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TenBlade · ‎10-14-2012

I want two boot options on my upcoming rig, a Win 7 32 and a 64 bit option. The reason for the 32 bit is to benefit from (older) programs that don´t do well on 64, I won´t rely on compatibility modes, as I previously haven´t had benefits from that.

I reckon that each boot option take up full space, don´t suppose they share anything, making the total usage of disk space smaller than two separate installations.

1. So! I think I´ll need to go RAID 1 to have a config like that, no?! I will also have a guest account on one of the installations, by the way. That has implications on RAID choise too (RAID 1) if I understand correctly.

2. Will two 120ish GB SSDs for the OS (times two) suffice?

3. Or should I just use two separate SSDs for each OS installation (imagine approx. 120 GB)? Will the RAID setup give remarkable benefits?

4. Will the two OS installations be able to share another SSD, so I could have games that require 32 bit and 64 bit OS respectively on a single SSD?

That´s all for now. Thanks in advance for any input.

Bjorn

Razorbak86 · ‎10-14-2012

I'm not sure what the advantages would be of trying to run both Operating Systems on a single RAID array? :confused:

What programs are you planning to run on WinXP? If they are few in number and small in terms of installed size, then you may be able to get by with a small dedicated SSD for the WinXP boot configuration (e.g., 64GB).

FYI, the recommended available hard drive space for Windows XP Professional is only 1.5GB, but "actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration and the applications and features you choose to install."

Alternatively, you may be able to run both boot configurations on separate partitions on a larger SSD (e.g., 256GB)?

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TenBlade · ‎10-15-2012

Thanks for info, Razorbak86. I was just thinking about Win 7 32 bit, not XP...but you just gave me an idea ;-), I could try that out too. Don´t have the XP disc anymore, but they must come for cheap these days...
I stumbled across another post here indicating that RAID would hardly make noticeable difference in performance due to the fast processors we got today, and I´m not going to compete in any benchmark.

But on question 4. I´m still unsure. Should programs related to say Win XP be on the same SSD as the programs I´d run off Win 7 64?

Dual boot SSD, to RAID or not to RAID...