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Thread ID: 26527	2002-10-29 09:36:00	Partitioning Hardrive	Berryb (654)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
94274	2002-10-29 22:19:00	Found it - here (pressf1.co.nz) G P	Graham Petrie (449)
94275	2002-10-29 22:53:00	I have PM 8.0. You can create a separate partition for WIN98 or any other op system and use the Boot Magic program (with PM8.0) to tell the computer system which operating sytem to boot up. Which PM have you got?	Toby (767)
94276	2002-10-29 23:38:00	That's what I thought Toby, PM 3 had the IBM Boot Manager and the PM 4 upgrade I bought had the Power Quest Boot Magic. So if you have PM that is surely the way to go. You are not then dependent (I think, as I have no experience of Win2k or XP, on any Windows built in boot loaders, could the experts correct me if Im making a fool of myself? :) )	Terry Porritt (14)
94277	2002-10-30 10:27:00	Thanks for all the posts and the good links. I have PM7 and will do a full backup and give it a go. Worth a try anyway. Cheers	Berryb (654)
94278	2002-10-30 11:27:00	Good move in backing up before you do anything. I have a suggestion that be of interest. I multiboot between Windows 98, ME & Linux Mandrake 9.0 which I'm writing to you from now. I can load any "image" onto any part of my HDD & not lose my boot sequence. The system I describe works with all known operating systems available today. I use Norton Ghost to create a backup "image" of the OS I want to secure before I do anything. If you do not have any hard disk imaging tools, then you have the potential to lose data when partitioning & installing multiple os'es on a single drive. Actually, you can download a version of ghost because soome naughty person has made it freely available on the net. just search for ghost.exe. I'm a registered user. Here's what i did. I started with a single 40Gb drive, single partition. I divided it into 4 primary partitions, then loaded a simple free disposable boot manager available from www.ranish.com. Ranish Partition Manager allows a user to hide a partition while installing another OS, so that's what I did. I hid my WinME partition #1 & installed Win98 on partition #4. I made a backup image of part #4 on part #2, then reformatted Part #4 & loaded Win2K onto part#4 & did the same again. I repeated the steps to install WinXP, then made a backup of all OS'es. Now, whatever OS I intend to use as my full time OS, I load onto part#1 & keep it there. Part#2 has all my datafiles so they are available from whatever OS I chose to run, Partition 3 is Linux & Partition 4 is my disposable partition where I do test installs, game demos, in fact anything my heart desires because it wont destroy the data on my HDD, which by the way I have backed up on CD. I deliberately hid all other partitions from each other during install so the OS thinks it's the only one & doesn't try to incorporate more than it has to into the boot sequence. I use XOSL as my boot loader & I simply choose what partition I want to run at boot & best of all, the boot loader is really small & it's totally free. MikeP	mikep (1856)
94279	2002-10-30 12:09:00	Dual or treble booting - as described in the above FAQ - is reliant upon all Windows operating systems using a common primary partition . Each operating system can then be installed either in separate folders or separate partitions (usually logical drives) depending on the formatting system used by each operating system . MS recommend the common partition be formatted FAT16 since FAT16, FAT32, NT 4 . 0 NTFS, Win2000 NTFS and XP NTFS will all recognise it . Booting to multiple primary partitions is not covered by the FAQs above . Booting to multiple primary partitions requires the creation of up to the maximum of 4 primary partitions per hard drive . An inbuilt limitation of Windows operating systems using FAT format (namely any MS OS from DOS through to Me) is that they can only recognise one primary partition per hard drive unlike the NT based operating systems which can recognise up to 4 per drive . (Why only 4? Limitation of space used to record the partitioning information at the end of the master boot record) . A second limitation is MS FDISK which will only create one primary partition per hard drive . To overcome these two limitations, a third party disk partitioning program is required - such as Partition Magic, though my preferences are either of the two DOS based EFDISK and AEFDISK programs . Whatever is used, the objective is to create up to 4 primary partitions and to then "hide" all but one which is set active or bootable . By "hiding" the additional primary partitions the Windows operating system which is being installed can only "see" one primary partition - the one it is being installed into and thus no partition conflicts are created . (Leave two primary partitions "unhidden" and watch what happens when Windows - or DOS - is installed) . Once DOS or Windows is installed on the first primary partition, use the third party disk partitioning program to "hide" that partition, "unhide" another which is then set active or bootable . If the active partition is "hidden", an error message or a flashing cursor is all that will be seen when attempting to access the bootable partition . Active partitions must be "unhidden" . Install a second Windows operating system in the second primary partition and proceed with the remaining partitions . An example of four operating systems on the same hard drive could be Primary partition 1 - DOS 6 . 