Dual OS's

[whattaguy]

I'm tired of waiting for the final XP drivers from Aardvark, so I purchased another HD to run an older operating system (2000 or 98se). XP is my current OS. I am computer knowledge is limited, but am more than willing to learn. How do I go about setting up 2 OS's on the different drives? If someone is willing to go into detail here, that'd be great, but I am also open to a good website that has detailed instructions on how to go about this.

My system:

P4, 1.8GHz
512 RDRAM
40gig Maxtor 7200rpm HD (current primary)
40gig Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm HD (coming soom)
Windows XP Pro

Thanks in advance.

 

[whattaguy]

oops! grammatical error

[I am computer knowledge is limited...] should read [My computer knowledge is limited...]

 

[elevate]

If you install Windows2000, there isn't much of an issue other than that you should install the two operating systems on two different partitions - or two different drives would work just as well (though if you're doing audio work, it's a good idea to have a seperate drive for your project files).

If you install a Win9x OS, then you should have installed the Win9x OS first, as it is rather dumb and will take over the master boot record (erasing any record of you having installed XP). This can be fixed though by running a repair install on your XP installation. The problem is that you probably installed XP on C:\, which is where you have to install Win9x - it has to be on the primary partition.

If you get something like Partition Magic, you may be able to move your XP installation and then access with Boot Magic (comes with Partition Magic).

Anyway, aren't there beta drivers for XP from Aardvark?

 

[whattaguy]

elevate,

thanks for your quick reply. yeah, aardvark does have their beta drivers out...i have their pre-release running. everything's okay, except the on-board effects on my dp2496 works only about 30% of the time. i also get some pops and clicks when running Fruity Loops with the buffer settings to the highest.

where can i get Partition Magic?

 

[elevate]

Go search at DealTime for the cheapest place. I think it'll run ya around $50. There may be cheaper (or even free) partitioning utilities, but Partition Magic is the best. If you're just going to format and reinstall XP, then just set up your partitions with XP before you format, and then install Win9x, and then XP. If you're going to install Windows2000, just set up your partitions in XP and install Win2k.

[edit]
I was under the impression that XP had more dynamic partitioning abilities (I use Partition Magic). It can only set up partitions on unallocated space. Anyway, if you format, then you can use fdisk, a dos utility, to set up your partitions.