Re: Dual Boot for transition to new drive

"JohnWRS" wrote: 
I've read through many dual boot posts and still wonder about
one thing.  I have a new HD (WD Raptor 740) and I want to
install WinXP Pro on it.  I'd rather not suffer the hours of software
reinstallation in one sitting and I want to be able to return to my
old WinXP Pro installation on the original drive to continue work
as necessary.  It makes sense to me to install the new drive,
then install a dual boot version of Windows XP Pro on it.  In time,
as I complete application installations I'll work exclusively on the
new drive/WinXP installation.  However, i'll have the safety blanket
of the old WinXP Pro available.  I have multiple legit copies of
WinXP Pro, so licenses are not an issue.

So, is there something I'm missing here? Is there a downside
or risk to dual-booting two copies of WinXP Pro on two drives
as a transition method? Alternatively, I've thought of simply
disconnecting the unused WinXP Pro drive, but then of course
the contents of that drive are not available to access when it's
off line. Perhaps a way to avoids any complications/issues with dual boot. 


   The easiest way to do this and to avoid all the hassles of
   re-installation is to clone the old HD to your new HD.

   You can use one of several cloning utilities to do this.
   You can even download a free trial copy of Casper XP from
   www.FSSdev.com/products/casperxp/ .  Just set the new HD
   up as a Slave on the same IDE channel as the old HD (assuming
   the old HD is Master), or set it up as either Master or Slave on
   a different IDE channel.  This uses the BIOS's default boot order
   which puts the Master on ch. 0 at the head of the list.  If you know
   how to reset the boot order manually in the BIOS, you can put
   each HD on either channel and jumpered as whatever you want
   (as long as they're not jumpered the same on the same channel).

   Then clone the WinXP partition from the old HD to the new HD,
       copying the old HD's MBR to the new HD (if that option is
       offerred), and marking the new partition "active" (if that option
       is offerred.)
   Then shut down the system.
   Disconnect the old HD.  This will put the next HD at the head of
       the BIOS's boot order.  If there were only 2 HDs, the 2nd HD
       (i.e. the new HD) will be at the head of the BIOS's boot order.
   Start up the system, and the newly-made clone on the new HD
       will boot up for its 1st time.  (It's important that the clone's
       1st boot be with the "parent" OS *absent*.)
   Then shut down.
   Re-connect the old HD.  Now you have both HDs in the system.
       Start up the system.  The old HD will take the default position
       that it used to have at the head of the BIOS's boot order, and
       its OS will boot up.  It will appear as Local Disk C: in
       Disk Management, and the new OS will appear as Local
       Disk D: (or some other letter), and you can drag 'n drop files
       between the two file structures.

   To dual boot, you can either adjust the boot order in the BIOS
       to put the desired HD at the head of the list, or you can use
       WinXP's built-in multi-boot capability by adding an entry in
       the C:\boot.ini file to designate the 2nd system.  The simplest
       way to do that is to add another line under "[operating systems]"
       with "rdisk(0)" changed to "rdisk(1)".  That indicates the next HD
       in the BIOS's boot order.  To give you time to decide which OS
       to boot, make the no. of time-out seconds to be 10.  The default
       entry can remain the same.  Then, if you don't decide which OS
       to boot, after 10 seconds, the default entry will boot.  (The entry
       in the selection menu that corresponds to the default entry will
       be highlighted as a aid.)  You will find that the drive assigned
       to whichever OS boots will be "Local Disk C:".  The other copy
       of the OS will appear on a partition called "Local Disk X:",
       where "X" will be some other letter.

   You can get even more creative (and confused) by archiving
       several copies, made at various times, on a large archive HD.
       But then you'd have to understand the "active" flag and be
       really familiar with the boot.ini file and the BIOS's boot order.

   Post if you have more questions.

*TimDaniels*
.

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