22 Primary partition 2 - Windows 98 Primary partition 3 - Windows 2000 Professional Primary partition 4 - Windows XP Professional or Primary partition 1 - Windows 98 Primary partition 2 - Windows 2000 Professional Primary partition 3 - Windows XP Professional Primary partition 4 - Linux Red Hat 8 (check the installation instructions before creating partitions for Linux OS) The last major limitation that MS operating systems have is that the system files for the earlier FAT based operating systems (up to Windows 98) have to be within the first 2 gigabytes of the hard drive . Usually this is not a major issue since each MS operating systems were designed to exist by itself on each hard drive . However it is something to be aware of when creating multiple primary partitions . To access each operating system use a third party boot manager . This ensures that each operating system is kept independent and inaccessible from each other . Several boot managers exist and all have their pros and cons . Boot Magic provides a Windows like feel complete with mouse while others are reminiscent of DOS . Usually most boot managers are installed on the first primary partition and most manufacturers recommend it be formatted with FAT16 or 32 for ease of troubleshooting . Check the installation instructions for configuration In the case of reinstalling an operating system, disable the boot manager and use the disk partitioning program to "hide" all the partitions except the problem one which is set active or bootable . Format and/or install as usual . Use the disk partitioning program to "unhide" the partition containing the boot manager (set it active and also "hide" the other partitions), restart and enable the boot manager . So in a long winded way Terry, no you were not making a fool of yourself .	Merlin (503)
94280	2002-10-30 21:49:00	Merlin, do you mind if this is added to the FAQ (with appropriate credit of course) as your reply is sufficiently detailed. If I have read it correctly, then this would be the preferrable method of setting up a multiboot machine provided of course that the user has enough knowledge, and a partition manager like PM as it allows OSs to be installed in any order, and to be reinstalled without affecting any of the other OSs as long as consideration is made as to which partition each OS is on to get around the 2GB limit. I have one question - can the OSs see each other's partition once loaded provided a universal file system is used eg FAT16?? In other words, if I am having problems with a Win XP install on a FAT16 partition, can I boot say in98 and modify the XP system files?? Or, if as you say, Win 9x cannot see more than one primary partiiton, can XP (which can) see the files on the Win98 partition?? Cheers G P	Graham Petrie (449)
94281	2002-10-30 22:33:00	I have no problems providing ownership remains with me. (btw - do a grammar check as I have seen one error) Your question. With booting to MS operating systems placed on multiple primary partitions, each MS operating system cannot "see" another and thus cannot access the files of another MS operating system because the only primary partition being accessed is "unhidden". All others are "hidden" and not accessable. The only time MS operating systems can access "shared" files is when an extended partition is created with a logical drive which is then FAT formated. An example Primary partition 1 - Windows 98 Primary partition 2 - Windows 2000 Professional Primary partition 3 - Windows XP Professional Primary partition 4 - is the extended partition containing - say - one logical drive. As each primary partition is accessed, Windows assigns the drive letter C to it. Windows will also assign the letter D to the logical drive and E to the first installed CD ROM drive and so forth. This does open up advantages for using the logical drive for data files using - say - the folder setting in most MS Office applications. So the short answer to your problem is no, you cannot boot into 98 and modify the files on the FAT 16 partition with XP installed. You could however do this if the first primary partition contained an NT based MS operating system since NT based operating systems will recognise multiple primary partitions on the same hard drive.	Merlin (503)
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