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Dual Boot questions

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TaoPhoenix:
A "long time ago" (in the comp-sci world) I had a buddy build a decent grade project computer we nicknamed "twilight", (not the TV show!!), designed to outlast XP and get info on wherever the state of Microsoft is at a bunch of years ahead.

(Update: We saw what should have been "awesome Longhorn" descend into the desperate Vista, then Win 7 wasn't bad, then the Win8 and 8.1 messes... so here we are.)

The "end of its mission" (heh, watching too much Star Trek Enterprise lately!) will be when Win 9 comes out. If all of our careful planning and a little luck holds out, my box might actually be able to handle it. Not counting raw core min specs, and I might need one more ram chip, the system has dual Terabyte hard drives.

So I plan to stick Win 9 (which if my ailing memory serves, is coming up semi soon now) on the second drive and get a techie to make a dual boot.

Supposing I get lucky and it works, will all my old apps still load? Last I knew they were all tied to C/Program Files/whatever. To me it shouldn't matter that the new system is on D Drive and new apps end up in D/Program files/whatever. Then little by little when I am bored I can just update versions at the same time I switch them over, etc etc.

Are my instincts right?

I don't really wanna run two whole new comps side by side and begin comparing stuff, plus except that HD problem we were talking about in another thread (fresh new HD, remember?), it would just make 2014-me smile that 2006-me got it right!      : )

Shades:
With the different folder structures between Windows versions I wouldn't be too worried. However, it is advised to keep the OS'es as separated as possible. Again, because of that same structure.

From experience I can tell you that my PortableApps folder (which contains 90% of all the software I need) worked fine when the main OS on that drive was Windows XP. I always setup my systems to have a separate partition for just the OS, one for the programs I need/want and another for my actual data. And if possible I keep even a separate partition for the Windows and user temp folders. Highly opinionated about this subject, I'm afraid.

Anywayz, with my structured setup I replaced Windows XP with Windows 7 (after leaving a Windows domain botched my XP) without a hitch and my portable apps worked immediately without any hiccup. Couldn't have spent more than 3 hours from completely botched to a completely installed and configured Windows 7 system (including the time it took to burn the installation DVD).

Later I added a new HD and on that drive Windows 2012 was installed. Relabeling the drive letters in W2012 to match the letters from W7 and my portable apps worked again without a hitch. Whenever I swap between OS'es the portable apps plain and simply work. For mail I use the installed version of Thunderbird (the portable version of that one is utter crap!), and after a one-time redirection of mail folder in both OS'es, mail I received in one OS is completely accessible in the other OS.

Standard Windows installations throw everything in one heap, making software execution and transferability much more complicated than it needs to be. If you are stuck with that, have fun. In that case, the best advise is to install the oldest OS first and then the new OS. The new(er) OS is usually capable of detecting an older Windows installation and work around it to make dual-boot possible. The other way around just creates one big stinking pile of s....

Having said all this, I hardly switch to Windows 7 anymore. With the dual HD setup I have, Windows 2012 is much more "snappy" than Windows 7 is. The first thing I did with Windows 2012 was installing Classic Shell and after that my needs for Windows 7 vanished almost completely within a month of swapping between both OS'es.

And that is what happens to most people who dual-boot. The newer OS gains the favor fairly quick and when (not if) that moment comes, the old OS is just data taking up (valuable) HD space. Bite the bullet, you are going to swap anyway.

SKA:
Shades

By Windows 2012 - you mean which exact flavor of Windows Server ?

Thanks
Ska 

Stoic Joker:
Dual boot was fun to play with back in the day, but it eventually ends up being a real hassle when you need to get something from the old OS...when you're already in the middle of something on the new OS.

Few months back when I made the jump to Win8, I just virtualized my old Win7 install so I could keep it handy incase something I forgot to move was needed. Sysinternals Disk2vhd makes doing this as close to idiot proof as anything I've ever seen. I've used it to virtualize dozens of production systems and haven't lost one yet.

Also if you're really paranoid, you can always pull and save the old drive.

MilesAhead:
Dual boot was fun to play with back in the day, but it eventually ends up being a real hassle when you need to get something from the old OS...when you're already in the middle of something on the new OS.
-Stoic Joker (August 08, 2014, 07:10 AM)
--- End quote ---

They messed it up starting with Vista.  The booted OS just has to be C:.  XP didn't care.  It booted as H: on my dual core and I could just drag and drop any files I needed from the W7 partition. (I'm talking single physical drive setup pre GPT.)

It would be fun to do it over again on a large SSD.  The reboot wouldn't take so long.

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