I began working on this article when I first acquainted myself with Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system. About a month ago, I spent a weekend installing, uninstalling, and fiddling around with the 32-bit and 64-versions of Vista. Vista itself seemed pretty solid, but 3D gaming was a hit or miss adventure with NVIDIA's 100.25 beta graphics driver.
Getting Ready for Vista...Again
A couple of weeks later and I'm back to give Vista another shot. During that time, NVIDIA released WHQL driver version 100.65.
THE GAME PLAN
My game plan required the Ultimate Edition of Vista, which retails for close to $400. The Ultimate Edition provides the user with the most install options, contains install DVDs for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista, and features a limited time offer to upgrade up to two additional PCs to Vista Home Premium for only $49.99 each.
Accessories for Vista
To commemorate the occasion, I picked up a WD Raptor X 150GB Hard Drive. The Raptor is outfitted with 16MB of cache, is blazingly quick with a 4.6ms access time, and features a clear lens on the drive allowing you to see it in action.
Vista was to be installed on the Raptor X and I created an NTFS partition and formatted the drive under Windows XP. A 50GB partition was created for the operating system files to reside on while the remaining 90GB would hold Vista programs. I added another hard drive (I) for Vista games.
Storage consisted of the following devices after the Raptor was installed and drive letters were reassigned and their descriptions updated:
C: Windows XP and Windows XP Programs
D: Windows XP Applications
E: Windows XP Games
F: Backup Files
G: Windows Vista and Windows Vista Programs
H: Windows Vista Applications
I: Windows Vista Games
J: DVD-R/W
K: DVD-R
The following Explorer snippet shows the storage device configuration with the new Raptor X as seen on Windows XP.
Drives Under Windows XP
Some 30 minutes later, the same snippet taken in Vista.
