Installing XP for games.

I'm not so great with the software side of things so i thought i ask the experts

I have a copy of windows xp sp3 and am planning on installing it on the laptop in my sig. I bought it primarily for gaming\compatibility and to see how it compares to vista.What i want you guys to tell me is how and where to install it to get the best performance out of the os and games(loading times etc.)

So this is my setup:
Vista, random software, music, video's, some games installed on 250gb 4,200 rpm 95gb of 223gb free
Most of my games(30+), and more of the same^ on 200gb 7,200rpm 55gb of 186gb free.

I don't know a whole lot about partitioning or whether i will have to re-install games and what-not so any help is appriciated.
Thanks, Willy.

 

. Use Vista partition manager to get some GB for your XP
. Dual boot: NBR has plenty of threads as how to install XP on the 2nd partition
. Yes, you might have to reinstall certain games onto the XP partition

cheers ...

 

Will i have to re-format?
All i can see in "disk management" is "format" or "shrink volume" when i right-click on a hard drive

 

Shrink volume is correct. Then you can assign the new partition aftterward.

cheers ...

 

Thanks, I was going to install it on the 250gb HDD but when i chose shrink volume it says there is only 242MB of available shrink space, where as on the 200gb HDD it lists 53688MB of available shrink space. Should i just stop complaining and install on the second one? And how much space should i shrink for XP?
Thanks for your help so far

 

Don't you have to do a defrag before you do a shrink? might be why its saying you only have 242mb left.

 

My hard drives are well and truely defragged, with AusLogics disk defragger if it makes any difference. I re-booted and i'm still getting 242...

Any more input?

I guess installing on the 7,200 rpm wouldn't be such a bad idea since i could install the games i want to play on the 4,200 rpm, where there's more space, and they'd be on a seperate hard drive anyway.
So i definatly wouldn't be able to play the games i installed in vista?
I'm guessing registry entries would mess that up but i want to be sure.
Thanks.

 

You need to do a windows defrag.

 

How much space do you have devoted to your page file and your system restore points?

 

Check this step-by-step guide, with screenshots, on how to dual-boot Vista and XP (with Vista already installed).
3 different ways of partitioning are also explained in detail (GPartEd Live CD, the DISKPART utility on the Vista DVD and Vista Disk Management GUI)
Cheers.

 

I checked "backup and restore center" and it doesn't tell me how much space i have set to system restore Page file is 3369gb. I use the hibernate function too so that probably eats up even more space.

Have my babies!

 

Ok, if you go into the system restore function (you can back out without having to do a restoration, so don't worry about firing it up), how many available restore points do you see?

 

23

But 15 are from the last couple of days after i uninstalled a load of crap to try and increase that shrink size "thingy".

 

Those are probably taking up quite a bit of room; if everything is running well, I'd create a new baseline restore point, and then get rid of the old(er) points to free up some space.

 

When i try to install xp i get a "setup did not find any hard discs" error.
This is apparantly due to no hard disc drivers coming with xp for the type of hard disc my laptop uses. There's also no option in my bios to change ata/sata compatibility

According to google i'll need a floppy drive to install drivers but does anyone know if i can use a flash drive or CD/DVD?
Thanks.

 

You'll need to use a program called NLite in order to make a copy of the XP installation CD with the SATA drivers (it's called slipstreaming) as explained on this page.
So what you need is the HDD manufacturers SATA drivers, an XP installation CD, the program NLite, a blank CD-R and a CD burner. That's it.
Cheers.