question about partitions

so heres a quick question
lets say i have a 100 gb hd running xp home and i have all my music programs and files on this hd
i have about 20 gb free that id like to use either acronis or partition magic to make into a new partition and install MCE on it

when i boot into MCE will i be able to use the programs i have installed or will i not have access to them
also will i be able to access say all my music and movies
thanks in advance

 

I don't think you'll be able to access all of them from another partition. When I did this with Vista Beta I ran into issues.

Programs install parameters into the Windows registry. Without these parameters you will probably not be able to run them. That said, some programs that are pretty light should run...especially the ones with no install required.

 

Quick tip -

Let's call your drives C:WinXP, and D:WinMCE.

ProgramA is installed to C:\Program Files\Program A and works under XP but not under MCE.

Boot into MCE, You will now likely see C:\WinMCE and D:WinXP as your drive names.

Go to D:\Program Files\Program A and copy this (and all subfolders) to D:\Program Files\Copy of Program A
Re-install Program A under MCE, but tell it to install to D:\Program Files\Program A, rather than C:\Program Files\Program A

Now copy D:\Program Files\Copy of Program A over D:\Program Files\Program A, overwriting all files. (This ensures that you have all your saved configs and settings retained. You may have to set up your custom settings in MCE if the program stores them in the registry.)

After you verify that the program works in XP and MCE, you can go back and delete the "Copy of" folder. This way you are not filling up you HD with two installs of every program.

Better Idea for Next time you re-format

Set up your partitions as:
C:\WinXP
D:\Program Files
E:\WinMCE
F:Win98

Etc. This way you can set up the D:\ Partition to always be Drive D in every OS.