Eclipse Community

Considering an OS update ; ideas welcomed...

Post Reply   Page 1 of 1  [ 4 posts ]
First unread post
Author Message
BenjaminK
Post subject: Considering an OS update ; ideas welcomed...
+ Posted: 26 Sep 2025, 04:10
Offline
 
Posts: 12
Joined: 22 Sep 2025, 18:39
OS: Windows 7 x64
 
Hello there,

After a couple of small compatibility issues on a retro-gaming rig of mine - a dual boot with Windows 7 x64 and XP x86 in a RAID 1 structure -, including a problem with GOG's servers, I'm starting think about this machine's future...

Solutions considered, for now : An obvious method would be, I guess, to transform my dual boot into a triple boot, slap on it Windows 10 for example, just so I can launch whatever bothers me in a suitable environment - such as Galaxy, whenever I really want to obtain Achievements for the few concerned games. This would also allow me to anticipate on other future compatibility issues... But it's not that simple, since drivers for that particular RAID card (a HighPoint RocketRAID 1740) and Windows 10 are sketchy at best. I didn't test every option yet, but chances of success seem slim. Buying a new RAID card could solve that, sure, but finding one which would cooperate with Windows XP, 7... and 10 isn't that easy. On top of that, I remember vividly how my last attempt to add Windows 10 ended years ago : the beast botched the other OSes' boot sector (which became unreadable), it ended up being the only accessible OS of the rig, and I ended up having to spend hours setting everything back online again. A pain I'd prefer not to go through again... and I'm not sure using a spare distinct drive for 10 would make its interaction with the other OSes easier.
Another idea would be to settle for Windows 8.1, less annoying in some ways and probably easier to reconcile with 7 and even XP in a multi-boot structure as I'm pretty sure I can find most drivers needed - which isn't the case with 10+ -, but would that truly help and, if yes, for how long ? I'm sure getting used to 8.1, which I rarely used up to now, is really worth it... Not if the same same problems include it within a year or two.
A more radical method would be to completely ditch my current structure, say goodbye to the current OSes on this rig - all of them -, then start again with Windows 10+ - mind you, 10's future itself doesn't look so hot... -, possibly adding virtual versions of XP & 7 whenever they'll be needed, but this obviously nullifies this retro-gaming rig's whole objective... which was to enjoy those older OS's interface, play games in their native environment - even those requiring quite a bit of graphical power, which wouldn't work well through a virtual version of XP or 7 - and avoid compatibility hiccups - which are common, even though GOG's versions help quite a bit.

Any remark will be welcomed... Thanks in advance !


Top
Profile Quote
BenjaminK
Post subject: Considering an OS update ; ideas welcomed...
+ Posted: 04 Oct 2025, 13:41
Offline
 
Posts: 12
Joined: 22 Sep 2025, 18:39
OS: Windows 7 x64
 
Update, for the sake of completion : since it wasn't a very important matter - I'm not about to stop using Windows 7 on this rig anyway -, I've simply turned to Solution 1, managed to slap Windows 10 on top of the two existing OSes through old RAID drivers, effectively turning the machine into a triple boot one... which works well enough. Case closed !


Top
Profile Quote
K4sum1
Post subject: Considering an OS update ; ideas welcomed...
+ Posted: 06 Oct 2025, 04:55
Lazy Owner
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 1217
Joined: 11 Jan 2021, 07:40
Location: ur dads house
OS: Windows 8.1 x64
 
8.1 often has the same connection issues as 7, so I think installing 10 or new hardware would be the only solutions.

Also I'd suggest building a NAS instead of having a RAID card in your main. I got tired of waiting for hard drives to spin up all the time in my main PC and slowing stuff down and so I built a NAS. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, just whatever you have laying around. (with a bunch of RAM (8+GB) because it uses a lot of RAM for whatever reason.)

_________________

I don't know what I'm doing hit album by Brad Sucks


Top
Profile Quote
BenjaminK
Post subject: Considering an OS update ; ideas welcomed...
+ Posted: 06 Oct 2025, 16:02
Offline
 
Posts: 12
Joined: 22 Sep 2025, 18:39
OS: Windows 7 x64
 
K4sum1 wrote: *  06 Oct 2025, 04:55
8.1 often has the same connection issues as 7, so I think installing 10 or new hardware would be the only solutions.

Also I'd suggest building a NAS instead of having a RAID card in your main. I got tired of waiting for hard drives to spin up all the time in my main PC and slowing stuff down and so I built a NAS. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, just whatever you have laying around. (with a bunch of RAM (8+GB) because it uses a lot of RAM for whatever reason.)
Yes, 10 looked like the easiest solution in the long run. Not that I plan on using it a lot for now...
For the rest, I've never considered or configured a NAS, so I'd need to search a bit around for information. Do you mean that a network solution with only a single HDD constantly spinning (constantly or occasionally saving info elsewhere) would be more interesting ? Does your NAS cover all common security issues and allow for hot swap whenever (or if) your main HDD breaks ?
I've never really been looking for performance : more than backups, the main selling point of RAID 1 was the ability to swap hard drives in any case of trouble, including their deaths - effectively making that issue a trivial matter. I believe I didn't have to reinstall the OSes there for the past 15 or 20 years maybe, which feels great...


Top
Profile Quote
Display: Sort by: Direction:
Post Reply   Page 1 of 1  [ 4 posts ]
Return to “General Software & Hardware”
Jump to:

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 1 guest