Re: Win xp Dual boot help and advice needed!

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From: Timothy Daniels (TDaniels_at_NoSpamDot.com)
Date: 02/02/05 

Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 02:07:41 -0800

"Uncle John" wrote:
> Timothy,
>
> I was inerested in your comment
> <<being careful to have the old OS disconnected when the new HD boots up
> for 'the 1st time' (thereafter, the 2 OS's can co-exist independently)>>
>
> I backup by using CasparXp to make an exact copy of the system disk to a
> backup disk [master C:\ to the slave D:\]. Both disks are Seagate SATA 111GB
> type 10 IDE.
>
> In order to boot from the backup I switch the disk boot priority in the
> bios. Have I been missing something?

    It seems that when the new clone starts for the 1st time, it looks around
    for other OSes, and if it sees its "parent", it sets pointers within itself
    that point to files in its "parent", thereby binding itself - and becoming
    permanently dependent - on its "parent" OS. How it recognizes its
    "parent" I don't know. As a matter of fact, when I read about the
    phenomenon, I doubted it - until I found that a clone's My Documents
    folder was actually its "parent's" My Documents folder. And when
    I removed the HD that contained the "parent", the clone would no
    longer work. All this is avoided if the clone doesn't see its "parent"
    when it's started for the 1st time, but thereafter it can be started with
    the "parent" present and nothing bad happens. Note that with the
    "parent" is present, nothing wrong is ever noticed. It's only when the
    "parent" is removed is the "binding" apparent.

    It's not clear from your description what problem you're having with
    Norton AV, but I experience no need to reactivate my copy of that
    utility. After all, it doesn't even know that it is a clone, and it just
    continues to behave as it always did.

    BTW, I soon grew tired of disconnecting the "parent" HD after
    cloning to let the clone start up in isolation, so I ran the HDs' power
    cables through DPST toggle switches, and by toggling off a HD's
    power connection before start-up, I can make any HD "disappear".
    And the boot order doesn't have to be reset because with the
    "parent" HD invisible, the next HD in the boot order is selected
    by the BIOS.

*TimDaniels*

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