Win2k and Dual booting

[Guest]

Hi there! Currently I run Win2k on two hard drives. I would like to format one to Win98 so I can play games that are not compatible with Win2k. How do I go about setting up the computer so I can dual boot? I believe my D:\ drive is has the master boot records and my E:\ drive isn't.. how do I tell? Last time I formatted my drive I formatted the master boot drive by accident (I guess) and I coulnd't boot.. hehe.. even though I had a OS on my other drive..

so right now, (I think my d:\) is my master boot on Primary Master with win2k and e:\ is also win2k on secondary slave..
how do I make e:\ win98 and dualbootable?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Hello - keyword with 2000 is bootloader is ALWAYS C Drive, and its looks like you overwrote it so you need to start over. now I've heard you can supposedly install 98 after 2000 but I'm to cautious for this (I dont want to overwrite the NT bootloader with 98). recommend you back up data, eliminate any NTFS partitions using your 2000 disk (fdisk can't see NT) and make a series of partitions with fdisk probably like this:

drive 1: Primary dos (set active)
drive 2: two partitions, one for backup and shared files (extended), one for 98 (logical).

Now DOS will read this as three drives, C, D & E. Install 98 into drive E. install 2000 into drive C with NTFS. you can format drive D either NTFS or FAT32 after istallation (if you use FAT32 you can back up to it from either OS. The 2000 NT bootloader will auto-detect 98 and integrate info into bootloader. now when you start up you will be given a choice: 2000 or 98... its sweet.

HOWEVER: certain expensive software like Maya REQUIRE installation into C so you must consider what platform the version runs on and plan accordingly. if you are part of the 99% of people who dont use this dont sweat.

Later, Jim


😎 <font color=blue>Micron DDR Cult Member</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

ok.. theres a lot of jargon in there
I need to start over? How come? Right now I have 2 hd's. Basically the D: drive is useless because the bootloader doens't see that there is WIN2k on it and its bootable. So, right now I have a c:\ drive that boots up and is in NTFS obviously. How do I format my other drive so I can have win98 on it and have the boot loader see that its there? You'll have to break it down for me a little more because I am not familar with this dual booting whatsorever. But I am not a computer newbie by any means =)

 

[Guest]

well I'm a bit confused about your layout (is drive 2 new, C drive is NTFS, did you install 98 after 2000? etc. also you can have several "drives" on the same physical disk so I'm not following your physical layout between drives). If you can please give me your layout such as this:

Drive 1: C Drive (NTFS with 2000 installed) D drive (NTFS)
Drive 2: E Drive (new or FAT32 Windows 98)

In any case here is the bottom line. when dual-booting it is important to consider your layout (like the example I gave in my earlier post) and what you want to achieve, and also what 2000 and 98 can and cant do together (they are fundamentally differant). For example, from 2000 you can see a FAT32 partition/drive (98), but you can't see an NTFS (2000) drive from 98. also, they should be handled as seperate OS's (dont share drivers software etc)... like two seperate machines. there are ways around this but not worth the trouble if you are just getting your feet wet or for that matter ever.

also: utilities like fdisk cannot see NTFS.

Next: the bootloader (98 or 2000) always installs to your C drive, and every manual I have recommends installing 98 before 2000. this is confusing because suppose you install 98 on your C drive & 2000 on your D drive, your 2000 NT bootloader still installs in C Drive... so any changes to C drive will kill the NT bootloader.

For someone new to dual-boots with two drives I would reccomend HD1 C: FAT32 & Win98 D: NTFS & Win2000 HD2 E: FAT32 backup/shared data

Install 98 FIRST. but anyway post your drive setup and lets see what we can do to maintain status quo.

Later Jim

😎 <font color=blue>Micron DDR Cult Member</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

Eek your post wasn't confusing till u go onto the paragraph starting wit
"Next: the bootloader..."

So are you saying I have to format my C drive again and into win98? But if I do that, how am I going to be able to see the d:\ drive if its in NTFS?

I get what u're saying as
turn C:\ into win98.. (but I still don't get what u're saying about that because how would win98 see the NT Drive)
If I u showme how to work that out, (and c: turns to win98) can I leave d:\ as win2k as is?

:-/
Mike