vista/xp dual boot partition Q

i just have a question on dual booting xp and vista, more of a preference one... i am getting a sager np9260(d900c/clevo)

i have 2x100gb 7200rpm RAID0 HDD's and and extra 160gb 5200rpm HDD, more for backup

i was planning on dual booting xp and vista on the RAID0 array, because i might upgrade the 160gb at a future date. i was wondering how much of the array should i partition for each install (its coming preinstalled with vista ulti.). will my files be accessiable by both partitions, or will files (music /pics/etc...) be on the individual partitions. i want my main files on xp and just want vista for directx10 gaming when the 8 series comes out for the 9260. my main query is if my files are accessible by both partitions and if the individual partitions are just for the OS.

thanks for your help! =D

PS: another question: will 3gb ram work with xp? will it just load 2gb or ram or do i have to physically take out 1gb? i have 1x2048 stick and 1x1024

 

Vista and XP both use NTFS so there is no problem with reading anything in different partitions on your HDD.

3GB RAM works fine with XP.

Note that if you install XP after Vista then you will temporary lose sight of your Vista installation because the two OSs have some different boot files. Look for BCD Edit to fix this problem and set up the boot options menu.

John