Vista Questions

[Modular]

I ordered my copy of the Beta. I have a new hard drive on the way.

I want to install Vista on the new drive, toy around with it for a few days (weeks) and then format it and go back to XP.

1. Can I just install it on the new drive and boot from there without any trouble? What is all this sh!t I've been reading about a boot.ini file.

2. I assume that the 2 OS's (XP and Vista) should not interfere with each other as they will be on 2 completely seperate drives. Is this a safe assumption?

3. I figure this should be relatively painless to get running. Am I assuming incorrectly?


Thanks for any input/advice.

 

[Navid]

Some have experienced trouble even when installing Vista on a separate hard drive.
Backup your data first.

If you have backed up your data, and imaged your OS, it will be painless.

I currently have Vista on the first partition on my main hard drive and XP pro on the second partition of the same hard drive. I use Drive Image to change the active partition when I want to play with Vista.

In Vista, my printer, scanner and sound card do not work!
So, XP is my default OS.

 

[Modular]

I suppose I should mention that the computer it will be installed on is a Dell that came with all the restore media on CD/DVD. I assume that should be enough to get the OS back to snuff shoudl something go wrong.

How does Vista mess up an OS on a completely different HDD?

Is it recommended to unplug the currnet HDD (with XP on it) and boot up with the new HDD and just install Vista on it? I figure if I go that route, nothing from my XP install can be touched by Vista and when I'm done with Vista I can just hook the XP HDD back in the system, slave the Vista HDD and completely format it.

Thoughts?

 

[toolfan]

Originally posted by: Modular
Is it recommended to unplug the currnet HDD (with XP on it) and boot up with the new HDD and just install Vista on it? I figure if I go that route, nothing from my XP install can be touched by Vista and when I'm done with Vista I can just hook the XP HDD back in the system, slave the Vista HDD and completely format it.

Thoughts?

That would be the best - if the drive is unplugged then Vista definitely can't mess it up.

 

[Navid]

Read this.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=34&threadid=1875699&enterthread=y

Sounds like he disconnected his drives when he installed Vista. Yet, he ran into problems!
I cannot explain it. User error?

That's why it is always best to do a backup of at least all of your irreplaceable data before you try something this new.

 

[the cobbler]

Originally posted by: Navid
Some have experienced trouble even when installing Vista on a separate hard drive.
Backup your data first.

If you have backed up your data, and imaged your OS, it will be painless.

I currently have Vista on the first partition on my main hard drive and XP pro on the second partition of the same hard drive. I use Drive Image to change the active partition when I want to play with Vista.

In Vista, my printer, scanner and sound card do not work!
So, XP is my default OS.

fwiw, you don't need to go through all that...changing active partitions

Vista has a bootloader that simply allows you to choose which OS you want to run in DOS. not a bad feature imho

what soundcard are you using Navid? I got my Audigy 2 fully functional in Vista x64 (i.e. all speakers working w/ 7.1 audio/EAX) maybe I can help

 

[toolfan]

Originally posted by: Navid
Read this.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=34&threadid=1875699&enterthread=y

Sounds like he disconnected his drives when he installed Vista. Yet, he ran into problems!
I cannot explain it. User error?

That's why it is always best to do a backup of at least all of your irreplaceable data before you try something this new.

Well that guy reconnected the array in order to access the data in Vista, which is the point where he ran into problems. Sounded like the OP wasn't going to reconnect the XP drive until he was totally done with Vista and wanted to get rid of it. But yeah, if you plan on accessing the XP drive in Vista at all, then I would also recommend data backup.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: toolfan
Sounded like the OP wasn't going to reconnect the XP drive until he was totally done with Vista and wanted to get rid of it.

Correct.


If I were to leave the XP drive running, what would you recommend for a backup program?

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: toolfan
Sounded like the OP wasn't going to reconnect the XP drive until he was totally done with Vista and wanted to get rid of it.

Correct.


If I were to leave the XP drive running, what would you recommend for a backup program?

