OK.. I have Win XP and have FSX in one hard disk and FS9 in another hard disk. Each one is a RAID 0.I am trying to avoid reinstalling both...but I want to add Vista.Can I simply add another internal physical Hard disk drive V: and then install Vista on this drive as dual boot? This way If I don't care for Vista, I can always log into my XP and get back to what I have now?And when I try to install an OS like Vista, I don't remember ever asking me where to install. It always assumes the C: drive. I am worried if I install another disk and install Vista. Its simply going to overwrite my XP.Manny

You can either create a new partition on the XP drive or add another drive and install Vista. Just watch the prompts closely, it will recognize there is another OS and allow you to install to your selected drive.I suggest a Google search on Dual Boot XP Vista - there are quite a few good "step by step" guides available. If you use the second drive approach, you can 'hide' the OS's from each other.Tricky part will be getting your programs recognized by both.In my case, I installed FSX onto a RAID0 array under XP and immediately rebooted and reinstalled under Vista, overwriting the XP installation. This way the shortcuts and registry entries are set properly. Only possible problem with this method is that should you uninstall FSX (or whatever) it will only uninstall from one OS and may leave dead links in the other.VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.6Evga 680i A1 with P30 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioined for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx Kandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/

Manny,I'd go with the separate drive approach. My rig has XPPro on one drive, FS9 & FSX on another, partitioned drive with their add-ons. Vista Ult. has its own drive, with another copy of FS9 on yet another drive (which, if you read the EULA isn't really required: it's one machine, but I do have two copies of FS9 ;-)). Trying to run one version of either FS9 or FSX will lead to all kinds of fun stuff, as Vic mentioned. I had FSX installed on the FS9 for Vista drive on another partition, but wiped that two days ago, that drive is FS9 only for Vista now. For me FSX isn't a sim I get any enjoyment from, but FS9 runs great for me in Vista with the 163.69 WHQL Nvidia drivers, ymmv. I'll re-install FSX when the next SP comes out, maybe ;-)jb[a href=http://exmixer.com/]Windows utility links/FS9/FSX stuff[/a]Falcon Northwest Mach VIntel C2D Extreme X6800EVGA 680i4 GB Corsair Twin2Xx2048-8500C5BFG 8800GTXDual-boot XPPro/Vista Ult.Full specs in the link above on the FS page link there.

You might luck out and Vista will install without having to install RAID drivers during install. All you need is for the Win XP drive array to be the "system drive", which it should be. Vista needs to access this to install the dual boot loader. Make sure you do a "custom" install (IIRC) to give you the choice of partitioning and formating the new drive rather than doing an upgrade install over XP. NTFS in vista is different than Win XP I think so you should use the vista install to format the OS partition. There is a program out called vistabootpro which is good for modifying the dual boot loader after installation. Help and the program are here:http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/forum-95.htmlscott s..

Vic, Jb and scott.Thanks for the info. I so appreciate it.If I am installing it in a new HD, tell me what drive would I have to pick when Vista asks me where to install?My current setup is as follows. I have 4 HDs already. Disk 0 = 2 X 150Gig Raptors they are in Raid 0 and partitioned as C: and E: Disk 1 = 2 X 250Gigs HDs that are also in Raid 0 and partined as F: and G:D: = DVD DriveAll of them are recognized in XP. Let me refer to these 4 HDs...ie Drive C:, E:, F: and G: as my "XP System"I don't want to touch this..--------------------------------------------------------------To do:Add another HD (a 5th HD) and try to install Vista here.1. Would Vista Installation know all the crap that I have done within XP? my "Xp system" I mean. like Disk 0 and Disk 1 are two independent RAID 0 with each one having been partitioned an all?This way, I don't accidentally install Vista in anything other than on the new drive2. If the install is ok, and when I boot to Vista, would I be able to see all the Hard disks and partitioned and files that I have for XP? This way, when I reinstall FSX within the new Vista Drive, that I can reuse the addons sceneries that I have within my "XP System" and not having to reinstall FSX addons?Manny

Manny,I included a screenshot so you can see how my drives (6) are split up.>>1. Would Vista Installation know all the crap that I have done within XP? my "Xp system" I mean. like Disk 0 and Disk 1 are two independent RAID 0 with each one having been partitioned an all?<>. If the install is ok, and when I boot to Vista, would I be able to see all the Hard disks and partitioned and files that I have for XP?<>This way, when I reinstall FSX within the new Vista Drive, that I can reuse the addons sceneries that I have within my "XP System" and not having to reinstall FSX addons?<

