There were some excellent pieces of advice during October 2009 and June 2012 by Terry60 and others on the subject of creating a dual-boot configuration of a Win XP machine with the subsequent addition of a Win 7 installation on a second HD. Following those recommendations, I am all set to do the following and would greatly appreciate the comments/advice of Terry60 (and any other forum friends) and to be made aware of any potential failures if I follow the listed steps. Any additional actions that I should take in the process would also be welcome. (Sorry, I could not find an answer from past Forum entries) --
1. Install an additional 500 GB HD in my PC, format it and partition it into two, (200GB – Win 7 Boot and Programs) and (300 GB – Data). I would temporarily label them P: and Q:
2. Disconnect my XP after making a full HD Image backup. (Incidentally, my system meets or exceeds MS eligibility for Win 7.)
3. Install Win 7 on Partition P:, later presumably to be changed to C: by the Win 7 Installer.
4. Shut down after successful installation of Win 7. Reconnect Win XP HD to PC. Restart PC with both HDs connected. On this start Win 7 will hopefully recognise the right of the Win XP HD to co-exist and reconfigure the system automatically.
5. Install EasyBCD and add an entry for Win XP.
6. Re-label my existing Win XP HD partitions from the present: C:, D:, E: and F: to become D:, E:, F: and G:
7. Re-label the new HD partitions C: and H:
Terry60 had previously advised formatting the Win 7-intended HD but not partitioning it. Would my formatting the new second HD and labelling both partitions avoid the problems he had visualised? I would be grateful if he could look into this.
Many thanks for your help.
Hektor
1. Install an additional 500 GB HD in my PC, format it and partition it into two, (200GB – Win 7 Boot and Programs) and (300 GB – Data). I would temporarily label them P: and Q:
2. Disconnect my XP after making a full HD Image backup. (Incidentally, my system meets or exceeds MS eligibility for Win 7.)
3. Install Win 7 on Partition P:, later presumably to be changed to C: by the Win 7 Installer.
4. Shut down after successful installation of Win 7. Reconnect Win XP HD to PC. Restart PC with both HDs connected. On this start Win 7 will hopefully recognise the right of the Win XP HD to co-exist and reconfigure the system automatically.
5. Install EasyBCD and add an entry for Win XP.
6. Re-label my existing Win XP HD partitions from the present: C:, D:, E: and F: to become D:, E:, F: and G:
7. Re-label the new HD partitions C: and H:
Terry60 had previously advised formatting the Win 7-intended HD but not partitioning it. Would my formatting the new second HD and labelling both partitions avoid the problems he had visualised? I would be grateful if he could look into this.
Many thanks for your help.
Hektor