Bootable W7 USB drive - can I have both 32 & 64bit on the same stick?

[tbm]

As above - I've successfully installed both 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 onto different machines from a USB drive.

Since my household has a need for both versions of W7, I'd like to retain both on USB but since I have an 8Gb stick spare (min. required for each OS is 4Gb) can I have a copy of the installation files for each on the same USB stick, or does it have to be on separate ones?

Aside from anything else, I can't quite see how one would differentiate between the two when booting from the stick.. perhaps I should just bite the bullet and buy another stick or two..

 

[neil_g]

never tried it but id say has to be separate as the installer files will be the same names etc.

 

[tbm]

Thanks - looks like two drives is the way to go then

 

[neil_g]

yeah theyre cheap enough.. even if you have a couple of spare 4gb memory cards and a card reader you can use that

 

[tbm]

Nice lateral thinking - never thought of that!

That said I suspect USB memory sticks would be the way to go since I don't have a standalone card reader and the sticks are more universal.

I've got 4 and 8gb memory sticks; best bet I imagine would be to use these and buy larger replacements for data transport. Something grates about not using all the space on the drive, though