Multi boot options, 64 & 32 bit on RAID array

hayduke3

  I would much appreciate any info on anyones success in setting up 4 different bootable OS XP 32 & 64, plus Vista 32 & 64, on a RAID 0 configuration. Can it be done?   I have (2) 300g Velociraptors, on an ASUS CrossHair ll formula board, Phenom 2, 940 Black Edition. Do I set up the RAID 0 and start with XP or with Vista? 64 or 32 first? Should I use some software such as;"System Commander" from VCOM? Or can windows take care of it all?? Thanks in advance, A real "NEWBIE" here. I think I should post this under a different topic? such as; "Newbie guy seeks advice"

Lacky2

This guide shows dual booting.
http://apcmag.com/the_definitive_dua...stepbystep.htm
Simply repeat after installing the 1st 2 OSs'.
Yes Windows multiloader will cope.

hayduke3

Thank You

debro

Yes, but you will need 4 primary partitions, so each OS will be self contained.
While you can try 3x primary partitions, and one to a Logical Drive in the Secondary partition, you're probably asking for trouble.
Install XP32, Install XP64, Vista x32 & then Vista x64.

You must install the 2x WinXP's first, they don't understand Vista & will stop them from working during the install.

Can I ask why you are installing Vista x32?

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Lovelygirl888

I want to know it too.

hayduke3

Isn't there any advantages to having Vista 32 along with XP 32? Or? If software would require 32 bit hardware, would XP 32 be able to handle all 32 bit applications?
So, are you saying I should only install 3 OS to handle any possible applications? XP 32 & 64, and also VISTA 64? I thought it might be interesting to also play with Windows7.??
Let me run this by you and see what you think? I have (2) 300g Velociraptors in RAID '0'. I partition this array, (say for simplicity) , into (4) equal 150g partititions. I install XP32 first, XP64 next, then VISTA64, and maybe WINDOWS7? Can this be done without the help of a Multi Boot program such as VCOM System commander?
Any experience with this is new to this newbie, So; "THANKS!" in advance.

debro

Unless you are testing programs in Os's for end users, quite frankly, you would only use WinXP x32 & Windows7 x64

WindowsXP 32 is more likely to have everything work better than vista32, because it's old, reliable & companies are well versed in it's quirks.
Advantage of Vista32 is ... DX10 Video hardware support (for games), but I understand there is a hacked version of DX10 for WinXP anyway

Windows 7 is the latest 64b offering, which is a great improvement to Vista64. Quite frankly, you can do away with installing Vista (any version), unless you can find and extremely compelling reason for it (aka testing for end-users).

And if you are installing multiple OS's to a (striped) raid array, I'd recommend a seperate (5400/7200rpm) HDD to store important documents/backups.

So, now you're down to Window7 X64 & WinXP x32 ... which I believe you will find most knowledgeable people would recommend. WinXP32 for Work, Windows7 for (new) games. Windows 7 is also free atm .. for the beta, and I understand that there is a public Release Candidate to be released later this month.

If you want something that all programs work in, you'd need to install MacOS & Linux, but I doubt that's what you want.

The advantage of a 64b OS is that it has access to >4GB of addressable space. Any programs designed for WinXP (32b programs ... which is the Vast majority currently, and for the next few years ... won't significantly benefit from a 64b OS (Except Games & Corporate/Scientific software).

Currently, the only programs which will benefit from a 64b OS (for home users) are games, which chew up lots of Ram ... but even then, it's only a matter of accesible RAM, as most are still only running 32b instructions, but use a 64b addressable storage space.

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