Manny,One thing I didn't mention as regards dual-booting XP and Vista. When you reboot to XP, then boot to Vista, all your Vista restore points are gone. There are some 'fixes' out there on the net, I'll post some links below. I haven't tried 'em yet because at this point I'm getting tired of 'tryin stuff' . I'm just running Vista on the Falcon dual-boot box, XP Pro is also on a Dell XPS 600, a plenty fast box which also has all the apps I use regularly, they're networked, no problems. At some point I'll try the fixes, for the moment I prefer to just learn more about Vista, and keep my restore points for when I do sumptin silly like change permissions and things go south ;-). Btw, the 'fixes' seem to only apply to dual-booting from physically separate drives, believe the MS page says install *everything* you use on both drives.In no particular order:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.htmlhttp://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...2749fe1033.mspxhttp://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/200...oints-in-vista/ Read the last comment on the link above. Actually, read through all the stuff .jb[a href=http://exmixer.com/]Windows utility links/FS9/FSX stuff[/a]Falcon Northwest Mach VIntel C2D Extreme X6800EVGA 680i4 GB Corsair Twin2Xx2048-8500C5BFG 8800GTXDual-boot XPPro/Vista Ult.Full specs in the link above on the FS page link there.

>That's where you may run into trouble, as I did. Keep in mind>that when you boot to either XP or Vista your drive letters>change. The boot OS drive always becomes the C: drive, which>changes the lettering of the other drives. Not entirely true - depends on how you configure the system. In my dual boot, XP is C: and Vista is D:. This way Xp can see the Vista files and Vista can see the XP file.If you hide the other system drive from the loaded system, the loaded OS will always be C: but the XP partition/drive will be hidden AND the files associated with it.VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.6Evga 680i A1 with P30 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioned for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx Kandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/

Vic,>>If you hide the other system drive from the loaded system, the loaded OS will always be C: but the XP partition/drive will be hidden AND the files associated with it.<

I have this setup with two 250GB Western Digital drives (Vista on the first and XP on the 2nd) and whichever one I boot from is the C: drive in Explorer and the other is D. It hasn't caused any problems at all because everything gets installed relative to the OS you're in.I used this program to set everything up: http://www.vistabootpro.org - makes it really easy to get the boot menu working right no matter what order you install the two OSes or where they are on the drives.

I think if you want your vista and xp volumes visible from each other, it might be good to boot into xp, and run the vista setup from xp. Have xp create the volume for vista before setup and then have vista reformat that partition during install. That should allow you to have consistent drive letters between systems.scott s..

Ryan,The only problem has been the Restore points getting deleted from Vista when I boot to XP. I did get BootIt NG, that needs a bit of sussing out, but promises to solve that issue. Otherwise, no problems.jb[a href=http://exmixer.com/]Windows utility links/FS9/FSX stuff[/a]Falcon Northwest Mach VIntel C2D Extreme X6800EVGA 680i4 GB Corsair Twin2Xx2048-8500C5BFG 8800GTXDual-boot XPPro/Vista Ult.Full specs in the link above on the FS page link there.

Scxott,I can see them both, there were a few access denied messages from XP to Vista though, more to do with the way the Vista permissions were setup, as far as I can tell. Only remaining deal is the Vista restore points, hopefully BootIt NG will solve that. It's not really a big deal, the sw I use most frequently is Vista compatible, the other stuff is on a reasonably fast Dell XPS 600 (P 955EE Dual-core 3.46) that I'm always connected to via Remote Desktop. Quicker than regular file sharing when you mount your client drives on the RD 'server' box. Eventually I'll lose the dual-boot on the Falcon box, Vista only, no Restore Point issues at all, then. All's good .jb[a href=http://exmixer.com/]Windows utility links/FS9/FSX stuff[/a]Falcon Northwest Mach VIntel C2D Extreme X6800EVGA 680i4 GB Corsair Twin2Xx2048-8500C5BFG 8800GTXDual-boot XPPro/Vista Ult.Full specs in the link above on the FS page link there.

OK. What if I simply upgrade my XP with Vista without a clean install.IS this a painless option? :)Would I have to reinstall my FS9. To tell you the truth, I have no problem with reinstalling FSX. I just don't want to reinstall FS9. Its got way too much addons.And would it know all my RAID set up?I am leaning towards the new disk with a new OS deal.. but I just wanted to throw the upgrade option out there.Manny

Although the upgrade option *should* work most of the people who have had troubles have been doing an inplace upgrade. In either case you probably will have to reinstall FS9 and/or FSX *IF* Vista doesn't pick it up.VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.6Evga 680i A1 with P30 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioned for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx Kandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/