Just make sure you actually know how big your hard drive really is. Some hard disk drive seller make 1000mB as 1gB, but the link given is the correct amount - 1024mB = 1gB. So that means that actually your 500gB drive is actually when those people are done (and more or less about everyone is doing that) is really only say like for example 480gB, and they cheat you with what they say, but will continue to do that anyway. So that will be that. My 1TB is actually only 931gB not 1024gB I have in my computer now. Actually you can get up Computer (my computer in XP I think on the desktop) and right click and pick the menu item - Manage - then go to Disk Management when the screen comes up. There you can shrink your hard disk if it lets you, and then you can make another partition to put in Windows 7 which then follow the instructions on that link.
May want to get a bigger hard disk drive if necessary and put that in first, and put XP on the new hard disk and then partition it (or shrink it down to have two or whatever number of partitions) and stick the 500gB as the second drive if necessary. You should be able to transfer XP over to the new hard disk but I look up how to do that also on the Internet.
I think if you made a backup of XP and if getting a Seagate harddisk they have a program to exactly copy it all or compress a file to make it a back up of everything on your C:\drive. Restoring it on the new hard disk would put XP on your computer and switch connections inside the computer to make the new hard disk the Master Hard Disk and the original hard disk the slave which is reverse of what it would be before making the backup or as it is now. Master - Slave so the harddisk are hooked up corrrectly, because the Master is what starts the computer and the slave drive is the added drive in a computer. The DVD disk drive is also the other Master and whatever else you have in the BIOS of your computer to boot up your computer with. Like 1) Hard Disk, 2) DVD drive, 3) External drive. If 1 does not boot the computer do find the OS, then 2 will be looked at to boot the OS (or in this case - install or recovery DVD disks) or 3 next in whatever order you have it in - in the BIOS of your computer.
I did not look at that link entirely but before with a dual boot or two OS system, one had to be the Professional version of the software. In other words, since XP is not the Professional version, Windows 7 probably would have to be to have a dual boot OS system computer in the first place. Home Premium just does not make a dual boot computer.
post edited by spacealf - 2013/07/31 23:03:50