How best to partition and install Windows 7?

[SpaghettiOs]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd give the Windows 7 RC a try before I pre-order and wanted some advice on how best to dual boot.

At the moment I have two drives, a 500GB Seagate 7200.11 and a 320GB Seagate 7200.10. They both have a single partition. My XP install is on the 500GB drive and I store movies, music and other stuff on the 320GB.

My question is, where is best to install 7? Should I shrink my XP partition and install it next to that on the same drive, which happens to be a marginally faster one? Or should I shrink the partition on the other drive and install it there, which is less likely to cause problems if I lose data?

Or any other suggestions?

Cheers,
James

 

[SpaghettiOs]

id do it the other way around, have the 320 as the OS drive and any other drive(s) as storage.

I would have done it that way if the 320 was the faster drive.

So would you recommend shrinking the partition on the 320 or the 500?

Also, is there a way to check the integrity of the RC iso before I burn it, and after? I was slightly worried by an error I recieved when I downlaoded the first time saying the file was corrupted. It hasn't come up this time, but the seeds of doubt have been sown.

 

[SpaghettiOs]

Sorry for the double post but I just thought of another question. If I was to shrink the 320GB partition, and make another 100GB partition for Windows 7, would I still be able to access my files and folders located on my XP install?

If I can, does that mean I can simply run Steam from the new install without having to redownload anything?