Acronis for backup.

I have Vista installed on a seperate, PATA drive and XP running on a RAID 0, SATA array.

I unplugged the SATA cables on the array and changed the boot order to install Vista. I connect which drive(s) I want to run from and change the boot order to suit.

The plus is that there is no chance of Vista messing up my XP install.

It's a bit of messing around, but it works for me.

Edit: For spelling, as usual! :|

 

[Navid]

My sound card is Creative X-Fi and I am using Vista 64 bit.

 

[the cobbler]

Originally posted by: Navid
My sound card is Creative X-Fi and I am using Vista 64 bit.

try these

Vista betas would not install for me, XP x64 drivers work perfectly

if they won't install for you, extract the files, navigate to extracted folder, right-click Setup.exe, navigate to Compatibility tab, enable XP SP2 Compatibility mode

same goes with AudioConsole Setup.exe and possibly the Console .exe itself once it is installed

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: boomerang
Acronis for backup.

I have Vista installed on a seperate, PATA drive and XP running on a RAID 0, SATA array.

I unplugged the SATA cables on the array and changed the boot order to install Vista. I connect which drive(s) I want to run from and change the boot order to suit.

The plus is that there is no chance of Vista messing up my XP install.

It's a bit of messing around, but it works for me.

Edit: For spelling, as usual! :|

Awesome. That is all I wanted to hear

So here's what I'll do:

1. Unplug IDE drive with XP and all proggies/files on it.
2. Plug in SATA drive and set as boot drive.
3. Install Vista and mess around for a few days, trying different programs, games, etc.
4. Unplug SATA (Vista) drive and plug in IDE (XP) drive.
5. Set IDE drive to master boot again.
6. Format SATA drive


Sound good? I figure this way I'll be COMPLETELY sure that Vista doesn't mess with my XP install.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: the cobbler

Originally posted by: Navid
My sound card is Creative X-Fi and I am using Vista 64 bit.

try these

Vista betas would not install for me, XP x64 drivers work perfectly

if they won't install for you, extract the files, navigate to extracted folder, right-click Setup.exe, navigate to Compatibility tab, enable XP SP2 Compatibility mode

same goes with AudioConsole Setup.exe and possibly the Console .exe itself once it is installed

No, X-Fi does not work. Many have reported this. It is not just me! it is even on the Creative Labs Forums.
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs.../message?board.id=Vista&message.id=222
You have not done this with X-Fi, have you?

 

[the cobbler]

Originally posted by: Navid

Originally posted by: the cobbler

Originally posted by: Navid
My sound card is Creative X-Fi and I am using Vista 64 bit.

try these

Vista betas would not install for me, XP x64 drivers work perfectly

if they won't install for you, extract the files, navigate to extracted folder, right-click Setup.exe, navigate to Compatibility tab, enable XP SP2 Compatibility mode

same goes with AudioConsole Setup.exe and possibly the Console .exe itself once it is installed

No, X-Fi does not work. Many have reported this. It is not just me! it is even on the Creative Labs Forums.
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs.../message?board.id=Vista&message.id=222
You have not done this with X-Fi, have you?

no, but in the same token, everyone is claiming only stereo sound out of their Audigy cards, which is flat-out baloney. I suspect the X-Fi situation is precisely the same.

have you tried the method I suggested? not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person alive right now whose Creative audio works perfectly on Vista x64. fwiw.

imho, disable Driver Signing in Vista, then download and install the XP x64 drivers.

just looked on the threads again and a bunch of people have your card running, many of them also claiming stereo sound only

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: Modular

Awesome. That is all I wanted to hear

So here's what I'll do:

1. Unplug IDE drive with XP and all proggies/files on it.
2. Plug in SATA drive and set as boot drive.
3. Install Vista and mess around for a few days, trying different programs, games, etc.
4. Unplug SATA (Vista) drive and plug in IDE (XP) drive.
5. Set IDE drive to master boot again.
6. Format SATA drive


Sound good? I figure this way I'll be COMPLETELY sure that Vista doesn't mess with my XP install.

