Using dual booting for video editing

Has anyone set up their computer to dual boot, ie booting up into a
partition that only runs XP (say) and the video editing software program and
nothing else. I have a separate hd for capturing but was wondering if this
dual booting idea is a feasible option. PP

 

We actually use a different hard drive on a slide drawer. Take's about a
minute to shut off, slide the hard drive out/in and reboot; it work's
very well. We did that for sound recording actually, as optimising a
workstation for use as a DAW is somewhat not very compatible with a
general use computer, but we do all video work on from this HD also. The
only pain was to get all the different software, including the OS,
authorized.
The best option, of course, is to get a dedicated workstation, but the
taxman left our bank account empty this year so we had to make a change
of plan, and we found this to be a practical workaround.

 

That sounds pretty much what I have in mind (damn that tax man eh!?). I
have considered a portable HD but, since the ones I have a both pretty big
and well under used, thought I could perhaps do the same thing using just
partitioning although I must admit, when it comes to partitions I am not
really 'current' with how it all works. But, thanks very much for the quick
response. I am certainly going to consider that option.
PP

 

Ho, we don't use portable HD but 2 regular IDE HD with a drawer kit that
fit in a regular 5" bay, like this:
http://www.startech.com/ststore/itemdetail.cfm?ProductID=DRW110ATA&topbar=topbarp.htm
and an extra drawer for the second HD.
I don't think you can boot from a USB or Firewire HD.

 

Note that booting from an external drive is tricky at best
and frequently not possible.

Even dual-booting (whether separate partitions or not) is tricky.
You didn't mention why you think you have to dual-boot?
Is that really your only option?

 

Apart from a number of non-bootable partitions on my three hard drives, my
main system drive is dual-boot. One for general use (I name it "office"
partion) and the other for editing only (guess what I name THAT?) with very
little else on it that is not directly connected with video/audio editing.
In essence you have two separate computers except for the common boards and
hardware.

If the two partitions and the boot.ini files are installed properly it is
faultless in operation. The machine initializes and asks you which partition
you wish to boot into, select and off you go. Not really tricky at all once
it is set up properly. BTW you can have up to four main partitions on each
drive.

Maurice Fleisher <>
www.videoenterprises-uk.co.uk
High Wycombe. UK

 

Maurice, with your system, did you have to load, say WinXP, into two
different partitions. You seem to have the set up that I am thinking of.
One (your 'office' system) obviously is for all to use and for all uses.
The other (and my guess is 'editing' - am I right!!?) is a bare bones boot,
just with my video editing and associated software. Whilst my system is
fairly stable (I use Pinnacle's Liquid Edition and Studio 8) it does tend to
freeze/crash on occasions causing some discomfort. Liquid talks about
'instant' saves (it saves one's work x times a second) which is great but
sometimes it seems to revert to some other, albeit only slightly, different
project timeline.

I would be very interested to hear in more detail how you accomplished, and
have, your dual boot set up and whether you feel it has been beneficial.

Phil in Oz (who once visited High Wycombe!)

 

Maybe an easier solution is just to have different user profiles, that
way you can easily log out and back in under the other profile and
only have the drivers, hardware, and TSR's needed for that particular
profile.

I have a dedicated workstation so I haven't run into this type issue
yet, just brainstorming a bit. ;-)

 

Thanks Bill.

Thought of this too but don't believe it is the same as having a dual boot
system whereby the computer boots up into an entirely different
configuration. Not sure though. I guess in some ways this is more a
question for a computer 'geek'. Just wondered if anyone doing NLE had any
previous experience of using this type of set-up and if there were any
advantages to doing it this way.

I would also be interested in any advice as to how I can get my wife to
allow me to spend up on a dedicated workstation though!!