Dual Boot 32 Bit Vista and 64 Bit 7.0?

I have a 32 bit Vista Ultimate system with two disc drives. One has all of my vista stuff on it (C) and the other (D) is just used as a backup device. Is it possible to install 64 bit Windows 7 on this disc, and keep all of the 32 bit Vista stuff on the original disc? And then setup some type of dual boot capability?

I would prefer not to have to format both of these drives while going to 64 bit 7.0, as I might not be able to restore all of my old programs.

Appreciate all suggestion's and feedback.

Thank you,

Dennis D

 

It is possible, and the W7 installer will automatically create the dual boot for you. However W7 needs a partition of its own, so either you will have to format the second drive first, or see if you can shrink the partition on the second drive sufficiently to create a new partition for W7. Vista's Disk Management could in theory handle this for you, but often it can't shrink partitions very much at all so you would probably need a partition manager.

Depending on the situation on your Vista disk you possibly could shrink Vista sufficiently to create room for a W7 partition - say 50GB - but you would certainly need a partition manager for this.

This sort of thing is potentially hazardous, so everything important would need backing up first.

 

Earthling,
Thank you for your suggestions. I'm new at this game. Can you recommend a partition manager, and any place I could find more information on how to setup a dual boot system?
Appreciate the help.
Dennis D

 

Personally I use Acronis Disk Director, though I certainly wouldn't recommend it to others as it badly needs updating. Others here recommend EASEUS, which is available as a download here at MG. I've not used it enough myself to say much about it, except that it appears very easy to use.

Windows will automatically create a dual boot for you for Vista and W7. It does this during the W7 installation.

I must stress the importance of backing up to a safe place important stuff prior to using a partition manager.

 

Thanks again for your suggestions. One last question. I have never done a complete install before. I know I have to have a secure backup before I start. I buying an external hard drive via a usb or firewire a good approach, vs. burning cds/dvs?

Dennis D

 

It's a less safer way than burning media but much better than leaving everything on there. Now, since you mentioned an external HDD, perhaps you can add a low-end HDD to your PC and use that for W7 instead.

 

As you already have a second internal hard drive then I would say the optimal route is to shrink Vista and create a second partition behind it for W7. Backup anything you mustn't lose to the existing backup drive.

This assumes you've got enough spare capacity on C:

 

Augiedoggie,

Great suggestion!. I wonder if anyone on the list knows if this can be done?

Dennis D

 

I've done done it, that should be enough!:-D It'll be easier if it's SATA drives as then you won't have to worry about jumpers. Do wait for other's opinions to get a comfortable feeling.

As long as one installs older to newer then there should be no issues, it's when folks want to dual boot a Vista machine with XP that folk get into trouble. Good luck and have fun!