smooth transition from XP32 to Vista64

[kezs]

hello everyone.

I currently have XP Pro and recently installed Vista 32 on D:, a different partition. I actually wanna move to Vista 64, and was thinking about formating C: and doing a clean install... but after installing Vista 32 and realizing it changed the drive names (C becomes D, D becomes C) I thought I could just put Vista 64 on D and do a smooth transition, little by little installing everything I need on it until I don't need XP anymore... and then I'd just format current C, new D, and have it like that. that would mean my logical partition would be my main one and the physical partition would be the archive one... do you guys see a problem with that, performance-wise? would it be better to just format current C and put Vista 64 in it?

hope I made myself clear.

 

[bbz_Ghost]

The drive letters only "change" when Vista itself is running; it will always see itself as being on the C: drive. When you boot back into XP everything returns to "normal" as XP was originally installed on C: (meaning the first Primary partition) so that's a non-issue there.

Vista's installer does not create Extended or Logical partitions - it only creates Primary ones up to 3 and then it would create an Extended/Logical partition. That gives me headaches alone really. No need for any more than one Primary partition and the rest of everything should be Extended/Logical drives, regardless of how many partitions or physical drives you have. That's just my advice, however, as I'm sure others will disagree.

If you want the best possible performance from the system while Vista is running, then Vista needs to be the first OS on the platters so it sits on the outer edges, there's no getting around that, period. If you have one OS on it first sitting on the outer edge, and you create another partition somewhere past that, you're already hurting performance considerably when you install whatever secondary OS you choose to install on that middle area.

If you're going to go for Vista 64, then "Just do it" and don't look back. If you must maintain backwards compatibility, then that's where it gets really tricky in terms of performance. A small(er) XP system partition near the beginning of the drive, say 8GB or so for the OS and some basic apps - 8GB is a LOT OF SPACE for an XP installation and a lot of apps too, really - and then use space past that for Vista because you can install your big games and apps on the Vista partition later after Vista is up and running.

That gives you the dual boot capability, keeps the Vista system partition still relatively close to the outer edges of the drive, and... you can even create a static pagefile on the XP partition and point Vista to it as long as you use the same exact size and both OSes will use the same pagefile - without wasting twice the space. That's one benefit a lot of people overlook with respect to dual boots and actual performance.

Hope this helps...

 

[Catweazle]

The drive letters only "change" when Vista itself is running; it will always see itself as being on the C: drive.

..Or so I'd have thought, too, until I put my current Vista install in place.

Previously, I had a Vista Release Candidate install in place on the drive where Vista now resides. Within that install the drive letter allocations behaved exactly as you've described. Vista 'hijacked' the C: drive letter allocation, reallocvating drive letters to accomodate.

I nuked that install and replaced it with a Retail release install of Vista. For this subsequent install the drive letter allocation has altered. Instead, vista has allocated drive letters exactly as they appear within the XP install. My original XP drive appears as C: Other pre-exisiting drives/partitions retain their original allocations. The drive which I fitted to house Vista is identified as G:

Vista has done that. I haven't changed anything within Vista to make it so. The idea that Vista always takes over the C: allocation for itself, (which I previously believed) has been proven incorrect!

 

[bbz_Ghost]

I'll bet you now have more than one Primary partition on that drive, doncha?

 

[Catweazle]

Not on the Vista drive, no.

The rig currently has three drives. Only the original, XP drive has two partitions. One for the XP install and another for data storage. The Vista drive is a single partition. There's another single partition drive dedicated to video files.

The G: letter allocation is the result of a fourth drive which was in place when Vista was installed. It had some archived stuff on it, as well as a heap of game installs performed under XP. I've since removed that'n, to free up a SATA connector for a new SATA burner.