Re: Two 'versions' of WinXp on the same pc?
- From: "Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:34:05 -0400
"Sumgod" <sumgod@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:d6-dndO_BrHO4DLb4p2dnAA@xxxxxxxxx
Hello One & All!
Any info I can glean here will be much appreciated.
Briefly what I want to do is have two 'versions' of WinXp Home on one pc
with a choice of which to boot to.
The first, WinXP1 say, would have all the usual stuff (antivirus,
pictures, mp3s, docs, etc).
The second, WinXP2 say, would only have software for recording audio
(i.e. all other software including antivirus would be uninstalled - got to
say I'm not too sure about leaving off the antivirus but that's the
thinking at the mo').
So when I switch on the pc it would by default boot to WinXP1 unless I
chose (somehow?) to load WinXP2.
How do I go about doing this?
Background: The C drive has been partitioned. The drive with the current
OS is 54.8GB with 6.98GB free. The other partition is also 54.8GB. When/If
I get the two WinXPs installed I can distribute whatever free space there
is. Also got two external hard drives for data.
Options I've considered (having extensively googled):
1. Make a backup of C using Acronis True Image and save to external hard
drive (I've done this). Make an Acronis Rescue Disc (done). Boot from the
CD and 'restore' the image of C to the second partition. Will this work?
2. Clone the C drive using Acronis and install onto the empty partition.
Will this work?
I've seen mention that drive letters may be a problem. See here:
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm
Seemingly a way around this is to "clear the table of partitions and drive
letter assignments" using regedit (mentioned in above article - see link).
The article also advises not to let the new XP partition to 'see' the old
XP partition. Unfortunately no advise on how to do this is mentioned.
I would guess someone will suggest setting up a another user account
specifically for recording. Personally I'm not keen on different user
accounts having experienced probs with passwords and settings previously
(though this was on ME!).
Many thanks - Chris
Chris:
How does this sound to you?...
I'll assume you're working with a desktop PC and your hard drives are
PATA...
First of all, it's not too clear - at least not clear to me - why you just
don't multi-partition your HDD along the lines you think practical based
upon your anticipated programs & data and let it go at that. Why do you
think you need two hard drives with the identical OS installed on each? Is
your present disk capacity an issue here?
But we'll assume you have good & sufficient reasons for contemplating what
you're contemplating!
Instead of having two instances of the same XP OP on a single HDD, could you
consider purchasing another HDD of whatever capacity you think necessary for
the use you have in mind with that secondary drive? With the cost of hard
disks getting cheaper nearly every day - down to about 25 cents per GB in
today's market - might you consider this? As a matter of fact, since you
mentioned that you have two external HDDs (I'm assuming they're USB
devices), perhaps you might even consider using one of the drives as the
secondary internal HDD assuming, of course, that the disk can be removed
from its USB enclosure without any problems.
In any event, then after installing your new HDD as a secondary HDD in your
system, say as a Slave to your Primary Master HDD or better yet
connecting/configuring that secondary HDD as Secondary Master, use your ATI
program to clone the contents of your primary HDD to the new drive. Delete
from the secondary HDD whatever programs and other data you deem
unnecessary, (ensuring, of course, that you still retain a potentially
bootable OS on that secondary drive) and install what programs & data you
want onto that secondary HDD.
So now you'll have two bootable hard drives, each with the same OS but each
having different programs & data (for the most part). Presumably the system
will boot to the Primary Master HDD (which I'll assume is the drive you
would mostly be working with on a day-by-day basis), however, you would be
able to boot directly to your "secondary" HDD when needed by accessing the
BIOS and selecting that HDD as the bootable drive.
The basic advantage to the above configuration is that the operating systems
would be physically divorced from each other (for the most part) since they
would be residing on separate disks - always a desirable thing when a user
desires this type of configuration. However, when booting to one or the
other drive, the data on both drives could be accessed.
Frankly, in all candor I have to tell you that I'm not at all comfortable
with this whole rigmarole. Having to access the BIOS whenever you would want
to boot into this or that drive is an awkward technique especially if you're
doing this on a common & routine basis. It's workable but not exactly
elegant to my way of thinking. What I would much rather have you do - again,
assuming that for one reason or another you need identical operating systems
on separate hard drives in the same PC - is to use removable hard drives
(mobile racks) to achieve this kind of configuration. That would be the
*real* way to go. But that's another story...
Anna
.
- References:
- Two 'versions' of WinXp on the same pc?
- From: Sumgod
- Two 'versions' of WinXp on the same pc?
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