I'm getting my ducks in a row, as I always do when deploying a new OS, planning is of essence to me. So if this is too early of a question, I'll bump it later.

What I plan to do with my notebook is to create a makeshift desktop out of it. It has a HDMI port, as well as a 1GB DDR3 NVIDIA GT425M video card, which should be plenty for my needs. I plan to add a 22 to 24 inch monitor for easy viewing, there are several of the ASUS brand in my price range ($200-$300) that will meet my needs. And I already have a Thermaltake notebook cooler to set it on to keep it as cool as possible.

Also, I have a 2nd HDD bay on the way to install another HDD where my optical drive is, & also an adapter that will run my optical drive from USB. Most likely, my 128GB M4 SSD will go there, & I'll reinstall my stock HDD back into it's original position, where it'll run cooler. This will allow for fast access to the HDD, as I plan to run Hyper-V, using this HDD for VM's, the notebook fully supports it. I may also buy a powered USB hub the for single USB 2.0 port, as I have more than one device that will run there. 3 USB ports (2 are USB 3.0) won't meet my needs, a hub will allow me to add extra devices.

Speaking of the notebook, here are the full specs, the RAM has been increased to 8GB. Note that I'm the 6th reviewer of it.

Newegg.com - MSI FX603-064US Notebook Intel Core i5 480M(2.66GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 500GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M

Now for the big question. I know that the special offer for Win 8 Pro will clean install behind Win 8 RP. But will it dual boot with Windows 7 Pro x64, or will it be wiped out. I'm not giving up my Win 7 install, as the Anytime Upgrade Key to 7 Pro from Home Premium cost $79.99, twice that of 8 Pro.

Am I going to have to temporarily remove 7 Pro (it'll be backed up) to install 8 Pro, or will the installer only require me to format the Win 8 RP partition? After all is done, I wish to be able to dual boot between the two OS's.

I was going to originally going to get a 2nd 60GB SSD for the Win 8 Pro install, but have found that the OEM HDD will run faster in it's original slot, as compared to USB 3.0 read/write speeds. This will allow for fast access to my VM's & other data on it.

Many Thanks for any suggestions.

Cat

It will absolutely dual boot.

Set up Win 7 pro in the first partition (disk), then Win 8 RP in the second partition (disk) now. Get them all set up the way you want them and customized the way you want. I would also set up a 3rd partition for your data. I know you use a data partition now, so continue with that.

Now, when you get Win 8 Pro, just clean install directly over Win 8 RP. You will get the option to format the partition during the installation. Do that and go to town.

This is identical to how my PC is now set up. Win 7, Win 8 RP and Data partition with both OS's pointing to the same data.

Thanks a lot, Ted! This helped greatly with my concerns. As far as my Data Partition goes, I'm going to move it back to the original HDD, no need to waste space on a SSD for Data. The 128GB SSD should give me plenty of room for both OS's, I do know that at the present time, Windows 7 SP1 requires lots more disk space than 8 RP does. I don't see that changing for a while, either. Windows 8 Pro will be a "green OS" all the way around. Currently, on my desktop, I have 65GB allocated for 8 RP, even with Office 15 (Beta) installed, & most of the same apps as Win 7, only 22.5GB of that space is being used.

I'll probably also copy my present Recovery partition to a blank space on the original HDD, as that 10GB will be needed between the two OS's. I'm already running XP Mode on it, inside of a USB3 enclosure, but USB3 speeds aren't always cut out to what many thinks it is. Not to mention that it takes 2 USB ports to run, one for power (which is why I want a hub). Around 55 to 60MB/sec read & write (as reported by HD Tune) is far less than a native SATA2 install. The best use of USB3 is quick backup & recovery, which it does excel at.

Anyway, I have a 3rd HDD, a 160GB WD Scorpio Blue, which will be installed in that USB3 enclosure, to store a sector to sector backup of the SSD on, this image will be taken monthly. The original backup will be stored with the rest of them.

I'm also going to do a fresh recovery install of Win 7, update it & back it up. That way, I'll be working with a fresh install of Windows 7, & will have access to that image if needed.

One last thing, is the 100MB System partition going to be enough for BitLocker To Go with Win 8 Pro? I did ask on another forum, as was suggested, but didn't get an answer back on it.

Cat

Cannot answer the 100 Mb question, sorry.

I thought you said you would have 2 - Int. HD's on the laptop. I would use the SSD for the OS's, and set the 2nd Int. HD as the data partition, then use the USB HD for your Backups and Images. Just my 2 cents.

In this situation I would burn the ISO files to a flash drive to use for the installations and repair console use afterward. Get 2 flash drives and put your new Win 7 w/ SP1 ISO on one and the Win 8 Pro on the 2nd. If you need Win 8 put it on a 3rd flash drive.

That's probably what I'll do with my 3rd HDD that goes into that enclosure, use it for backup & extra data. The 2nd internal is going to be for Data, XP Mode (7 Pro), & whatever VM's that I create with Hyper-V. The Data partition will be shared, no need for duplicates for downloads, I can create folders for each OS as needed. And since 7 is a clean install, I won't be saving the Recovery partition there, I have 2 copies of it backed up elsewhere.

Is anyone who is currently dual booting Win 7 & 8 RP having issues with BitLocker on 8 RP? If it works, then the size of the system partition doesn't matter. Currently, after I did the required partition alignment, the size of that partition of 98MB, rather than 100MB. If any resizing needs to be done, I need to do it before installing 8 RP.

