Suppose I want to share data between 2 partitions of XP/Vista

Like for games for example, no point installing it twice correct?


My "first" drive has Vista while the second has XP.


C: Vista
D: XP

So I should put all my games onto the "XP" partition because that is viewable by Vista partition but not vice versa.

Best case would be to make Vista partition viewable but I'm not sure how to do that.

 

I don't understand what you are trying to say, you mean that XP cannot read from the Vista partition? Are both formatted using NTFS? Are one of the OSes the original install from Dell?

 

Generally games have installers that set up necessary registry keys and even user application data. It is not likely to work if you tried to run games without setting up on both Windows environments.

 

One of the OSes is an original install disk sadly.

Right. I'm thinking that I can just point them to the same place.
The real problem is that Dell Media direct + 48MB backup partition are hogging up the slots because I can't have more than 4 partitions? Or will gparted allow me to bypass that altogether?

 

I don't think you understood what he was saying. You cannot share registry keys between operating systems. I'm not sure if what you're trying to accomplish is possible, but I could be wrong.

 

The best option for me would be able to have more than 4 partitions. That is possible right?

 

You can have as many partitions as you want...

(Not that there's a good reason to have 4, but do as you will. )

 

Ok I guess!


Well I know this works for Steam games where you can easily switch the game installation area.


Also if I "install" the game twice into the same directory...that should work right

Edit: And what's this about "extended" partitions or whatever. Can I make those?



Basically will I be able to format C or D and not erase the other ones is my question

Like that. (not my picture btw)

 

First... that is a mess. My god... you know they have folders to categorize content, right?

Second... extended partitions? Are you referring to the option to extend the partition? If so, this allows you to allocate more space to a partition if the free (unallocated) space is adjacent to it.

Third... you cannot format only one partition. You format hard drives, not partitions. You can "delete" partitions, which basically just deletes the reference to it (the data is still there). That space can then be reformatted when you allocate the space to another partition, though. (Are you following me at all? )

 

I follow you perfectly. I should be more clear in my terminology (which is obviously confusing!)

Ok so difference between primary and "logical" partitions?

 

Awesome.

It turns out I was wrong. This IS a limit and it's 4. However, this article explains it MUCH better than I ever could.

 

Cool, just what I was looking for.



Although this does not bode well for me! I have to do some deleting of partitions.


Ah well, this time I'll try slipstreaming all the drivers in one go

But then I still have to deal with my first partition not being viewable...hmm. Guess I'll have to deal with that

 

From the sound of things, it seems like you're going to want a copy of GParted burn onto a disc before you do anything...

GParted is a Linux-based partition manager that can be burned onto a CD as a Live CD (i.e., can be run without installation).

 

Yeah I've already used GParted on my USB stick. So it's all good.

I guess this is what I'll spend maybe on Tuesday on Veteran's day

 

Haha. Well good luck!

 

Bah. I wanted to do a logical partition but that needs to be a primary partition in itself.


And Dell wants that last partition for media direct