Dual Boot XP Prof and Vista using Clean Installs on a Acer 5100

Hi,

I have been reading on the steps to do this and I think I have a understanding of the process. Where I am not sure is the partitioning.

- Should I completely format the hard drive first and then begin my dual booting process?

or

- When I insert my windows prof [32bit] CD will I be given the option to format the entire hard drive and create new partitions?

and
lastly
What is the best way to partition drives for windows XP and Vista with a 160 gb hard drive?

 

With a 160 GB hdd ?
Hm ... let's see ... I would leave about 30GB for XP (with all installed programs, my XP Pro sp3 takes up 10.2GB ... meaning you could probably get away with 20GB as well easily).
About 40 or 50GB would be good enough for Vista (I have 50GB for my x64 version which takes up about 17.5GB with the necessary programs installed ... I also reduced the amount of space the Volume shadow copy takes up to 1GB ... look it up on google).

I have XP SP3 (32bit) and Vista Home Premium SP1 x64 (64bit).

Here's what I recommend: First install XP, and then Vista (that's the best recommendation I could give because that way the laptop will ask you into which OS to boot.
If you install Vista first and then XP, you will have to mess with some files to get to the OS selection screen during bootup.

Before you proceed any further, first make sure that you have all of the XP drivers for your laptop (if Vista came pre-installed, then go into device manager, write down the names/numbers of the devices in question and search their XP drivers on manufacturers websites).
Or you can go try going to the following link and downloading them from there:
http://driverscollection.com/?H=Aspire 5100&By=ACER

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you want to install XP, you will either have to load the SATA drivers with the XP installation, OR disable AHCI in BIOS (by setting it to IDE).
I've set the AHCI to IDE, installed XP, after that installed the chipset and sata drivers and finally, rebooted/re-enabled AHCI (sata) in BIOS (after all that I proceeded with installation of other things).

You should be able to set up your own partitions in XP installation before Windows themselves start installing.
Here are 2 links you might find useful for that process:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
http://www.theeldergeek.com/hard_drives_03.htm

If you already have a partion in place, then first delete it and finally study the 2 links I provided.

It may seem like a lot of work, but it pays off.

 

Thank You
and I guess anything worth having is worth working for hard for....

 

working hard..

and I have another question to ask you..

I plan on using the method that you used to install my Chipset and Sata drivers.

Motherboard: Acer Navarro
My Chipset is ATI Xpress 200 (RS480)
Southbridge: ATI SB400

Is this all I would need http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/ATI/ATI-Catalyst-811-Software-Suite-Vista-32-bit.shtml

Or do I need a separate driver for SATA?
and lastly How did you find your SATA Controller Name/Driver

 

OK ...
Go here:
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_5100.html

That's the official Acer website and they offer both XP and Vista drivers (which is a pretty great thing if you ask me) for your laptop.

Anyway, the chipset+ati gpu driver is newer on the Acer website compared to the one on Softpedia.

Whether it's going to be enough or not ... I don't know.
You can try re-enabling AHCI in bios after you installed it and see if that did the trick.
If you get a BSOD (blue screen of death) then disable AHCI again in bios, go into XP, run CPU-Z ( http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php).
In the 'Mainboard' tab you will see the 'Chipset' and below it 'Southbridge'.
Southbridge is the name of the SATA controller, so you will be able to search it up online by it's true name.
If you have issues, just post a screencap of that part from Cpu-Z and I can help you find it.

 

Well better really late than never. I did not go through with this process and instead decided to strip vista down to where it is workable. I took off the windows aero feature. I removed a lot of programs that I did not need. I cleaned and defragmented the hard rive and the registry. Things are much smoother, still some glitches but no needed reboots and errors like before.

Thank you Deks for your time and advice. Sorry so late on the update.