Windows 7- I got mine.
jeffreaux2
Registered Users Posts: 4,762 Major grins
Newegg delivered my pre ordered copy of Windows7 Pro this afternoon. I plan to install as soon as I can set the time aside. I know Scott Quier also pre-ordered....and Im sure a few others have as well.
Does anyone know where a good guide can be found on installing dual boot O/S?
Im considering dual boot in case there are any issues with this early version of the final release.
Does anyone know where a good guide can be found on installing dual boot O/S?
Im considering dual boot in case there are any issues with this early version of the final release.
Thanks,
Jeff
-Need help with Dgrin?; Wedding Photography Resources
-My Website - Blog - Tips for Senior Portraiture
Jeff
-Need help with Dgrin?; Wedding Photography Resources
-My Website - Blog - Tips for Senior Portraiture
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As far as dual booting goes, there are two options:
1) multiple partitions on the same disk, use the windows boot loader to select which OS you want to run.
2) different physical disks for different operating systems, use bios to select which drive you boot from.
I've got 7 on my primary drive and OSX on a spare 120gb. No dealing with boot loaders, I just specify a different disk when i want to boot mac-mode.
[edit]
What OS do you want to dual-boot with Windows 7? I'm assuming you want to run XP (not that I can imagine why, I have yet to find incompatible software).
How many drives do you have in the machine? Do you currently have unpartitioned space on any of them? Need a few details on your setup to give you much help.
[/edit]
Some businesses still run XP, particularly small ones that can't justify the cost of switching. So if you are tied to one of them you are tied to XP.
Its a Core i7 with 12 gigs DDR3 1600 RAM. I currently have a 10k RPM 300G drive (unpartitioned) for OS and apps and use a 1TB drive for storage(also unpartitioned). I am considering either another of the 300G 10Krpm drives or a solid state drive for W7. My original intent when I built the PC last spring was to eventually get a third drive to use for a scratch disk. Im still willing to get a third disk, but honestly....using it as a scratch disk probably wont offer a huge advantage as it ALWAYS has free RAM.
More details on the PC here....http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=128564
Current OS is Vista64 Ultimate....and that would be the "other" boot option.
Jeff
-Need help with Dgrin?; Wedding Photography Resources
-My Website - Blog - Tips for Senior Portraiture
I ordered my pre-order copies through CostCo and requested ground transport. I was in no big hurry to get mine because I already have a very late build of Win7 running on all my computers. Curious, the transport started in Pacific WA and was routed (so far) through Redmond WA.
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Not that I live to second guess you, but you can do a direct upgrade from vista to 7, meaning you lose no data or applications. Anything that will run in vista will run in 7, they even use the same drivers.
If you really, really want to run dual OSes, I would repartition the 300 gig drive, install 7 on the second partition, and the windows boot loader will see the vista install on its own and present you with a choice of windows 7 or "previous windows installation" on boot.
Really though, i'd just do a direct upgrade.
The process is the same on Vista or 7 - have a system with multiple disks, or one drive that is partitioned. Install one OS, install the other OS on the other drive. Seperate drives will result in the best performance to some extent. Should work fine with Win2k and XP.
Here's a guide, should you need it:
http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-with-xp-or-vista
Honestly, as long as you have 2 drives, or 2 partitions, and pay close attention when you set up the OS, everything else is automatic. I dual boot XP/7 on my netbook, and have installed it on a bunch of machines for other people... and use XP to play one old game that doesn't work in 7. That's it.
I'm still on RC1 (build 7100), and will probably milk it for a while before I make the switch to the final release. I've not had any issues with RC1 on any computer (4 year old laptop, netbook, and 2+ year old desktop PC), but will probably do a clean install along with a modest hardware upgrade to the desktop when I go through with getting the final product.
If you are doing an upgrade install, I would recommend backing up your data. While it is unlikely that a problem arises, the 1 in 100 times it does, you don't want to be the one to lose everything!
If you need more help, feel free to post, there's a reasonable chance I can help.
At work I simply didn't have time for that right now and there's a ton of specialized software I use each week (Bible app, audio conversion app, .wav editor, etc.). So yesterday I came by the church on my day off, popped in the Windows 7 disk and told it to upgrade. I had to stick with 32-bit because that's the version of Vista that was on this computer. Still, that seems like a small price to pay if the upgrade would work. I did not have high hopes.
I came in this morning and found: a computer running windows 7 that works perfectly. All my settings are in place (even my desktop wallpaper!) and all my applications just worked. I can't believe it. There was a little bit of lag that I thought would bother me but after a series of Windows updates and one restart even that's gone.
I'm absolutely dumbfounded that this worked so easily and well. It's no small thing to save the time reinstalling everything. Just thinking about Firefox and having to reinstall and reconfigure all those plugins - eesh.