Vista Upgrade ---> Creating a partition?

Question

Well, i want to upgrade to vista x32 from my win xp pro, and im thinking about how much space i should dedicate on the partition for vista to work nicely (i dont want to put anything else on that partition, only vista.)

Should i give it about 10gb? is it enough for it to operate nicely?

Also, is it even worth upgrading to vista? i mean ive got a nice 8600gts card and i want to use its DirectX10 capabilities on microsoft flight sim.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I'd probably go 20 gb.

Answer 2

installing vista on a computer thats built for Xp is downgrading

Answer 3

you do NOT need a new partition, you need to buy the upgrade disk and it replaces the original system. Partitioning on Windows is NOT a good idea, no matter where you ask it to load programs, many windows programs will ONLY load on C:, and any other will only place the program where you ask, all the library files and registry entries will have to go on C: for the system to work. So you can rapidly run out of space on C:

And this is NOT downgrading. Some people  should stick to answering cookery questions.

Answer 4

The only "separation" concerns anyone should have is "where do I store my data". This data excludes game installations, just your regular data, documents, music etc. You can always backup downloaded maps and so on. If Vista or XP bombs out, then you have to re-install the games anyway to recreate the registry settings relevant to those games, so why make it all messy?

For the spec that you have, I'd immediately say - get a larger drive...just because. 250Gb is sufficient to run everything, but once you delve into the underworld mysteries of ripping and downloading, you'll very soon run out.

On a 250Gb disk I would partition Vista to 50Gb (even that may not be enough if you have loads of games).

The 50Gb would cover basic utilities, software, codecs and games and also any looming patches, hotfixes upgrades etc.

The 200Gb would cover data. Pure data...docs, music, movies, software setup files and so on.

There is nothing wrong with partitioning any windows system, it's not like you're asking about multiple OS'

I have several partitions:

Vista - 100Gb

Data - 50Gb

Media - 250Gb

Utilities/Software - 100Gb

Music - 50Gb

And still plenty of space left to fiddle. (700Gb drive + 160Gb drive = pleasure)

So even if you install your games to say: M:\ (after partitioning), if it breaks, you have to delete all the data on M:\ after backing up stuff you want, and re-install to M: - no point really...

The absolute minimum I would give Vista would be 20Gb - if I went the route you are suggesting going.

Answer 5

Don't bother with Vista, its a RAM hog

Trust me, XP uses hardly any RAM

Vista is greeeeeeeedy

EDIT: Stop showing off about your specs lol

I regret upgrading to Vista. my hardware hates me for it

And I have 4gb ram, vista finds some way to make explorer.exe use 50% of it, HALF!!!!!!

Don't know how, even when its sitting there with no other memory munching processes running. No viruses, thats for sure

Vista = Disappointment

But good luck with it