Two systems in one computer

[marksy]

I considered buying a new computer purely for video editing (with Studio 11 plus) because this application is so sensitive to other programs running on the computer. ie I would load only the OS ( Win XP sp3) and the video editing suite.
Then I wondered whether I could load these two programs on a seperate drive within the computer and boot and run this system seperately.
Sounds too easy.
The computer runs a Athlone 64X2dual, core proc 4200+ 2.19 Ghz, 696 Mhz RAM.
Marksy

 

[Arris]

You can set up a dual boot system with multiple OS. But you only have one operating system running at a time. Another possibility is running virtual machines on the computer, but because they would use the hardware systems resources I don't see how that would be of any benefit in the situation you describe (OS + video software running only).

 

[Leeky]

You could just dual boot the computer with two operating systems; one purely for video editing, and another for your everyday usage.

Another option would be to have your main OS as the video editing one, and install Virtualbox and create a virtual guest OS with your everyday stuff in it. Essentially you can run your everyday OS in a window on the desktop of your video editing one. It would likely be pretty resource hungry on your hardware though.

Downside to the second option is requiring another license for your OS. If you dual boot you can only run one OS at a time, and can therefore use the same license on both.

I think your best option is to install two operating systems, one for video editing, and a separate one for everyday usage. You just choose which one using a bootloader when you start the computer. Both can exist on the same hard disk in separate partitions - there is no need to use separate disks.