Why You Should Create a Dual Boot Computer

If you know operating systems, or consider yourself a novice with computers, most likely you have thought of having two operating systems in one computer. Of course, the logic behind it isn't obvious, and it looks rather unnecessary. Why have two systems if you can just use one, and just need one?

The answer is, you don't need two operating system "as your workplace." But! For practicality and efficiency, "Yes you do".

Let's take Windows for example. The practicality of having two systems is seen when Windows Seven first came out about a year back and we were all unconvinced to replace our XPs or Vistas with it. So to test Windows Seven, some people took a new computer and tested it there. It worked, but they didn't see how it would work with their primary machine.

Others tried it on a different partition, and made a dual boot computer, which I say is best.

But that's not what I want to make a point of, and as far as practicality is concerned, there are several other benefits of having two operating systems in one computer. Such are the following.

Personally, I have Windows Seven (C:\) in my primary partition, and Windows XP (X:\) as fallback Operating System and another simple Backup (Z:\) partition that only has my important files. Let me first explain why I chose to have each of them.

Windows Seven, I don't need to reason, you know why.

Windows XP, my fallback partition. After the release of Seven, XP looked very simple and modest now, but it's still good for a fallback system. When people say they are good with computers, its not always what you think of. My computer crashes maybe ten-twenty times more than yours does. It remains true for everyone like myself, I believe. The reason is, we tinker with files more often, install "unsafe" software for the sake of testing and more tinkering. We end up needing to fix our computer every now and then.

Other practical uses of my XP partition are to test mischievous applications and programs that I have doubts on. For you it is the same. Surely it takes more time having to install and test applications on the test/fallback system first, but it's worth the security you get afterwards.

Also, if my Windows Seven encountered a really bad error, I can boot with my XP to either fix or rescue my files.

Lastly, the Backup Partition. This goes slightly against some articles I've written (that storing your backup in external devices is always best) It is. But I think it's easier to access my backup partition, if it is a virtual drive.

Nevertheless, I'd occasionally update my external backup with that partition to keep everything neat.