Hi Rick, I've just went through the whole repartitioning and dual booting phase of my continuing computer learning experience. You will be happy when this is done. "How big do I make the new partition?" This will depend on your Free Space on your HD. I keep all my data on another partition, so my OS partitions don't get too big, also the data can be easily accessed from either OS.  On my S-17, I made the 2 OS partitions 55GB each. The Vista Premium 64bit is currently using 25.7 GB, leaving 29.2 free. Win7 is using 18.6GB leaving 36.3 GB free. I have loads of free space. You can probably get away with as little as 40 GB and not have any crowding problems, if your data is on a separate partition, you'll need more space if your data is on your OS partition. Free space allowing, I would add 50% of OS currently used space, but 25% should work. On my desk top I have a 500GB HD, so lots of free space. Both OS partitions are 84GB. Vista 32bit is using 33.9 GB, 50 GB free. Win7 is using 23.6 GB leaving 60.3 free.    "How do I make the partition?" Since windows is severly limited (Anti-trust suites) on partitioning abilities I would suggest trying some of the free partitioning programs. Most of the free versions I found were 32bit only. Paragon disk Manager 8.5 wouldn't work for me because of a very small unallocated space between my partitions, but many say it's good. Easeus Partition Manager did work with no issues. The free Partition Wizard Home Edition works on both 32bit and 64bit. This is what I used on my S17. They all seem to work pretty much the same, once you figure out the basic operation it's pretty easy. You can make all the changes and check them before actually telling it to 'Apply', then it will proceed. You can move, re-size, remove, format, extend, shrink, in any direction. Disk Copy is used to move the contents while the partitioning takes place. All my OS and programs worked just as before.   "Can I boot to the 32-bit when I want and the 64-bit when I want?" Yes. The option will come up after the BIOS loading screen, the last OS loaded will be the default, usually 30 sec to default or you can choose the one you want and hit enter. Check out the  Dual Boot Installation with Windows site, it's for Vista and Win7 but should be the same for dual booting Vista.   "What happens to the recovery partition, which is 32-bit?" Somehow I knew you would ask this! Hopefully it will still work if you can make another primary partition. Since dual booting, been having too much fun playing with Win7. You should try Win7, it's gotta be the best OS I've ever used! Even the RC is very stable (you can still get the RC for free until Aug 20 Windows 7 Release Candidate, it will start re-booting every 2 hours on March 2010, cease to run June 2010 ). I ordered 2 on the pre-order sale. I have read on a couple of sites that if you use a disk to install an OS the recovery partition will not work anymore, seems to be hit and miss as some people say it will still work, if you run startup repair. There are a few posts on a few sites that have methods to repair it, most of them seem to be complex. If you have a backup image of Disk0, you should be able to restore it that way if you want. I made backup images of Disk0 and the recovery partition just in case I want to try and put it back.  With the small 'OEM Partition' , 'Recovery Partition' and 'OS Partition" makes 3 primary partitions. I couldn't find a way to make another primary partition (Logical partition only which I use for my Data Partition) so I backed up everything and re-formatted the recovery partition, adjusted it with Partition Wizard to use it as my second OS partition. Maybe I didn't need to do that, let me know if you find a way to keep the Recovery Partition. At first I put Win7 on my eSATA external HD, liked it so much I wasn't using Vista at all so had to find a way to put Win7 on my internal without losing Vista as I will need that to install the Win7 upgrade. I am running Vista 32bit and Win7 64bit on my desktop, Vista 64bit and Win7 64bit on my laptop. Planned on changing the Vista 32bit to 64bit (got the disk from Dell) but since Win7 haven't gotten around to it. Will change it if I have to, in October, to get Win7 64bit Loaded. 64bit  has been just great for me and don't see any reason to not use it. All the 32bit apps I use run just fine on a 64bit machine. Drivers have been no problem either. After you have run it for a while I'll bet you format the 32bit drive. Any questions or clarifications, you know how to find me! Good luck, you'll be glad you did this. Dave        
I have a Studio 1737 Vista Home Premium 32-bit. I recently got the Vista Home Premium disks 64-bit, from Dell. I want to partition my hard drive and install the Operating system on the new partition and make sure everything works great before I decide my next move. I know I will have to download my drivers from Drivers & Downloads and I know the drivers are available. I will then put them on a disk.   How big do I make the new partition?   How do I make the partition?   Can I boot to the 32-bit when I want and the 64-bit when I want?   What happens to the recovery partition, which is 32-bit?   My doughter has a Vista Home Premium system, Studio 1537 64-bit, so I know some of the items to watch out for. I just never made a partition and do not want to mess things up when I try to do this. If things go well, I will probably go with the 64-bit system and then eventually remove the 32-bit system from the computer. I will then nee some help with this. I do not want to lose any functions and/or the computer during this process.     Thanks,     Rick
Need advice on partitioning.