Re: How to save all before re-installing XPHome?

In news:F7D3535A-74DA-455F-81AA-44224ECE0E9D@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Richard <Richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> So-o, do I understand you correctly that in the process
> of installing WinXP, one is actually given the option to set up a
> dual boot situation that would allow the continued use of Win98 as
> well as WinXP? If so, why then would one choose to complicate the
> process by using a 3rd party's boot manager software?
> Considering the possible future hassles of using another party's boot
> manager, and the cautions you have indicated above, would I be more
> prudent, in the long run, to work through WinXP's setup, regardless
> of the time involved?

Okay... First steps first and we'll take them in little tiny steps.

While reading this I had to pause and scratch my head for a moment. I'm not
sure it was because I was thinking or because I haven't had time for a
shower yet today. Either way there's nothing wrong with a bit of digression.
The times spent wandering away from the topic are times spent learning the
full details and conversations are allowed to come full circle with a
clearer understanding on both sides.

If you install 98 first and then install XP then XP will "know" that 98 is
installed and will give you the option to dual boot your system (and write
the proper boot.ini file) automatically. The reverse is not true as 98
pre-dates XP and thus can't be "aware" of it and if you install it while XP
is installed you'd need to manually edit your boot file(s) or use a third
party boot manager to get the options to dual boot.

Let's get to the root of the problem...

Check your drive, the second one that you want to put into the system... Set
it not to cable select but to Slave with the jumpers. Make sure that the
primary drive is also set not to cable select but to Master. You might have
to play around with this for a bit so you can just let it swing free off the
ribbon cable for now and that should do just fine for the time being. We'll
mount it later...

Okay, got it installed and rearing and ready to go? Well... No... Don't put
it on the same cable as your optical drive.

Okay so you can't get it to be seen under XP after installing it? Reboot and
enter your setup utility. In there use the automatic detection tool to make
sure you've got it seen in the BIOS. If it's not seen in the BIOS it's not
seen in the OS. You knew that though...

Okay... Everything going good so far? You now have it seen in the BIOS?
(Keep playin' with it until you do, it's not like you can really break
anything so have fun and with all the combinations of pins on two drives
added with the variations of BIOS setups the combinations would be near
infinate so I'll simply say that usually you'd press Delete to get into the
BIOS setup utility. Once there it's usually under Standard CMOS features.
Once inside there you can often pound on the F3 key to automatically find
and configure your drives. If not I'm sure you'll figure it out.)

Okay... Boot... XP should now give the drive a letter? I'm assuming it's
formatted... If not then try going into computer management (start > run >
type "compmgmt.msc" without the quotes and hit enter) and in the disk
management section assign it a drive letter if the drive is there but not
listed. It may also need a format.

I've never tried this next bit but it's logical... So you can try it if you
want though it will only work part way if your XP is installed on a FAT
partition...

Okay so now that drive's all happily formatted to FATxx (probably FAT32) and
has a letter. Go ahead and install 98 on it. No boot manager no nothing.

Done that? Good... Now go into the OS, load your drivers, do your updates,
and have fun but this is an important step... Using 98, if you have XP
installed on a FAT drive, you could then go on to get anything you wanted to
keep off of the other drive because this is going to get a bit risky. (You
really should burn all of the data before installing 98 though just in case
this idea's bunk and not going to work.)

Okay you happily have your XP data saved somewhere? Good... Everything's
going well? No? Well, okay, it's not going that well. You only have 98
installed as far as you can tell but you know XP is still kicking about over
on the C: drive. Well, let's fix that...

Stick your XP CD into the drive and reboot. Select the boot to CD option. Do
a repair installation of the OS. This, I hope, SHOULD give you the dual boot
options and keep all of your data though you may need to reconfigure some
programs, install a couple others, and do your updates again.

Okay, I don't seem to be missing anything in my logic? Do you see anything
missing? I've never actually TRIED that as I always install the older OS
first. It stands to reason that it would work just fine though. Of course
you want to backup your data first but this is the simplest way that I can
think of that should work. If it were me I'd try it as the only other option
(I'm not a fan of boot managers) is to go ahead and do the whole thing over
again after backups and do it by installing 98 first.

If anyone sees any glaring holes in my logic please feel free to post them
but right now (it's been a while since I last slept) that's seemingly the
best idea that I can think of. If I should think of anything new I'll add
that or if you have any questions feel free to ask. My posts aren't
particularly fantastic or anything but you might want to print this out or
commit it to memory before trying it so that you don't miss any steps and
again, if it doesn't work (I really don't see any reasons why it shouldn't)
you're still pretty much in the same spot you're in already and needing a
third party boot manager.

Galen
--
Signature changed for a moment of silence.
Rest well Alex and we'll see you on the other side.


.

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