New Drive to Reinstall OS and PT8 - With 8.04 Should I Roll with Windows7 or stay XP

[Squid Vicious]

Any advice would be great. On a new drive I was going to dual OS Windows XP to use with PT8 and Windows 7 for my other tasks.

With the new 8.04 update should I now just dual OS PT8 on Windows 7 and install another instance of Windows 7 for my other computing tasks too?

Which version of Windows 7 should one use with PT8?

Should one install PT8 and then upgrade to PT 8.04 right away without any of the other updates?

Thanks in advance

[cwsand]

I had a dual boot between XP and W7 but since 8.0.4 is stable for me, I now just have the one instance of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit that I use for Pro Tools and all other tasks. A lot of people still have an O/S setup just for ProTools with no internet - but since building an I7 pc I've noticed no lack of performance using it for other tasks. That being said, I went through a lot of experimentation to get ProTools to run smoothly - and the updates and hotfixes worked miracles.

Just make sure your hardware is compatible with Windows 7 AND ProTools 8.0.4 before you reinstall. I would try going with just Windows 7 first, go through all the optimizations for Windows 7 (do a search for the thread), and install ProTools before you install anything else. Then, assuming PT is running smoothly you could start adding other software, making sure PT still runs well as you install more. Basically, it's trial and error as to what will work best for you!

[spkguitar]

Originally Posted by Squid Vicious

With the new 8.04 update should I now just dual OS PT8 on Windows 7 and install another instance of Windows 7 for my other computing tasks too?

I would definitely recommend W7 over XP for general computing.

Originally Posted by Squid Vicious

Which version of Windows 7 should one use with PT8?

Personally, I would go with Professional or Ultimate.

Originally Posted by Squid Vicious

Should one install PT8 and then upgrade to PT 8.04 right away without any of the other updates?

Yes.

Keep in mind that there are other updates that you definitely need to do as well (update PACE drivers, make sure your plugins are up to date, etc).

[rqstudio]

Originally Posted by Squid Vicious

Any advice would be great. On a new drive I was going to dual OS Windows XP to use with PT8 and Windows 7 for my other tasks.

With the new 8.04 update should I now just dual OS PT8 on Windows 7 and install another instance of Windows 7 for my other computing tasks too?

Which version of Windows 7 should one use with PT8?

Should one install PT8 and then upgrade to PT 8.04 right away without any of the other updates?

Thanks in advance

You may want to check out my post: "My experience installing Win 7 and PT8". It has much to do with what you are asking.

[Squid Vicious]

Thanks for the quick replies. I will investigate the Win 7 optimizations and driver/plug in updates and hopefully I should be good though I willl probablly still do a dual boot just to keep Pro Tools running smooth.