I want to isolate my windows 7 operating system and I have looked into virtualization. This should work with Linux, however, I do want to still have a way to run windows 7 securely, but without significant performance loss, thus eliminating virtualization for that.

I know that you can dual boot because I currently do so with my XP/Linux system. Is there a way that I can duplicate my windows 7 system so I can select one at bootup? This way I can ensure that each OS is isolated and not worry about performance loss.

However, I am having a lot of trouble finding a solid method for OS duplication?! Is this even possible or must I buy two versions of win7 and somehow install them separately? Any information regarding this would be helpful, thanks!

Essentially I want,

1. Two instances of win7 (not necessarily simultaneously running)
2. Each are isolated from one another so that a security breach in one doesn't affect the other.
3. There is no performance loss in either from doing so