Is multi-booting worth it? (7/Vista/XP)

I just formatted my hdd and am about to install windows on it, I at least plan on booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu, would it be worth also installing Vista and XP?

All of the OSs are free to me and I'm using a 320GB hdd and have an external 500GB one so neither money or space are an issue.

Are there reasons why I should or shouldn't?

 

u shouldn't cause simply u won't need them , i use alot of programs and i mean alot i only experienced 1 program that can't work on windows vista , so i didn't need XP, Microsoft states that anything that works on vista will work on windows 7 so why bother installing alot of OSs

 

virtual machines.

 

So I'm taking both of the responses as its not worth it. Cool. Saves me from work.

 

I recommend virtual machines also, as newsposter says. The only problem though is that it's best to run virtual machines on a processor that supports virtualization, in which I'm pretty sure the P8800 has support but not sure on the Turion that is in the Aspire you list in your siggy. Also, 2 GB is too little for virtual machines, but 4 GB is good for running one side-by-side with the host OS.

 

Win 7 gets the WinXP virtual machine free!

Also you'll be able to run virtual machines with 2 GB but it might be a bit slower as some of the missing RAM will have to be compensated with paging files and such.

 

It just depends on how much and for what purpose you want to use Vista and XP. If not that often, you'd be fine to run virtual machines. If you'd want to use them as frequently as not, you might be well advised to dual-boot.

Cheers...

 

u won't even need virtual machine

 

Another vote for virtual machines. I used to be multi-boot nuts too. But now that I realized how lame it is to boot and reboot to use another OS I am very pleased with virtual machines.

I use VirtualBox whenever I need Linux or W7. Also, the partitions, reformats, et cetera, et cetera, will be a thing of the past with virtual machines.

BUT, 2GB is just too little. I would also say you need at least 4GB on the host to multi-OS.

 

I'd recommend starting with just Win7 and Ubuntu, and if you suspect some of your Windows programs won't be Win6.x (Vista + 7) compatible, leaving 20-25 GB unformatted for XP (or formatted NTFS but not used), preferably next to the Win7 partition. Then if you need XP to run programs, you can install it there, if not, just destroy the XP partition and expand the Win7 partition to include that space (alternately, make it FAT32 and use it for files used by both Windows and Linux, and just leave it as a third partition).

The reason I would wait and see before installing XP (either native or in a VM) is that it really is better to run fewer operating systems if you can. If Win7 does what you need, just run one version of Windows. Virtual machines are nice if the programs that don't like Win7 don't need any graphics horsepower, but you've got a GTX 260. If you run into Win7 incompatible programs, there's a good chance that they'll be games, and you don't want to run games in a virtual machine. I tried running games in Win7's XP Mode, and it does not work well. You'll want a native XP for games that don't like Win 6.x. If it's only 2D software that doesn't work, a VM will work, but leave the space for a native XP in case you need it.

And the reason I keep mentioning XP and not _Vista is that if a Windows program designed for 95/98/ME/2K/XP doesn't run on Win7, it almost certainly won't run on _Vista, either, but it may well run on XP. Also go with 32-bit XP for maximum compatiblity if you do need XP - XP x64 is great and does solve many Windows 6.x compatibility issues, but XP 32-bit is better for compatibility, which is what you would be seeking if you were to install XP.

So, in summary, leave space for XP, but don't install it unless you need it for compatibility. If it's games that aren't compatible, install it natively, if only desktop apps, a VM will work well enough (and should allow you to boot it in both Win7 and Ubuntu if you use virtualization software that works on both Windows and Linux).

edit: Looked up your Aspire, and its Turion does support Virtualization Technology. 2 GB is just a tad low for virtualization, though - it'll do it if you don't multitask too much, but your M860(E)TU is much better suited for virtualization.

 

i would even suggest not having windows and linux on one machine, but that's a personal choice. i would only do that if i gain from managing two os', spending more diskspace on two times a full os on disk, etc.

i like linux, but on my laptop, it would not give me any gain => i would not use it. windows works perfectly well.

now if i would use it as development platform, f.e., i would use linux on my laptop, and not have windows on it. but in my case, it's no gain.

both os deliver about the same: they let you run apps. and if one works well enough, why not just use that one?

except for the fun in trying out other oses, of course. but else, no.. maybe a virtual machine for the moments of need. but most likely, not even that.

 

It really depends on what you're planning to use the said OS-es for.
I only use Win 7 RTM as it is and will remove Vista.
The only OS I might consider putting on would be Ubuntu ... and that's for potential educational purposes.
Other than that, everything I need/use runs fine on Win 7 x64.