How best to partition and install Windows 7?

SpaghettiOs · 30 Jul 2009 at 14:23

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

neil_g · 30 Jul 2009 at 14:33

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

bledd · 30 Jul 2009 at 14:59

get another 2gb

DDR2 is mega cheap and Vista/7 really fly on 4gb

SpaghettiOs · 30 Jul 2009 at 18:01

neil_g said:
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 · 30 Jul 2009 at 22:26

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?

elpedro · 30 Jul 2009 at 22:34

I short stroked my 250GB Barracuda to 30GB - now boasts a 9ms average access with read and burst transfer speeds that of a Velociraptor drive. Obviously its only 30GB not 150GB like the Velociraptor but as a quick boot drive it's better value even if you do sacrifice the rest of the drive.

This would be further improved on one of the single platter 7200.12 drives, short stroked to around 150GB!

MouseMat2004 · 30 Jul 2009 at 23:08

Download Parted Magic and use that to shrink/create new partitions. I've used it loads of times and it's always worked flawlessly and never lost any of my data.

You will be able to access all partitions from both OS's so will have full access to all your files.