Guest ScottNOFX Posted August 3, 2008 Posted August 3, 2008 I have a computer with two hard drives. Can I use ghost to create an image of ny C: Drive, then install that image to the other drive (J: Drive) Then boot to J: Drive? Will this cause any issues? It seems like it might. I want to streamline the J: Drive for games only, I do not want them on my C: Drive don't want to load anymore programs than I need for business. If this is okay and will not cause any issues, how do I boot to the other Drive? Thanks in advance I will also post in XP Help and Support
Guest GHalleck Posted August 3, 2008 Posted August 3, 2008 Re: Dual Boot question (I will also post in XP Help and Support) ScottNOFX wrote: > I have a computer with two hard drives. > Can I use ghost to create an image of ny C: Drive, then install that image > to the other drive (J: Drive) > Then boot to J: Drive? > > Will this cause any issues? It seems like it might. > > I want to streamline the J: Drive for games only, I do not want them on my > C: Drive don't want to load anymore programs than I need for business. > > If this is okay and will not cause any issues, how do I boot to the other > Drive? > > Thanks in advance > > I will also post in XP Help and Support > > It will not work out this way. The ideal solution would be to use a hard drive caddy that allows the switching of the [bootable] hard drives, one for business and the other for games. One way of creating this is to install a base Windows XP system and then clone it to both hard drives. Afterwards, install the business applications in one; swap it out for the other and install the games. But the really clean way is to have two computers, to forestall any potential legal issues with the Windows XP EULA.
Guest Ron Badour Posted August 3, 2008 Posted August 3, 2008 Re: Dual Boot question (I will also post in XP Help and Support) Yes it can be done; however, to preclude problems, I recommend you invest in a third party boot manager such as: BootIt Next Generation is available from: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html and it does partitioning, makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning chores and is a boot manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition Magic but it is half the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled PMagic demo, BING is a *full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30 days. The web site has a lot of support articles. One of the features of this boot manager is that you can hide the systems from one another and this is what will preclude problems. I used BING and had four systems--two on each hard drive as I recall--and there was never a problem. -- Regards Ron Badour MS MVP Windows Desktop Experience "ScottNOFX" <scottnofx@saebuilders.com> wrote in message news:%23MjMoYZ9IHA.4608@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >I have a computer with two hard drives. > Can I use ghost to create an image of ny C: Drive, then install that image > to the other drive (J: Drive) > Then boot to J: Drive? > > Will this cause any issues? It seems like it might. > > I want to streamline the J: Drive for games only, I do not want them on my > C: Drive don't want to load anymore programs than I need for business. > > If this is okay and will not cause any issues, how do I boot to the other > Drive? > > Thanks in advance > > I will also post in XP Help and Support >
Guest Timothy Daniels Posted August 3, 2008 Posted August 3, 2008 Re: Dual Boot question (I will also post in XP Help and Support) "ScottNOFX" wrote: >I have a computer with two hard drives. > Can I use ghost to create an image of ny C: Drive, > then install that image to the other drive (J: Drive) > Then boot to J: Drive? > > Will this cause any issues? It seems like it might. > > I want to streamline the J: Drive for games only, > I do not want them on my C: Drive don't want > to load anymore programs than I need for business. > > If this is okay and will not cause any issues, how > do I boot to the other Drive? This is an easy multi-boot scenario since the 2 OSes will be on separate hard drives. You can either install XP twice, once on each hard drive while the other hard drive is disconnected - this will give you 2 XPs, each of which will call its own partition (while its running) "C:" - or you can clone one installation to the other hard drive, again giving you 2 XPs which will call its own partition "C:". If you install the 2nd XP on the 2nd hard drive while the 1st hard drive is connected, the 2nd XP will call its own partition "D:". Either way will not result in a problem in partition naming as long as there are no shortcuts which refer to other partitions. With XPs on 2 separate hard drives, you can select which hard drive boots by either using software or BIOS dual-booting. If the 1st hard drive is connected during installation of the 2nd XP, you can tell the installer to set up a dual-boot menu to include the other Windows OSes that it sees in the system, or you can go to the BOOT.INI tab in the msconfig dialog box and tell it to scan for other Windows installation, and that will automatically set up the boot.ini file for dual-booting. Be sure that the XP that does that is the one on the hard drive that has boot priority (set in the BIOS) so that its dual-boot menu will be displayed at startup. To use the BIOS to dual-boot, enter the BIOS during startup and set which hard drive has boot priority. That hard drive will take control during bootup and its "active" partition will get