I want to add Windows XP pro to my new laptop

[Omega Man]

that has Vista 64 on it.I want to make it dual boot. This is the computer
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218012612475

The computer came partitioned with Vista on 1 side and the other blank. I have read several website suggestions for doing this and they recommend "start with the older system first".
Since this is a brand new laptop and since I am basically chicken, I was hoping I would not have to format and repartition my hard drive( I want to leave what is working alone).
I feel like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, "Ya, I did kinda think it was going to be that easy"

[glc]

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_v...step_guide.htm

[not important]

Or: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...ista-computer/

[shadowpr]

Before you start this project, I would check to make sure that xp drivers are available for your laptop.

[Omega Man]

my computer has an external E-sata Drive. Could I install Windows XP professional on that and boot from that?

[glc]

If the laptop has a builtin eSATA port and you arent't trying to do it off a card, probably. You will need the eSATA drivers on a FLOPPY to get XP to install on it - if you don't have a floppy drive, you will need a USB floppy drive.

[Omega Man]

I received these instructions on another site and it does not mention a floppy drive, is he in error?

Yes, it is possible to boot from your external eSATA drive. However, it takes a little different approach.

First, you have to make sure that that external drive is partitioned as a Primary partition and also it needs to be bootable. There is a different partition table entry for data drives vs. boot drives. You have to make sure that that external drive is bootable. Otherwise, you won't be able to boot from it.

Second, if you use the external drive, you don't want to set it up as a dual boot. What you need to do is to go into the BIOS and set your boot sequence up so that, and I'm assuming that you don't have a floppy drive, your first is your CD/DVD drive. The second is your eSATA external drive, your third is the Windows Vista 64-bit drive. Once you do this, the system will attempt to boot first from the CD/DVD, then from the eSATA external drive, and lastly if there is no bootable CD/DVD disk in the CD/DVD drive it will attempt to boot off the eSATA followed by the Windows Vista 64-bit drive/partition. If the CD/DVD is empty and the eSATA is blank, the system will boot off of the Windows Vista 64-bit partition. Therefore, in order to install Windows XP Pro on the eSATA drive, you will have to have the XP Pro CD in the CD/DVD drive and watch for the prompt to boot from the CD/DVD drive. Then you will have to carefully evaluate all the available partitions and make sure that you select the partition for the eSATA drive. This gets a little tricky and you have to watch very carefully to make sure that you select the right drive/partition. Once Windows XP Pro is installed, the boot sequence that you set up in the BIOS should boot from the eSATA drive.

Once you get this set up with the BIOS settings that I outlined above, the system should boot to the eSATA drive with your Windows XP Pro installed. If you want to boot off the Windows Vista 64-bit partition, all you should have to do is to simply disconnect your eSATA drive. Since the system won't find it, it will boot off the next available bootable partition, which should be your Windows Vista 64-bit. However, there are some caveats.

1. You must make sure that the eSATA drive is properly partitioned and bootable. If not, Windows XP Pro will not find and/or will not accept it for installing Windows XP Pro.

2. The eSATA drive should have sufficient space for running Windows XP and all your other applications. You need at least 40 to 60 GB. However, if your RAM is greater than 2 GB, you do not need to (i.e., you can disable) the Windows pagefile. The pagefile.sys will occupy up to 1 1/2 times the total RAM and it is unnecessary because with at least 2 GB of RAM, all the pagefile is useful for is recording the dump if you should happen to get the blue screen of death. Otherwise, it's kind of a waste of space. If for any reason you find that you need to have the pagefile, set it up as a static pagefile vs. dynamic pagefile (i.e., minimum and maximum equaling the same amount of disk space assigned – minimum = 6 GB, maximum = 6 GB as an example based on 4 GB of RAM). This eliminates the necessity for Windows to thrash around while checking the pagefile size and available space, as well as preventing pagefile fragmentation, which can kill your system performance over time. If there is nothing critical on the eSATA drive, this is a safe approach because you lose nothing except the necessity to reformat the drive if everything goes out. However, watch carefully when you're doing this if you have data on that drive that you want to retain.

[glc]

The eSATA drive will probably not be seen by XP's setup without the driver floppy. As already mentioned, make SURE the laptop manufacturer offers XP drivers for all the laptop components.

[Omega Man]

I'm now ready to begin this process and I have a few more questions...
I need to know exactly what it is on this hard drive that I need to accomplish this. It has a software system known as Seagate manager. Do I need this? I have this hard drive hooked up to my computer right now and I have not installed any of the software that came with it on my computer. My computer doesn't have any problem recognizing it.
I have accumulated all Windows XP drivers. Do I just drop them into the Windows file after I have installed a Windows XP?
the boot sequence should be
floppy drive
cd\DVD drive
external hard drive
internal hard drive that currently has Windows 64 on it?

I need my external drive partitioned as a Primary partition and also it needs to be bootable. how do I do this and can I use the partitions system that is in Windows this do to accomplish this?

once I have done all of us I would like to have my documents and pictures shared by both systems off of a partition on this external hard drive. How do I direct these different hard drive operating systems to those files?

thanks in advance for your help