quick dual boot question

I currently have XP on a single, regular HD. I would like to instal win7 on a new SSD and have another HD for storage/other programs.
However I will be keeping XP due to win7's frequent mental retardness.
I know that XP does not play friendly with SSDs, so I should be able to keep a copy on the regular HD (along with the other stuff) and add it to the boot menu, correct?

(would making separate partitions for data/XP help at all?)

(Cool, found out you can change the desktop location. That would go on the other HD as well.)
(Would the page file be good to move to the HD instead of SSD?)

lordoffire said:   due to win7's frequent mental retardness.
I have no idea what you are talking about. Win7 is exceptionally stable

ellory said:   lordoffire said:   due to win7's frequent mental retardness.
I have no idea what you are talking about. Win7 is exceptionally stable
no it's not....I have issues all the time

For example, I frequently get issues when saving to certain locations saying "you cannot change the contents of that folder". Using XP and the same programs, even the same hardware, I've never had that problem.

TakeTheActive said:   You need to GOOGLE: "Dual Boot WinXP Win7"

IIRC, when I was researching this topic several months ago, the Boot Process changed with Vista (something about now 4 stages vs 3, but my memory isn't as sharp as it was ). There's a MANDATORY order in which you have to install WinXP with either Vista or Win7. Otherwise, you'll end up with just 1 OS.

I don't remember the EXACT details, but, at least I remember that the PROBLEM exists. ]

I know, been there, done that....I've wiped and reinstalled again, and again, and again just to try and fix the stupid problem.
However, I am not just dual booting. I'm dual booting from separate, different types of drives and from different partitions.

TakeTheActive said:   Back in my WFWG 3.11 days, I was a firm believer in a MINIMUM of THREE partitions:For safety, I like to create a hidden semi-duplicate of Primary #1 in Primary #2 and create a hidden Primary #3 with enough space to temporarily install another OS if need be to recover from any future disasters on Primary #1 that I can't solve by booting from either a CD using the Recovery Console or Primary #2.

Also, on any 2nd, 3rd, etc... HDDs, I create a 'SWAP_N_TEMP' Logical (~2-4GB) as the first thing in the Extended Partition on EVERY HDD from #2 on with just a 64K 'Dump' Swapfile' on Primary #1. In the 'Olden Days', HDD #2 needed to be Master on IDE #2 so that the OS and the Swapfile could be accessed simultaneously. Now, with SATA, everything is on its own channel so it's a bit simpler.

As in carpentry, MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE. In other words, GOOGLE for a few days *BEFORE* you attempt to implement what you want to do.

I purposely keep separate backups on different drives. I've had too many problems over the years to rely on putting the backup on the same drive.

For the pagefile, you're saying to make a separate partition on the extra HD?

v999 said:   lordoffire said:   For the pagefile, you're saying to make a separate partition on the extra HD?
See Making XP Pro SSD friendly and scroll down for "Page file tweaking."

I have my XP on an SSD. The I/O benchmarks are terrible.

you're saying it's not much better?

minidrag said:   That's not Windows being retarded. It's the new security features built in that, by default, don't allow access to certain parts of the file system. It can be changed if you want to change it, but honestly, there's little reason to write to the locations you aren't, by default, allowed to write to. It does take some getting used to - change always does - but it's not fair to call it a problem. It's a feature you don't like. Lots of features in 7 are different / changed and lots of people don't like them, so nothing new there.

We're not talking about the Windows or Sys32 folder here, it's the desktop. There SHOULDN'T be any reason you can not save to that location.
What grinds my gears is that in the years it's been out, they haven't changed it or fixed the major issues people have with it. It's MS's way or the highway.

Win 7 and XP use different boot loaders. If you install win 7 in other partion, the next reboot will show just win 7. You need to google and watch a tutorial. But I must say that after using win 7, you wont feel like switching to XP again.

rockymast said:   Win 7 and XP use different boot loaders. If you install win 7 in other partion, the next reboot will show just win 7. You need to google and watch a tutorial. But I must say that after using win 7, you wont feel like switching to XP again.They do use different boot loaders, yes. But the installer for 7 checks for older OS and if you don't upgrade it adds it in to the boot loader.

If, for some reason, it doesn't happen automatically though it is pretty easy to go in and add it after the fact.

I haven't experienced that issue either. Was this a clean install of Windows 7, or an upgrade over XP or Vista? Did you perform any "tweaks" to the install?

Here's a thread where the issue was restricted to downloading exe files to the desktop, and was caused by the user disabling a Windows service that's on by default:
http://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/microsoft-windows/w...

You should have less hassles if you create your own folders for programs and data and not use the default ones in Windows. Plus you are dual-booting, so this would make it easier to access files created while using the other OS. Also, if you do not like the new start menu in 7, there are 3rd-party alternatives. Same thing with the file manager Explorer. Of course you could always turn off UAC completely if do not like the security nags.

With separate drives, dual booting is easy as the newer version of Windows will always set everything up for you. No idea why people say you need to research this. Only thing different is that the drive letters will change depending on what OS you use. Anyway in my opinion other than testing the OS, dual-booting does not serve much of a purpose anyway. You would typically just use the one OS as it is too much of a bother to reboot to the other OS.

lordoffire said:   minidrag said:   Can you provide any details? Are you trying to create a shortcut on your desktop? Save a document to it? What error message do you get when it fails?
simply downloading a file in FF...

it can't be FF since it does the same with IE, and FF works just fine under XP....

....it also does it sometimes when just trying to save a file (from paint, Word, etc.)

Definitely something wrong with your installation. I have never had an issue with any of those things, on my desktop, my laptop, or any other Win 7 machine I've ever tried those things on. Well, ok, I don't think I've tried to save to the desktop from FF on any machines other than my own, but from IE and from Word I certainly have.

I just tried it again, just to be sure. I downloaded a file (I have FF set to ask for a location each time) and chose the Desktop. No problem saving the file.