3 OPs an 2 drives

I have aHP Pavilion dv9700 with two hard drives. It came with Vista preinstalled. I have XP and linux I want to add to the laptop. Anyone have any suggestions on what might be best for performance and speed on the computer: putting all 3 ops on one drive and using the 2nd for storage. Or splitt the ops in tro drives? I know I can put all three on one drive, plenty of free space, but what would be better? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

I would put XP and Linux on the second drive.

This will retain the integrity of your original OEM Vista.

If you install XP on the Vista drive XP will wipe out the Vista boot sector and Vista will need to be repaired in order to boot.

Windows Vista no longer starts after you install an earlier version of the Windows operating system in a dual-boot configuration


You might also be up against the same behavior on dual drives but in this case you should receive a Windows Boot Manager which you will need to choose the boot OS on every boot.

Another option is to physically disconnect the Vista drive while installing XP and Linux to the second drive and afterwards reconnecting then using the BIOS Boot Menu to choose your preferred boot option.


As to performance and speed there should be no noticeable difference if the hard drives are the same specs etc.