subsequent control of loading XP according to the entries in its boot.ini file. As far as the software on each hard drive is concerned, it will be a single-boot scenario. If you want to set up the boot.ini file manually (at /boot.in) to implement software dual-booting, just duplicate the single entry after the line "[operating systems]" and change its "rdisk(0)" parameter to "rdisk(1)" to indicate the 2nd hard drive, and change the contents of the character string (which is between the pair of double quotes) to whatever you choose that differentiates the 2 OSes in your mind. This character string will appear in the dual-boot menu at bootup to help you to select the OS to load. Remember that it will be the partition that is marked "active". You can also set the value of "timeout" in boot.ini that will be the time in seconds that you will have to select which XP to load. Beyond that span of time, the XP designated in the "default" line will be loaded. If you choose the cloning method to make the 2nd installation of XP, be sure that you disconnect the 1st hard drive (containing the "parent" XP) before you startup the clone for the *first time*. That will prevent the clone from confusing its own files with those of its "parent", and it will establish its own "identity". Thereafter, the clone may be started at anytime with its "parent" in view of it. OTOH, the "parent" can be started up even before the clone has had its first startup, and there will be no problem if the "parent" sees its new clone. *TimDaniels*
Guest ScottNOFX Posted August 4, 2008 Posted August 4, 2008 Re: Dual Boot question (I will also post in XP Help and Support) Thanks everyone. As always this group very helpful. Scott "Timothy Daniels" <NoSpam@SpamMeNot.com> wrote in message news:eJMPzka9IHA.1196@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > "ScottNOFX" wrote: >>I have a computer with two hard drives. >> Can I use ghost to create an image of ny C: Drive, >> then install that image to the other drive (J: Drive) >> Then boot to J: Drive? >> >> Will this cause any issues? It seems like it might. >> >> I want to streamline the J: Drive for games only, >> I do not want them on my C: Drive don't want >> to load anymore programs than I need for business. >> >> If this is okay and will not cause any issues, how >> do I boot to the other Drive? > > > This is an easy multi-boot scenario since the 2 OSes > will be on separate hard drives. You can either install > XP twice, once on each hard drive while the other hard > drive is disconnected - this will give you 2 XPs, each of > which will call its own partition (while its running) "C:" - > or you can clone one installation to the other hard drive, > again giving you 2 XPs which will call its own partition > "C:". If you install the 2nd XP on the 2nd hard drive > while the 1st hard drive is connected, the 2nd XP will > call its own partition "D:". Either way will not result in > a problem in partition naming as long as there are no > shortcuts which refer to other partitions. > > With XPs on 2 separate hard drives, you can select > which hard drive boots by either using software or BIOS > dual-booting. If the 1st hard drive is connected during > installation of the 2nd XP, you can tell the installer to set > up a dual-boot menu to include the other Windows OSes > that it sees in the system, or you can go to the BOOT.INI > tab in the msconfig dialog box and tell it to scan for other > Windows installation, and that will automatically set up > the boot.ini file for dual-booting. Be sure that the XP that > does that is the one on the hard drive that has boot priority > (set in the BIOS) so that its dual-boot menu will be displayed > at startup. > > To use the BIOS to dual-boot, enter the BIOS during > startup and set which hard drive has boot priority. That > hard drive will take control during bootup and its "active" > partition will get subsequent control of loading XP according > to the entries in its boot.ini file. As far as the software on > each hard drive is concerned, it will be a single-boot scenario. > > If you want to set up the boot.ini file manually (at /boot.in) > to implement software dual-booting, just duplicate the single > entry after the line "[operating systems]" and change its > "rdisk(0)" parameter to "rdisk(1)" to indicate the 2nd hard drive, > and change the contents of the character string (which is > between the pair of double quotes) to whatever you choose > that differentiates the 2 OSes in your mind. This character > string will appear in the dual-boot menu at bootup to help > you to select the OS to load. Remember that it will be the > partition that is marked "active". You can also set the value > of "timeout" in boot.ini that will be the time in seconds that > you will have to select which XP to load. Beyond that span > of time, the XP designated in the "default" line will be loaded. > > If you choose the cloning method to make the 2nd installation > of XP, be sure that you disconnect the 1st hard drive (containing > the "parent" XP) before you startup the clone for the *first time*. > That will prevent the clone from confusing its own files with those > of its "parent", and it will establish its own "identity". Thereafter, > the clone may be started at anytime with its "parent" in view of it. > OTOH, the "parent" can be started up even before the clone > has had its first startup, and there will be no problem if the "parent" > sees its new clone. > > *TimDaniels* > >
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