Too many newbies trying this and destroying their PCs

[Drew1903]

Discourage her from what?

[Medico]

If she was going to replace her present OS with Win 8 CP, definitely discourage her. If she has an iron clad method of getting back her original OS I suppose (Image) but what about all the data. Unless she sets something up like I have with the data on a separate partition accessed from both OS's that could still be a problem.

If she wants to play, have her either get another HD as DrWho has described or dual boot as I have described.

[Medico]

Why not just use a spare SATA hard drive? They are very easy to swap. 6 screw on the cover 2 on the HD, swap drives and you are done.

My dual boot scenario lets me keep my finances and other data synced between the two OS's. I have the Data on a separate data partition with both OS's pointing to the same data file. This way no matter what OS I'm working in, my data is synced. If I swapped out the drive, this would not be possible.

I'm using my Win 8 CP in a real world scenario for me to see what it is really capable of for my needs. This means using it for all my every day needs. Paying bills, keeping my finances, everything.

[Kook]

She was going to install Windows 8 on a VM as far as I know. Sounds like this isn't a good thing to do.

[Medico]

I tried a VM. I was very disappointed. There is a method to stall within a folder or something. I just don't remember the details. Perhaps someone else will chime in. I am satisfied with my setup.

[Drew1903]

OR
Do it as a vhd on Windows7
http://blog.concurrency.com/infrastr...windows-setup/

No need for an empty drive or partition & no need for virtual software.

Drew

[enjoy]

In my reply above, I should have included "The Three Backup Rules":

1. If it is important - BACK IT UP!

2. If it is very important - BACK IT UP TWICE!

3. If it is very, very important - BACK IT UP THREE TIMES WITH THE THIRD STORED OFF-SITE!

This can not be repeated enough!

I recommend to consider (unrecoverable, as in "made by me") photographs to fall in category 3.

Use another PC, a NAS, an external HD, a USB stick and preferrably also the cloud (like 5GB free storage at Ubuntu One).

Spread, spread, spread, and learn to use a batch file with RoboCopy for click-and-forget solutions.
Also, CHECK YOUR BACKUP MEDIA REGULARLY! Copy the entire backup to another device, making sure all files can be read.

Do not use CD's or DVD's, they deteriorate over time, and it takes too long to check them. Invest in a (quality) 32GB USB stick instead.

Kind regards, Eelco

[Tinto Tech]

Let's return to basics:

Windows 8 Consumer Preview is a beta Operating System. This means it has bugs. There are things that will not work the way that they should and there are things that will change by the time the Release to Manufacturing occurs later this year.

Performing a dual boot installation is relatively easy, but is not without risks if the user is not familiar with the concepts. Personally, I use Virtual Machines rather than dual booting. The small reduction in performance and minor irritations about graphics etc are nothing to me because I'm not interested in speed or looks - I want to know how and why things are they way they are. I can run multiple copies side by side and experiment to my hearts content. Right now, I have 11 virtual machines all capable of running at the same time on the Windows 7 host.

However, both VM and dual boot are not really the best solution for novices. The concepts behind dual booting can lead to mistakes as can Virtual Machines. If data is accessible to the experimental OS, it can be damaged. No, the best option for safety is to install on a spare machine that can be re-built and that contains no important data.

No matter how much Ted protests his "enthusiast" status, he does have a number of years experience and knows what he is doing. Much more important, he knows how to get himself out of trouble. His partitioning strategy has been implemented to aid that process, but even dual booting with separate data partitions it is not completely without risk. A risk that he can quite confidently manage, but perhaps one that novices might struggle with.

I think the most worrying aspect of these stories is that people would expect to install a beta OS on a live "production" machine without having considered what to do if things go wrong. Would one consider jumping in an experimental airplane without checking out the emergency exits and parachutes?

In the end, it doesn't matter how you install it - it is what it is: a beta OS. If it breaks things, you need to be prepared to pick up the pieces, and you need to have considered that before you install the OS.

