How to partition HDD to dual boot Windows 8?

[jumpman17]

Alright, so Microsoft is sending me a copy of Windows 8, and I'm interest in running it to just fiddle around with it, but there is no way I'm changing for good from Windows 7. What do I need to do to partition my hard drive and be able to dual boot between Windows 7 and Windows 8?

 

[Arm73]

Just some quick copy and past from google:

How to Partition Your Hard Drive

Note: Users with complicated hard-drive configurations, RAID arrays, or the Windows XP operating system will likely need more-powerful partitioning software than Microsoft's Disk Management tool--EaseUs Partition Master is a good place to start.
First, back up your data. The partitioning process shouldn't delete any data, but you can't be too careful when working with your hard drive.
Partitioning in Windows' Disk Management tool.

Open the Disk Management tool by slecting Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. An entry for Disk Management should show up underneath the Storage heading on the left-hand side.
Click Disk Management, and you should see a list of your existing drives and partitions (if applicable). To create a new partition, choose a disk that has free storage space, right-click it, and select Shrink Volume. Bear in mind that you can safely shrink only basic disks; if you try to shrink dynamic disks (such as RAID arrays) that are formatted with the NTFS file system, you'll risk losing your data.
Type in the amount of space you want to shrink the disk by. The number you choose depends on what you want to use the other partition for. If you plan to dual-boot another version of Windows, for example, you'll want a lot of space (Windows 7 requires at least 16GB of available space, for example); but if you're setting aside room for an emergency recovery partition, you won't need nearly as much space.
If you plan to install an OS in this partition (Windows or otherwise), you'll probably have to stop here--your operating system installer will likely insist on making the partition itself during the installation process.
Creating a new partition using the New Simple Volume wizard.

Once you've cleared the necessary space, it should show up in the Disk Management window as Unallocated Space. Right-click this entry, select New Simple Volume, and let the resulting wizard guide you through the remaiing steps of the process. Generally, you'll want to format the new partition as NTFS.

Hope it helps, I did it, and now I have my laptop in dual boot Windows 7 / Windows 8 without any problem.