Multiple OS - Any issues ?

Hello friends,

I had previously asked for your advice on the purchase on my new laptop. I must thank you all for your suggestions and advice.
I've ordered for the Dell Studio 15 Laptop with a P8600 Processor, 4Gb RAM, 512 ATI Radeon Graphics Card & 500 GB Hard Drive. I should probably get it by next week.

Anyways, let me come back to my post.
I wish to install multiple OS on my lappy ... that is: Windows Vista, Ubuntu & OpenSolaris. Will installing 3 OS retard my system's performance in any way?

Secondly, can I install all the 3 OS in the same drive?
Also, if I need to install the OS in different drives, what should be the suitable size of each drive for it's required OS for best performance?

T

I dont think performence will be affected , but what afaik dell lappy dont allow >4 partitions including their backup partition , so that may be a problem. But i am not sure .

Btw , i am rocking windows xp , seven , linux mint and opensuse on 4 yr old 2ghz single core athlon supercomputer witnout any problem.

^^^ Thanks for the reply.

I was planning to make 5 partitions - each 100 GB.
Won't that be possible?

And Can I install all the 3 OS on the same drive ?

T

Dont know about studio 15 but my friends inspiron 1525 and inspiron 15 dont allow creating >4 partitions normally . Dont know if its same with studio or is there a way to bypass that restriction .

The only annoyingthing in multiple os is choosing os screen. I have to go through two screens to get xp booting.

see that 4 depends on what kind of partitions you are trying to create.

any HDD will not having more than 4 primary partitions.

When you have used 3 primary partitions, 4th one, you need to create entire remaining unpartitioned space as Extended partition and then you have to create logical partitions in extended partition.

Note: Extended partitions counts as 1 primary partition.

T

Thanks desibond for explaining . I've always used linux mint's partitioning tool which handles the trivial parts.

Thanks for explaining.
Still one question remains unanswered, Can I install all the three OS in the same drive?

Also, can anyone advise on how to best manage one's partitions.
(Keep in mind that it's a 500 GB hard disc)

yes you can.

S

You can also try virtualization. In this way you can work on all the OS from the host operating system without any reboot and you can try almost all the OS out there. Try virtualbox from sun which is free and vmware
*www.virtualbox.org/

Ok thanks for the replies guys. Keep rocking !

Do your Studio 15 come with Win Vista Full Installation DVD ? or pre-loaded and equiped with restoration DVD ?

If later one...completely formating the hard drive, u will lose the Vista (AFAIK)

Well, I have not yet received my Studio 15. It should reach here around the 10th of this month.