Question on double OS Boot (Boot Magic...)

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Hi all. I want to divide my hard disk to 2 or 3 partitions. I wanna put Win2000 on 2 of them and Win98 on the 3rd. I intend to use Partition magic (or Boot Magic). Could someone please tell me what exactly should I do? I mean, I can firstly create the partitions with Fdisk. But after that? Should I make the first one Primary and active, and the other two...???? and which OS should I put first?
thanx in advance
stark

Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
Why do you want 2000 on twice?
The normal porcedure is to install 98/me on the primary partition, then once installed, install 2k on another partition, normally C: primary and D: for 2k, any other partitions tnormally used for storage etc. The win2k install will pick up that you already have an o/s installed and ask you where to install it, it will automatically create a boot manager. I suppose it would be possible to have 2 win 2k's on but why?



Next time you wave - use all your fingers
 
Thanx for the reply.
I have bad experiences - installing WinMe and Win2k (server!) on a Laptop, this way, so at my computer I want to have these Win98 and Win2k on seperate partitions, so that neither one will be able to "see" the other...
Anyway, If I do it the way you said (first Win98 and then Win2k) won't I be obliged to make a FAT32 format on both the partitions? Because I prefer having one partition with FAT32 (win98) and one with NTFS (win2k). I know Win2k works with fat32 but...
So, does anyone know what I should do with Partition Magic, in order for me to have different partitions?
thanx again
stark

Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
Ok, my bad english confused you! Here is the case:
I have one hard disk 20GB and one 8.4 GB. I want to make a partition with 15GB on which i will have Win98 (fat32). The rest (8.4 + 5GB) I want to have Win2000 (NTFS format). I don't want the one OS to be able to "see" the other's partition. I want to be able to boot through the Boot Magic menu. I just don't know the Procedure - how to do this.
I hope I helped
thanx
stark

Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
When installing W2K you will be able to format the drive you wish to install on to NTFS. It will give you a boot loader which works fine. (I have xp/w2k/me working now and also had linux minus xp working also.)

Be sure when setting up W2K you check out the options so not to upgrade but install new. I always prefer to copy the files to the hard drive also so never to need the disk again (well until the install).

<b><A HREF="http://www.seti.tomshardware.com/" target="_new">How fast is your PC</A></b>
 
You won't need Boot Magic at all for what you want to do. W2k will provide you the dual boot menu. Here is what you do in simple terms.

Since you already have Win98 installed you are in a very good position. Now install Partition Magic and save the disk space by NOT installing Boot Magic. Through Partition Magic create a primary FAT logical partition (2 GB limitation)on your second HDD and make it ACTIVE. dont't worry about the 2 GB limitation.

Reboot and prepare to install W2k. (Make sure your BIOS is upgraded to be able to boot from a CD). Install your W2k CD ROM and when it promts you to boot from the CD....press any key, do so. Now, find the partition you prepared to use for W2k. It will give you the option to choose the type File System, choose "Convert to NTFS". Proceed with the install (make sure your hardware is compatible with W2k or you will have to remove it one at a time to find the problem hardware preventing you from installing).

After you complete the install and reboot you will see the dual boot menu. Now go back to Partition Magic and resize the 2 GB NTFS partition to the bootable NTFS partition limitation (8 GB). Let Partition Magic do it's work and then reboot and you are done.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

JC-------<*){{{>{~~~~~
Fisher of men
 
thanx for the reply. I really appreciate it. I might be back soon with more questions.
stark

Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
Hey I'm back.
I have one question. What you're saying is that in the end I will be able to have only 8GB (NTFS formatted) for Win2k, right?
stark


Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
Yes, thats what I meant. W2k Primary partition drive D:\ for NTFS has a Boot Code Boundary of 8 GB. If you are using Partition Magic to resize the NTFS partition it will give you a warning, such as: " exceeding this boundary your OS may not boot".

JC-------<*){{{>{~~~~~
Fisher of men
 
I have Win2k (NTFS) at my Laptop. It has a HD 10GB, with no problem. So, it has to be Partition Magic's Limitation the 8GB thing (when NTFS), right? Because at my laptop there is no problem with Win2k... (there I don't have partition Magic)
right?
So, If I finally decide to make FAT32 the Win2k partition, too, I will not have this limitation, right? So, I will be able to have , lets say 10 GB (>8) for Win2k and the other 10 for another OS?
stark


Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
In Partition Magic the warning states MAY NOT BOOT BEYOND 8 GB. So, if you have NTFS in a 10 GB partition and all is well I don't see why it shouldn't work with Partition Magic. I just quoted you from the Partition Magic Manual. When I did exceed the 8 GB boundary I saw the partition change color and the warning popped up. This may be only characteristic with Partition Magic for stability sake.

I just didn't want to deal with any instability, so I heeded the warning. But it did allow me to make the partition as large as I wanted. Maybe after I get a good backup of my drive I will put it to the test.

FAT32 in the Partiton Magic manual says the same thing 8 GB so I know it is only specific to Partition Magic. If you have the Manual for version 6, read page 37 "Important"

"When you create, move, or resize a bootable partition, the partition must begin below the boot code boundary specified in the above table in order for the operating system to boot. With the exception of DOS 6.22 (or earlier) and OS/2, partitions beyond 8 GB are visible to the current OS..."

This is a direct quote in the Manual. There is more regarding the "BOIS 1,024 Cylinder Limit", but you can read it for yourself.

JC-------<*){{{>{~~~~~
Fisher of men
 
thanx again. You've been very helpful.
Finally, i'm thinking of installing JUST Win2000... but I will sleep on it the next few days
stark

Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
What about fdisk/mbr c:?

don't you need to get rid of the dual boot screen?

<b><A HREF="http://www.seti.tomshardware.com/" target="_new">How fast is your PC</A></b>
 
Well, one thing I will surely do is formatting my hard disk. Win98 have problems - with mu current installation, so a sweet format and the installation of Win2k (and only) will make my day
stark

Blue Skies Bring Tears
 
Before you format your C:\ drive, create a W2k Startup Floppy Disk. First format a floppy disk in W2k (Important so W2k can read the proper disk boot sector). While in Win98SE windows explorer make it so you can see all hidden files. Then copy to this floppy disk from the root directory: Ntldr, Ntdetect.com, Boot.ini, Ntbootdd.sys (if your HDD's are SCSI,or 2 seperate HDD's), If your system is set up to dual booting with DOS or Win9x copy these files to the same disk also: Autoexec.bat, Bootsect.dos, Command.com, Config.sys, Io.sys, and Msdos.sys

This is so that when you format C:\ drive, you will be able to boot into W2k. Also create a Emergency Recovery Disk in W2k (make sure you chech the box to copy your registry also). You can find that utility to create the disk under the "Backup App".

Please do this first before formatting C:\ drive, you will save yourself much, much, much heartache.

Good luck!

JC-------<*){{{>{~~~~~
Fisher of men
 
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