Does each drive partition require an OS installed for the programs installed within it to operate?

[LouLou56]

My HP Media Center PC m7760n, came with the hard drive partitioned into three sections. One is for the recovery operation (labeled drive "D"), and the other two sections labeled as drive "C" and drive "E". I have Vista Home Premium loaded in drive "C", as well as several MS Office applications and document management software. I have some gaming software that I would like to load in drive "E". Do I need to install an operating system in drive "E" to run the software within it, or can the computer use the operating system already installed in drive "C"? This is probably clear as mud, but I hope someone can help me.

[old_geekster · Accepted solution]

LL, each partition on a hard drive is the same as a separate hard drive.  You can install games on one without having an OS.  However, some games automatically will install to drive C:\.  The way to get it to install on E: is to use 'Custom Install".  This will allow you to choose where you want the game to install.

I have two separate hard drives in my computer.  I use the second hard drive to install any software that isn't related to the OS.  The ones that I install on C:\ are programs, such as, anti-virus, malware, etc.  These work directly with the OS.