There are many ways of doing that and lots of helpful people here to ask. So my take on it is: don't be shy - ask for advice.

[5HourButt]

Win8 is horrifying!!! It modifies the hell out of the BIOS with UEFI and there is no way to get things back to the way they were. I played with it on a Laptop I have for playing around and you can't access BIOS settings. Hit the Fn key and it just sits without going to the settings. I managed to use a keystroke process to circumvent that and got to them. I set it to boot form CD first and did a Linux install and I have it back but the BIOS is still goofed up. I also did a Win Vista install so I could flash the BIOS with the latest version and that ran fine but the BIOS is still inaccessible except for using the keystroke process to access settings. Nothing gets it back to access the boot option function. So I went back to Linux and that's working fine but BIOS is still inaccessible. Just tossing this to everyone in case it may be useful.

[coyoteaz]

I have absolutely NO sympathy for folks that don't read warnings. Almost any site for d/l and installing major software/updates warns about not installing without first doing a backup or image or installing on a secondary system. I don't know how many times 'friends' or family have whined about losing data or screwing up their systems and when asked when was the last time they backed up I get a blank stare. Idiots.

[Medico]

No matter how much Ted protests his "enthusiast" status, he does have a number of years experience and knows what he is doing. Much more important, he knows how to get himself out of trouble. His partitioning strategy has been implemented to aid that process, but even dual booting with separate data partitions it is not completely without risk. A risk that he can quite confidently manage, but perhaps one that novices might struggle with.

And Tinto this is the very reason why I harp upon Imaging and backups so harshly. Been there, done that. I learned the hard way myself. Some I try to tell others, Do not do this unless you have a plan WHEN disaster strikes, because IT WILL strike.

Thank you for the kind words on my status. I do consider myself an "enthusiast" although a pretty knowledgeable enthusiast. I do have plans on what to do WHEN disaster strikes, because I know it still strikes me as well. Because I have had to manage these disasters in the past I am pretty confident so I try to pass along the techniques so others can gain their confidence. There is nothing like experience, both good and bad, to add to your knowledge.

I have said it before and it's worth repeating:

Step 1: create an Image before you start.

Step 2: reread step 1

Step 3: If you do not know how to accomplish step 1, start over!

[joro]

I was intrigued by the chance to try out Win8 and have a virtual machine on my Win7 PC.

But now I'm ruing the day!

I installed Oracle's Virtual Box, followed the step-by-step instructions for tweaking it and then found I couldn't get it to accept Win8. The new OS wizard never appeared and nothing in Oracle's docs gave a clue on how to get it to appear.

So i uninstalled Virtual Box and found that it had deleted all my networking settings, including the networks that were set up and working before Virtual Box was installed. No connections - no sharing - no internet.

And my machine couldn't accept any input on recreating my networks.

Well, not to worry. Happily, I had made a clone of my C drive before starting the adventure. So I just plugged in the clone and thought I was back in business.

But no, the clone drive booted up and told me that Virtual Drive was my only network - and it wasn't connected.

This means that Virtual Machine changed settings in my BIOS or some other area of my machine, not just on my hard drive.

And then, when a network guru neighbor came over to help, he found that the drivers were all deleted.

It took his expert skill and much patience to get things back to normal, and two days of lost internet business.

You have been warned!

[Joe S]

Drew
I used the VHD for Developer and Consumer previews. I didn't have any problems on either. When you finish you can just delete the file and go into Windows 7 boot tab and delete Windows 8. Most people don't do much partitioning and it's easy to select the wrong drive. I did make images before creating the VHD!
Joe

[Medico]

Welcome to the Lounge Joe. It's nice to see a friend from elsewhere join us here at the Lounge. Enjoy yourself and come back often.

[Joe S]

Thanks Ted this looks like a nice place I think you mentioned it at that other place. I've lurked here a bit before joining. One more thing about the VHD it is accessible from your main system. You simply go into Disk Management and attach it.
Joe