Dual-boot partitioning question.

I'll be setting up my new hard drive to dual-boot Windows 7 or Vista Ultimate and have a couple of questions.

First, after gleaning what info I could off the internet, I remain confused on where to place programs. I understand that programs should be loaded into the same partition as the OS otherwise there are could be registry problems. But how is the registry set up when there are 2 OS's? Will I be able to use programs that are loaded into the Windows 7 partition when I boot up in Vista?

Secondly, I've read that a lot of people have a separate partition for their games. Wouldn't that potentially cause problems? After all, games are programs, too Clearly I could use a better understanding of the registry!

Thirdly, I'll figure out how much space I need for my programs but how much space should be allotted for the Operating Systems taking into consideration service packs and updates? One OS is Vista Ultimate 64-bit, the other is 7 Ultimate RC later to be replaced by 7 Professional 64-bit.

 

Unfortunately you usually can't. Also, the registry is in the Windows directory, so just have your two installations of windows on separate partitions.

Install programs wherever, because their settings will be stored on their corresponding Windows drive.

 

It depends on the programs. You will have no issue if the apps can be called direct, the so-called no-registry related installations, the stand-alone apps.

In regard to other queries, have you looked into these "similar" threads for inputs?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=395293

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=394842

cheers ...

 

Officially, a 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space is the recommended system requirement.

 

i would say 20-30GB for your programs, 40GB for OS... if you put them together, 70GB seems enough... unless you run stuff like Adobe