I've already secure wiped the SSD with Partition Magic, & installed a backup of a clean install of Win 7 Pro that I done when testing 8 RP on my notebook. The image of 7 was taken before I installed 8 RP. This is the install that I aligned in the above paragraph.

And the 2nd HDD bay arrived today, though I haven't installed it yet. I'll do that after I get 8 RP installed.

Cat

Sorry, I do not use Bitlocker and have deleted the 100 Mb partition.

Hopefully, in the next day or so, someone will come forward with an answer on this. I've Googled, Binged, posted the question on 3 different forums, I know that I'm not the only one who is dual booting, or plans to, 7 & 8 Pro.

Can't seem to find a definitive answer to the question, no matter where I've looked for it. I'm not giving up hope though. Though normally I use TrueCrypt, this requires their version of a format, followed by a disk encryption (on Flash or other removable drives). BitLocker encrypts the device in place, with no need to format/remove & copy back files.

With BitLocker, the Flash drive (or storage drive) can simply be encrypted on the run. BitLocker To Go, an exclusive feature of Windows 8, is even better.

Cat

Great News! After taking a final image of Windows 7 & the System partition only, prior to installing Windows 8, I came up with a brainstorm. I figured that being that Mini Tool Partition Wizard Home Edition's Bootable CD met my other needs, I'd put it to use again.

What I did was moved over my Windows 7 install enough to expand the System partition to 350MB, then went for it. After the required partition alignment, my System partition is now 375MB, & my Win 7 partition that was 64GB was reduced to 63.7GB. Check it out, this is after I installed 8 RP.




And the Win 8 RP install went w/o any issues whatsoever, the only thing that was missed was my card reader, that for a digital camera card. I opened the Device Manager to find any problem devices, I believe it was listed as USB 2.0-CRW, a Realtek card reader. Anyway, using the Device Manager, I inserted the Driver CD that came with the notebook in the optical bay, pointed towards the CD for the driver, after a minute it was installed.

Now why can't HP make things this simple? There were several other apps that I installed from the CD, such as my THX Audio, & a few other things, all of which was compatible with 8 RP.

I also installed Hyper-V while I was configuring the notebook, all is there to begin using it. Hopefully, it'll be better than Windows Virtual PC & the free options out there, such as VirtualBox & VMWare Player, both of which are by-products of commercial software, especially VMWare Player. Hyper-V is supposed to be on par with VMWare's Workstation, a feature of Windows 8 Pro that businesses, if implemented, can save tons of cash, one workstation taking the place of up to four.

And BitLocker To Go worked perfectly, I backed up a new Kingston 4GB G3, out of the package where it has been for over a year, then encrypted it with BitLocker To Go. After 5 minutes or so, it was ready, it's encrypted & ready to go.

There are a couple of other things that I need to add, one of which was on my OEM install & not sure if I even need it. The one in question is Intel's Rapid Storage Technology. It was on the OEM install, but I don't know how it benefited me, all it displayed was basic drive info, no detailed stuff. Had I chosen an Intel SSD, then it would certainly be of use, as it can give a rough estimate of remaining life span, as well as any advanced monitoring it offered.

Being that I'm soon going to have 2 HDD's in the notebook, what do any of you think? Do I need Intel's RST or not? Keep in mind that I'm going to have 2 HDD's installed, the SSD in the optical bay (via an adapter that arrived yesterday) & my OEM 500GB Hitachi HDD, which will be used for XP Mode (Win 7 Pro) & whatever Hyper-V has to offer, that one, I'm going to have to learn.

Like I stated previously, this is going to be a makeshift desktop until Windows 9 is released in 2015, so I'm grabbing a 24 inch HDMI monitor, I have the port for it. This is what I'm getting, around November-December. Note that this is a 5 Egg rated product, & is a 7 time Customer Choice winner for LCD monitors. Also Full HD, with 1080p display, 1920 x 1080 resolution (max). Great product for the buck.

Newegg.com - ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers

I'll be posting my updated specs soon, at this point I've decided against installing Win 8 on my desktop. Everything setup right the first time on my notebook, sadly, it takes 3 to 4 attempts to accomplish the same on my desktop, & still, there are random BSOD's. HP builds really sorry products, compared to it's competitors. Really, HP is more or less WalMart/KMart quality merchandise these days, & I don't look for that to change.

Cat

Glad things worked well for you. I have done 3 dual boots starting with Win 8 DP and finally Win 8 RP. All have installed properly and worked well with Win 7 and my data partition.

Got the 2nd HDD installed where the optical bay is, but am very disappointed with the results. This bay, just like the one my SSD is in, is a SATA2 one. Really, it's hardly any faster than in the USB3 enclosure that it was in. Look.



I never tested it when Windows 7 was installed on it, prior to my SSD purchase, but perhaps this is why it took up to 2 minutes for everything to load & have a usable browser, versus the 15 seconds that I now have.

One other thing, & this shows in my Speccy specs posted, my i5 CPU only shows it as having one core, two threads, on Windows 7 beside of it, it shows properly, two cores, four threads. It also shows that virtualization is unsupported, though Hyper-V is installed & ready to go. This CPU has virtualization built in, there's no BIOS option to turn it on or off, it's a native feature of the CPU (Intel Core i5 480M).

Intel

Would updated chipset drivers help this?

EDIT: Here's the two drives in the layout.



Cat