Possible to have 2 vistas on one inspiron 1720?

Hello,

I was wondering if it is possible to install Vista Ultimate 64 bit so that I can dual boot with the Vista Home Premium 32 bit my inspiron 1720 came preinstalled with.

Also, can I load an operating system from an external hard drive?

Thanks.

 

You can, you just need to setup up the bootloader to have multiple booting options, and make another partition. You can also boot from an external drive, but it needs more setup.

 

It's possible to have 2 versions of Vista on your laptop (I've tried it) but I don't think you can't boot from and external HDD.

 

Thanks for the replies. Can you point me to the best guide there is to setup the 2 Vistas on my internal hard drive without having to format my hard drive as it is now. I have about 70 gb free.

 

Try this, even though it says XP you can sub another Vista for it. Download GParted and follow the directions.

 

1.) Yes, you can. You will need to create a separate partition for each, and you may need to get a boot loader (so you can choose whichever one on boot) or you will just be hitting F8 a lot. : )

BUT, if you have vista ultimate 64, why bother with its inferior sibling?

2.) Yes you can. Again, you will have to partition the device. When you start the machine, you will want to put whatever OS disc into the drive and boot from it. You will then have to select that drive and load the OS files. Once the process is complete, you should only have to enter the boot selection menu and choose USB. Piece of cake. But because the OS will set itself up for a given hardware configuration, it is basically useless to have the portable drive anywhere but near that machine.
I believe there are some mini versions of Linux however that can boot from USB and load on virtually anything (just don't expect it to be super useful and cool). One I know of is called Puppy Linux.

 

Thanks for the replies again. I am looking at the guide now. mgh_a1 I want to keep vista ultimate because i have a lot of stuff in it already, and I don't feel like reformatting it, backing data up etc. Also, I am worried about compatability of my school programs with 64 bit.

 

That's alright. 64 bit OSes work well with almost anything now adays. What, with its enhanced WOW64 (Windows on Windows 64) support, you can install any 32 bit app on a 64 bit platform, and the works the way it is.

All 32 bit apps will be installed in an X86 folder, so no worries. It still functions the way it originally does on a 32 bit platform.

However some older games and programs may not work correctly, so just set its compatibility mode to Windows XP Service Pack 2 under the application's Properties box and you're done.

Trust me, I am using AutoCAD, Photoshop, Maya, 3Ds Max, and many old games which I still play like Total Annihilation (Made in 1998) and the original Half Life works well on my 1720 with an X64 platform. See my sig.

Good luck.

 

Bear in mind that the 1720 can have 2 hard drives so you could always whack another hard drive in and have a seperate 64-bit drive. You would need the HDD2 caddy, interposer and screws - Dell does them for about $25 I seem to remember.

 

Thanks for the replies SteveJonesy and SomeFormOfHuman. SteveJonesy, I was thinking of exactly that- the second hard drive. If I were to do that, will I able to have two separate OSs on each drive? If so, how will I be able to chose which one to boot to? Also, will this have everything needed for a second hd?
http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_3&products_id=144

 

Multiple HDDs or Multiple Partitions. Doesn't really make a difference. It is the Vista Bootloader that does the stuff.

You just need to make sure that the 2 HDDs are in the same mode, i.e. IDE or AHCI.