Questions regarding Windows x64...

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ScotteusMaximus

Limp Gawd
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Oct 2, 2005
Messages
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ok, so i've been running XP professional (32-bit) since i built the machine in my sig back in august. i've been thinking about trying out my copy of x64, but i have a few questions that i was hoping someone could help me with before i take the plunge.

1. my primary hard drive is a SATA drive plugged into the NVIDIA SATA ports. when installing XP pro, i didn't have to do the whole F6 business, and windows recognized my drive immediately. does this mean that x64 will do the same?

2. my primary drive is partitioned into a small C:\ portion for windows and a D:\ partition for general storage. i also have a PATA E:\ drive for more storage. will i be able to format just the C:\ partition and install windows on that? i know i'll have to reinstall anything that was originally installed to the D:\ and E:\ drives, but will i have access to the rest of my data after the installation?

3. i know that x64 has a default install folder for 32-bit apps and one for 64-bit apps, but they're on the C:\ drive, and i like to keep that partition dedicated to windows. will i be able to install 32-bit apps to my D:\ or E:\ partitions, or do they have to go in the special 32-bit folder in order to work properly? if they do, is there any way to change the default installation location?
 
Carloswill said:
F6 is for RAID. You don't need to hit F6 to partition a SATA drive.
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No but sometimes you have to hit F6 to load "third party drivers" which in most cases is SATA drivers.

I just went to a 64 system and would like to know a couple of these answers....anyone wanna make a XP 64 FAQ?
 
1) It's a good idea to have the 64 bit drivers on a floppy just in case.

2) I would keep one drive for the OS and all installed apps, and the second drive for storage. I'd pull the power cable from the storage drive until XP64 is installed. Then plug it back in, power the system on, and it will be accessible.

3) As it's been beaten to bloody death already, there's absolutely no justification for separating your apps from the OS install. As I mentioned above in #2, it's a good diea to separate your personal data and files from the OS/apps partition, but going any farther than that is useless. There's a saying in the computer world known as KISS...Keep It Simple, Stupid. This isn't a flame of any kind, it's just a simple rule that says don't overcomplicate something when it's not needed.
 
djnes said:
2) I would keep one drive for the OS and all installed apps, and the second drive for storage. I'd pull the power cable from the storage drive until XP64 is installed. Then plug it back in, power the system on, and it will be accessible.
Click to expand...

that's what i was planning on doing with the PATA drive, but since i have 2 partitions on my main SATA drive, i was just wondering if x64 would be able to access the second, non-boot partition, or if i'd have to back up all 200+ gigs, reformat the entire drive, and then repartition.

djnes said:
3) As it's been beaten to bloody death already, there's absolutely no justification for separating your apps from the OS install. As I mentioned above in #2, it's a good diea to separate your personal data and files from the OS/apps partition, but going any farther than that is useless. There's a saying in the computer world known as KISS...Keep It Simple, Stupid. This isn't a flame of any kind, it's just a simple rule that says don't overcomplicate something when it's not needed.
Click to expand...

i have my reasons why i partition my drives the way i do, mostly because my OS/apps don't require an entire 250GB drive, just a small portion of that. the rest of the SATA and the entire PATA drive are for general storage.
 
you might want to thank about dual booting. cause you might not be able to optain 64 bit driver for your printer,scanner,digital camara ect. beleave me it will relieve you of a headache later on. Good luck
 
DieHard007 said:
you might want to thank about dual booting. cause you might not be able to optain 64 bit driver for your printer,scanner,digital camara ect. beleave me it will relieve you of a headache later on. Good luck
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thanks. i've been holding off for a while now because of the driver issues, but now that all of my devices have x64 compatible drivers, i figured i'd give it a shot.
 
ScotteusMaximus said:
3. i know that x64 has a default install folder for 32-bit apps and one for 64-bit apps, but they're on the C:\ drive, and i like to keep that partition dedicated to windows. will i be able to install 32-bit apps to my D:\ or E:\ partitions, or do they have to go in the special 32-bit folder in order to work properly? if they do, is there any way to change the default installation location?
Click to expand...

The path for Program Files can be edited in the registry. Usually it's HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion. But that's for regular Win XP. Not sure if it's the same for x64 (haven't tried it on my x64 machine yet)
 
so i finally bit the bullet and installed x64 last night without any problems. didn't need any special SATA drivers, just formatted and installed over my existing C: partition, and i've been able to install 32-bit apps on my D: partition without any problems. thanks for all the advice everybody.
 
awdark said:
Single or dual boot? My A64 seems under used :p
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single boot. i formatted over my C: partition, which only had my windows install and some random apps. all my data on the D: partition and the E: drive were left alone. it's basically doing a reformat/reinstall, except you're just changing the OS.

having a 64 bit proc and a 32 bit OS was pretty much why i was so anxious to try out x64, even though it probably won't give much, if any performance boost over XP pro.

edit: i've noticed that x64 seems to use up slightly more RAM and makes my CPU run around 1-2 degrees C warmer when idling when compared to XP pro.
 
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