Re: Dual Boot


"Vince" <Vince@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:88B0A747-94F8-411E-9A40-D2DCCC7905B4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I am running XP Pro on my maine computer and want to set up a dual boot
with
> server 2003. I am nervous about loosing any of my Data. I have started
this
> proccess a few times but backed out when I have to delete the partition on
C
> drive. My maine drive is a sony 160 gb and I do have an extra Western dig
250
> gb but for some reason, when I get to the partition point of the 2003
server
> download, I try and put it on the 250 gb western dig but says it has to
write
> files onto the C drive. That is when it says to delete the partition on
the C
> drive and warns me that I will loose data. Any advice would be
appreciated.
> Thanks in advance

About you being nervous about losing your data: It's your choice
not to back up your important data. Sooner or later you will
suffer a major disaster, at which stage you may realise that
hard disks (e.g. those housed inside an external USB box) are
an incredibly cheap backup medium.

The most robust and most modular way of installing Server 2003
goes like this:
1. Back up your important data from drive C:.
2. Disconnect the 250 GByte drive so that it is safe.
3. Use a partition manager (e.g. from Acronis) to create
a 10 or 20 GByte primary partition on your 160 GByte drive.
Label it Win2003.
4. While at it, create an 8 MByte FAT partition at the far end
of the 160 GByte drive. Label it "XOSL".
5. Download and unzip XOSL. It's a free boot manager.
Place the unzipped files into the XOSL FAT partition.
6. Reboot the machine with a Win98 boot disk (www.bootdisk.com).
7. Install XOSL. Make sure to install it in a ***dedicated***
partition, and make absolutely sure to select the XOSL
partition. If you select the wrong partition then you lose
WinXP.
8. Reboot the machine and add WinXP to the XOSL menu.
9. Add Win2003 to the menu.
10. Hide the two Windows partitions from each other.
11. Boot into Win2003. The machine will lock up.
12. Reset the PC and boot the machine immediately with your
Win2003 CD. When prompted, select the Win2003
partition as a target.

That's all! If you follow these instructions carefully then you
won't lose any data. However, accidents do happen. I would
never do this sort of thing unless I had everything backed up
to an independent medium. I would even use an imaging
program to create a snapshot of my current WinXP installation.
But then it's your choice!


.

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