for windows dual boot.

On my home computer I have windows 2000 installed 3 times and windows XP installed twice. All 5 installs of the operating systems are bootable. All you have to do is make sure that every OS is installed in a separate folder.

 

yes, you can do it if you separate them on different partition
and yes, 1GB RAM is not enough for vista

 

Ontopic: Just make another partition. There are a lot of free partitioning software out there. I, personally, prefer and recommend Partition Magic but this is not free. Btw, it's easier and i think more recommended to install in separate partitions than on separate folders on same partition.

Offtopic: Same thing was with XP when launched. No one liked it. I remember my PC running with 256 RAM and Win 98 and tryied XP. I said i will never put XP again on my PC because it used 90% of resources but then little by little i upgraded to 512 RAM and it was better, a lot better and started to like it . Same with Vista. Wait to see in the near future and you will like Vista more.

p.s. i am running on 4 Gb Ram now and still dislike Vista and still running on XP but in the future who knows ? Maybe Win 7 ?

 

Unless there have been some changes to the way vista uses an NTFS partition, this is not needed. At one time, side by side installs and dual boot systems were very, very common. And they all ran on the same partition.

My computer - 5 different installs of windows 2000 and xp on the same partition.

My wifes computer - dual boot with windows 2000 and XP on the same partition.

My sons computer - dual boot with windows 2000 and xp on the same partition.

My daughters computer - dual boot windows 98 and XP on the same partition.

 

Just have either XP or Vista.

Perhaps running Vista and then getting a linux on the system also can be pretty easy.

 

Which type of linux can i run as a OS where i can have applications ect ? since there is alot and i dont know much about linux so can you suggest me any?

 

You can duel boot the OS or simply use a Virtualization tool if you only need to use the second OS occasionally, VirtualBox is my suggestion every since VMWare changed everything over to completely Browser Based.

 

I am also doing programming. so, as per my experience u should use either xp or vista because as u said that u have to open and close application so, it get more time and your processor as well as ram is also high configure.

 

If you have vista installed , you are not able to install xp .
Howeve you can install xp at first and then vista .
It is the same like the situation of window xp and windows 98 .

 

Well from what i have read above i am able to install xp if i have vista installed all i have to do is make a partition.