Upgrading to Vista/Dual booting

[BobaFettK]

It's been almost a year since the great minds on this site helped me build my super pc. Here's what I built:

case: Antec 900
motherboard: Asus P5KC
processor: Intel E8400
memory: Corsair 4GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
GPU: evga 8800GT 512 MB
HD: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB SATA 7200rpm
optical: Samsung 20x DVD+/-R w/lightscribe SH-S203N
floppy: Samsung
PSU: Corsair HX520w
cooling: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
keyboard/mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave

I installed Windows XP since I already owned it and Vista hadn't been updated with SP1 yet. I'm thinking of putting Vista on my Xmas wish list, and I'm pretty sure I know which version to get, but I wanted to make sure. I definitely want most of the bells and whistles, like the media center, so I'm deciding between Home Premium and Ultimate. I'm pretty sure Ultimate is overkill, and since it costs more I'm leaning toward Home Premium. Is there any good reason for me to get ultimate? I only use the PC for personal/home use, not for work.

I know I want to get 64-bit Vista, but some of the packaging doesn't seem to specify 32-bit vs. 64-bit. I know I can order the OEM version for system builders for $100 on Newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

I would like to keep my current install of XP and load Vista onto a different partition for dual-booting. Would this work, or do I have to wipe XP and do a full install of Vista on the main partition first? Is the version in the link above the correct version for doing this? Are there any important things I need to know before choosing/purchasing a specific version?

Thanks!

[The Wise Monkey]

It depends on how you have got the HD partitioned at the moment, because you cannot alter the size of the boot partition without using special partitioning software e.g. Partition Magic.

[BobaFettK]

Right now it's a 500 GB SATA hard drive w/ 127 GB on C: (XP drive) and the rest on drive E: which is pretty much empty right now. Can I just install Vista onto E, or do I have to put Vista on C first and then reinstall XP on the other partition?

[The Wise Monkey]

Check out this guide:

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_xp__stepbystep_guide_wi th_screenshots.htm

You can pretty much follow what they suggest here except install Vista on the E drive i.e. you don't need to do all that stuff with GParted and DiskPart.

[BobaFettK]

Thanks, Monkey! I ordered Vista 64-bit Home Premium OEM from Newegg this morning. $80.00 for Turkey Day weekend. I'll let you know how the dual-booting works out for me.

[The Wise Monkey]

Cool - I triple booted Vista, XP and Ubuntu at one point, and it is quite useful.

[BobaFettK]

I have Ubuntu on CD, and I tried to load it onto the PC along with XP when I first built the system, but something kept going wrong. Maybe I'll try again when Vista arrives, although I can't honestly think of anything I'd need it for that I can't do in Windows. Any thoughts?

[The Wise Monkey]

It is always worth trying it out, but there is really no need to risk your other OSs.

[BobaFettK]

Well, I'm happy to report that I successfully installed Vista on the other partition and I now have both OSes on my machine. I've noticed what I hope is a glitch (rather than an intentional "improvement") in Vista that I can't find info about online. When I explore the folders on my portable USB drive via Windows Explorer/My Computer/Whatever it's called in Vista, I cannot change the names of folders. I also cannot name a new folder that I create when saving a jpeg or other file from a website. It has to stay as "New Folder" and then "New Folder(2)", etc. I'm logged in as an admin, so I don't think it's a limitation of my user status. Right-clicking on the folders does not offer a "rename" option either. Any suggestions?

[The Wise Monkey]

Go to Computer, right click on the USB drive and select Properties. From here, there should be a Security tab. Select this tab, and add your usename to the security details and allow yourself full access.

This is a strange Vista thing that is meant to improve security, but is really just a pain sometimes. When I first installed it, it prevented me accessing one of my hard drives completely!