howard.a.s Posted May 10, 2013 Report Share Posted May 10, 2013 I would like to add Windows XP (Home or Pro) onto the same hdd which currently has Windows 8 installed. Can anyone point me in the right direction for advice on how I go about doing this without completely rendering my Windows 8 useless, or toasting my hard drive. From my own modest understanding of such matters, I think I might need something called a partition manager. If so, is there a good (and simple to understand) open source version available, or an inexpensive, whilst reliable alternative? Any constructive advice gratefully received. Oh, and does it matter whether Windows XP is a 32 or 64 bit version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted May 11, 2013 Report Share Posted May 11, 2013 Welcome to the WF! You will need two pieces of softwarea partitioning toola boot managerBasically Windows can do both, but the boot manager of Windows XP and 8 is quite different. I have never used the boot manager of Windows 7/8, so I can't give you any advice on that. For partitioning you can use Windows, or an external tool. First you need to calculate how much space you need for your Windows XP partition. You also need to decide if you want an additional data partition to share between the two Windows systems. The Windows XP partition needs to be a primary (bootable) partition; a data partition can be an extended partition. I can give you no advice on what boot manager to use; I have always used Boot Magic (part of Partition Magic, long ago bought up by Symantec, and then taken off the market). Probably some other forum members can give you recommendations on that. One important thing: make a full backup of your current system before you start the partitioning process! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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