Yes, no? Sorry if it's a no0b question, but I'm a relative software no0b (more of a hardware guy )

 

[toolfan]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: Modular

Awesome. That is all I wanted to hear

So here's what I'll do:

1. Unplug IDE drive with XP and all proggies/files on it.
2. Plug in SATA drive and set as boot drive.
3. Install Vista and mess around for a few days, trying different programs, games, etc.
4. Unplug SATA (Vista) drive and plug in IDE (XP) drive.
5. Set IDE drive to master boot again.
6. Format SATA drive


Sound good? I figure this way I'll be COMPLETELY sure that Vista doesn't mess with my XP install.

Yes, no? Sorry if it's a no0b question, but I'm a relative software no0b (more of a hardware guy )

Sounds good. As long as you never boot into Vista with the IDE drive attached then you should be good to go.

 

[Skitzer]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: Modular

Awesome. That is all I wanted to hear

So here's what I'll do:

1. Unplug IDE drive with XP and all proggies/files on it.
2. Plug in SATA drive and set as boot drive.
3. Install Vista and mess around for a few days, trying different programs, games, etc.
4. Unplug SATA (Vista) drive and plug in IDE (XP) drive.
5. Set IDE drive to master boot again.
6. Format SATA drive


Sound good? I figure this way I'll be COMPLETELY sure that Vista doesn't mess with my XP install.

Yes, no? Sorry if it's a no0b question, but I'm a relative software no0b (more of a hardware guy )

Why go through all that trouble, opening the machine to disconnect and connect drives? I have Vista on a separate drive in my machine and haven't had a single problem. Vista will set up a bootloader and allow you to chose between the 2 OS's. Vista will not bother the XP drive at all. I dual boot between both all the time and XP is running perfectly. When you get ready to remove Vista just boot to your XP disc, choose repair, then type fixmbr. Then go into XP and format the other drive.

 

[gi0rgi0]

Originally posted by: Skitzer

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: Modular

Awesome. That is all I wanted to hear

So here's what I'll do:

1. Unplug IDE drive with XP and all proggies/files on it.
2. Plug in SATA drive and set as boot drive.
3. Install Vista and mess around for a few days, trying different programs, games, etc.
4. Unplug SATA (Vista) drive and plug in IDE (XP) drive.
5. Set IDE drive to master boot again.
6. Format SATA drive


Sound good? I figure this way I'll be COMPLETELY sure that Vista doesn't mess with my XP install.

Yes, no? Sorry if it's a no0b question, but I'm a relative software no0b (more of a hardware guy )

Why go through all that trouble, opening the machine to disconnect and connect drives? I have Vista on a separate drive in my machine and haven't had a single problem. Vista will set up a bootloader and allow you to chose between the 2 OS's. Vista will not bother the XP drive at all. I dual boot between both all the time and XP is running perfectly. When you get ready to remove Vista just boot to your XP disc, choose repair, then type fixmbr. Then go into XP and format the other drive.

This is exactly what ive been wanting to know. I have a drive with xp but i was thinking about getting another drive to try out vista. So its possible to have xp on one hdd and vista on another and be able to boot into either one without any problems ?

When first installing the vista beta on the new hdd how should I set up the drive and after how should both go in order ? Master, slave and all that. Thanks for any help.

 

[wiin]

No problem installing Vista here. Hopefully, AVG will be compatible with Vista by the time Vista is officially out. Vista blocked the AVG installation.

 

[Modular]

Well, I have heard that upon uninstallation there can be problems with XP. I have no desire to be reformatting 2 drives just because I wanted to try a Beta...

I figure that by physically disabling Vista's ability to mess with my XP HDD I guarantee that there will be no foul ups. The only time the 2 drives will be connected is when I set teh XP drive as master boot while the Vista drive is still installed so that I can format the Vista drive.