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    Dual booting Vista and XP

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by ravenmorpheus, Feb 10, 2008.

  1. ravenmorpheus

    ravenmorpheus Notebook Deity

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    Hi there

    I did a quick search but didn't find anything helpful so I thought I'd post my question on dual booting vista/xp.

    I want to dual boot because I've got a couple of games that would run much better (or plain just run) under XP, however I don't want to have to format my entire HDD as I've got Vista on there already and I could really do without reinstalling everything.

    Please could someone advise me on whether it's possible to dual boot without totally formatting my HDD and could someone also point me in the direction of a tutorial on how to do so.

    Thanks in advance for any help/advice :)
     
  2. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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  3. ravenmorpheus

    ravenmorpheus Notebook Deity

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    Ah thank you so much, I didn't try googling for an answer as my search-fu/google-fu is weak. :)
     
  4. ravenmorpheus

    ravenmorpheus Notebook Deity

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    Erm one other question - Am I right in assuming I'll have to find all the XP Nvidia drivers for the NVidia stuff and all the other drivers like my realtek soundcard drivers for my laptop which is an Acer Aspire 9302 so that XP will run all the hardware properly?
     
  5. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    Yes, that is correct.
     
  6. ravenmorpheus

    ravenmorpheus Notebook Deity

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    Cool thought so, lucky I have driver genius professional then, assuming it works in XP.

    Thanks for the advice, very helpful and much appreciated. :)
     
  7. ravenmorpheus

    ravenmorpheus Notebook Deity

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    While I'm asking - how much disk space would I need to get both XP and Vista on the one HDD? My HDD on the test laptop I'm going to use before going live on the laptop I actually use, so I can see how setting up and executing the dual boot works, has only a 60gb (or possibly 40gb) of HDD space.

    I don't want to go live on the laptop I actually use in case I balls up the install...

    So erm how much space do I need?
     
  8. ScifiMike12

    ScifiMike12 Drinking the good stuff

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    2-4GB for XP and 10-15GB for Vista.

    If you use nLite (XP) and vLite (Vista), then 1.5GB for XP and and 4.5GB for Vista. :)

    You can get the latest drivers for your sound and video at:

    www.realtek.com.tw
    www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum
     
  9. ravenmorpheus

    ravenmorpheus Notebook Deity

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    Cool thanks for the info. Already knew about the realtek and laptovideo2go sites but thanks for the links anyway.

    I've decided not to waste time testing it on my other laptop, if all goes wrong I can just format and re-install anyway, a big hassle but hopefully it'll a go ok.

    Thanks again for the advice :)
     
  10. ScifiMike12

    ScifiMike12 Drinking the good stuff

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    No problem.

    I've been dual-booting with multiple OS's for years. Once Vista came out, I had to 're-arrange' my thinking on which OS to install first.. ;)