I already have 2 partitions, c: and d:, on my recently purchased acer vista premium ready laptop that came with Window Media Center. I am able to get the free express upgrade since i bought my computer recently. I want to play around with vista before i decide to fully have it. Can i do the vista express upgrade on to my d: drive and tell my computer to boot that instead of the XP on c: (i'm assuming)? That way, i can play with vista and if i don't like it i can delete the vista on d: while my xp is just chilling on the c: drive and i can go back to xp.

I'm reluctant to get vista because of problems like itunes not working and corrupting the ipod and the vista's DRM?

Stating the questions i have again:
1. Can i do the dual boot with the free vista express upgrade on the D: partition?(with the master/slave thing perhaps) and keep my xp on C:
2. Would i be able to delete either xp or vista when i decide which one i want?
3. What are your thoughts on vista's DRM (Digital Rights Movement i think)?
I want all my music and movies to be able to play on vista.

thanks guys!

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!

ACER LAPTOPS AND DESKTOPS

Typically come with a RECOVERY partition. DO NOT DELETE AT THIS POINT.
If you are able to CREATE RESTORES (Set of OEM Specific RESTORES Including your OS; XP in this Case)

CREATE your restores CD's/DVD's Before even thinking about installing VISTA or deleting the RESTORE partition for that matter.

Secondly, You would have to Install PLAIN Copies of XP First, and then Vista PROPER.
Vista would not handle the Original Restore Partition well.

YOU HAVE TO BACK UP YOUR DATA TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN THAT MACHINE'S HARDDRIVE.

For the Dual Boot, get a copy of Partition Magic (Symantec) Or Partition Commander and Repartition your HDD. If you have a plain Retail copy of XP, then install that first, then install VISTA.

Keep in mind that this process will NOT Allow you to install all of the Free Acer APPS. That may actually be a good thing. You'll have to get drivers from ACER's Website.

Although it's a possibility that you have to Physical HDD's it is not likely in this case. So MASTER/SLAVE "THINGY" is irrelevant.

Finally, DRM is OK if you have completley Legal Music, which all of us should have *wink*
If you're concerned about DRM Screwing with your Music, Save the Music somewhere on the XP Partition and don't access that music from within VISTA. AT ALL. PERIOD. END OF STORY.

DRM is so the Industry has a way to keep you from stealing and selling pirated Music.
Now who would do such a thing?


It can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

ok when i first got my acer laptop, it prompted me to burn a dvd.
Does it have my OS that came with my laptop?
I didn't get the OS intallation cd.

so can i still do the express upgrade on my D: drive while my XP media center is on my c: drive?

i'm sorry if i didn't quite unerstand what you were saying. I'm kinda new at this.
thanks

D: is likely a Recovery Partition and C: is XP media center.


Burn the Recovery Disks from within Windows.

yea... the laptop prompted me to burn the dvd when i first used my acer laptop and i did. That's the recovery dvd right?

so does it include my window media center OS too?

the dual boot seems too complicated for me to handle so i think i might just do the express upgrade but if i don't like the vista, can i pop in that dvd and get my XP media center OS back in the recovery dvd i burned?
I know my laptop will be cleaned out and it's fine because i've moved all my stuff to an external hard drive.

thanks

Yea you will have to format to do so but by doing that you can get the MCE back on the system. Also with the dual boot it can cause problems anyhow such as when booting to the other OS that is on the system it will remove the restore points on the opposite. eg. when you boot to Vista you lose the restore points for MCE.

GL

m3lek -

I would wait until you get the Express Upgrade and see what is possible.

Let me explain - I bought a Gateway with XP MCE and their Express Upgrade, which hasn't shipped yet.

However, while waiting, I installed the Final Preview copy of Vista in a second partition, and am running it and XP MCE in a dual boot configuration.

I used Acronis Disk Director Suite 10 (there are other programs that would do this) to make the primary partition on my HD where XP is, smaller, and then created another partition in which I was able to install Vista.

One problem, and why I suggest you wait to see what that Express Upgrade will allow, is that many PC vendors provide a "restore" CD that puts your system back exactly the way it was when it left the factory - including pre-installed drivers and software. As it does this, it also completely re-partitions and re-formats your drive, making it exactly the way it was, too. If an Express Upgrade is similar, you can see that it isn't going to allow you to keep XP on your system. However, if the Express Upgrade allows a new, clean install of Vista, then it may allow you to install it in a second partition.

Technically, the Express Upgrade only promises that Vista (whichever version) will install on your system and that correct Vista drivers will be available to run all of the devices that were included in your system. Arguably, it does not insure that additional software installed on your system will run under Vista. So, it is entirely possible that the version of, say, the bundled Quicken program in XP will not work with Vista. It would seem to me, the easiest thing for the vendor to do is to create an installable version of Vista with the proper drivers and send it out, allowing the recipient to install it as a clean install. This will avoid any problems with non-Vista capable software currently running in the XP install. In speaking with a Gateway technician, it appears that that is what they are doing, and I'll be able to install the Express Upgrade in that second partition on my HD (after wiping out my preview version).

I won't know for sure until I actually have that Express Upgrade DVD in my hands. This is why I'd suggest you wait until you know what you are being provided before you make any decisions.

Good luck.