Looking at Dual booting: Got some questions

[jabulani jonny]

Hey all,
I primarily do mobile recording, 16 tracks at a time on a Dell 9300 laptop. I also use this laptop for a number of other purposes, one being gaming since it's a gaming beast. Anyway, I'm looking at going to a dual boot system, but I don't really want the hassle of reinstalling all of my programs. Is there a way to partition my primary drive and install XP as well as my recording apps without disturbing the delicate balance of stability that my general use apps and logon enjoy? If that makes any sense...I guess what I'm asking is do I have to completely reformat the HD or is there a program that exists that will allow me to partition the drive from the free space that remains? Here are my specs:

Dell 9300 17"
PentM 1.73 ghz, 533 mhz FSB
1gb DDR2 533mhz
256mb Nvidia 6800
60gb 7200 HD
Wireless, Firewire, bla bla bla

Thanks a ton!
Jonathan

edit: Let me take this a little further too. Right now I use Acronis True Image to back everything up. I'm wondering if I go ahead an take a full image of my drive right now with all audio software and everything running just fine. Then, reformat my drive and split it up into three partitions: 1: XP for general use and gaming (basically just restoring the image to that partition), 2: DAW OS with all recording software, 3: all personal data ( I have an external HD for audio). Question is, can I install an image to a smaller partition as long as the partition is big enough? Thx.

 

[cawhite12]

If you didn't want to go through all of the Dual Boot Stuff (which I've heard can be somewhat nightmarish), you could do what I do, and that's set up separate hardware profiles. Right click My Computer/Properties/Hardware Tab/then you'll see Hardware Profiles. These allow you to disable services (processes) and hardware (like networking) that you don't need on the audio profile. You should also still keep two logons (as do I) and then get a program like Startup Control Panel at www.mlin.net, and then you can assign things like anti-virus and firewall to only startup with the Normal Logon, and your audio control panel software to start with the other. It's not quite as separate as a dual boot, but I think can be just as effective.

 

[jabulani jonny]

Hmmm...I'll check into that ca, that's about all I need right now is just to cut off some of the processes that I use with my general logon. I do this manually right now and it just gets to be a hassle. I'll look into that program you suggested.