🚀 go-pugleaf

do you have to license twice?
buy two copies?

"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> wrote in message
news:ptCdnTbQJ5T1SCSiRVn-gQ@comcast.com...
>     Here's how to boot between two Windows XP
> systems without using any special software:
>
>
> First, Why?
>
>     1) Your system hard drive is getting old, and you
>          want to be prepared for a quick switch-over
>          to a new system hard drive when the old one
>          croaks.
>
>     2) You have a huge amount of applications
>          installed, some of which don't play well
>          together with the other applications - such
>          Java development kits/Java test servers on
>          the one hand, and Microsoft's Visual Studio
>          .NET and other .NET software on the other -
>          and you want one group of apps installed on
>          one Win XP system hard drive, and the other
>          group installed on another Win XP system
>          hard drive.
>
>
>   In my case, both situations existed, and I wanted
> to enable a quick switch between two WinXP Pro systems.
>
>
> Now, how?
>
>     1) Make a byte-for-byte image of your old system
>        partition on your new hard drive using software
>        such as Norton Ghost, or PowerQuest Drive Image,
>        or Acronis True Image, or Future Systems Solutions
>        Casper XP.  (The latter was expressly written
>        for Windows XP.)
>
>        I happened to have each of my two hard drives
>        connected to a dedicated channel on a PCI
>        expansion IDE controler card, each jumpered as
>        Master, and although PowerQuest said that such
>        a configuration would not be a problem, I could
>        not get a bootable image until I abandoned Drive
>        Image 7.0 and 7.01 and went with Drive Image 2002.
>        Even then, Drive Image 2002 would not work for me
>        until I put both hard drives on the same channel,
>        the source jumpered as Master and the destination
>        as Slave.  (I may have had better luck with Drive
>        Image 7.0 and 7.01 if I had done that originally.)
>
>        After you have the image copied to the new hard
>        drive, re-jumper the new hard drive to Master,
>        but DO NOT BOOT UP THE NEW HARD DRIVE
>        UNTIL YOU HAVE ELECTRICALLY DIS-
>        CONNECTED THE OLD HARD DRIVE FROM
>        THE SYSTEM - let the new hard drive boot up alone
>        before re-connecting the old hard drive.
>
>
>     2) Change the boot.ini files on both system hard
>        drives.  If you don't, you may get an error
>        message saying that file hal.dll is missing or
>        corrupt.  To make the proper changes to boot.ini,
>        you must know a little about a couple lines in
>        the boot.ini file, which is found just below the
>        C: root of the file system.  In the boot.ini file
>        you are interested in the line(s) just after the
>        line:
>
>        [operating systems]
>
>
>        These lines take the form:
>
>        multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Pro"
/fastdetect
>
>
>        These lines tell the BIOS where to find the OS.
>
>        The parameter after "rdisk" is the drive position
>        (modulo the number of drives) relative to the High
>        Priority bootable hard drive in the boot sequence
>        of the BIOS.  The High Priority drive in the boot
>        sequence is the 1st drive checked by the BIOS for
>        bootability.  If you only have two hard drives
>        listed in the boot sequence, "0" means "this drive",
>        and "1" means "the other drive".  (I'm not sure
>        how it works when you have three or more drives
>        in the boot sequence.)
>
>        The parameter after "partition" is the position
>        (starting with 1) on the hard drive of the part-
>        ition that contains the operating system.  If the
>        partition is the first partition, it is partition
>        "1".  (PowerQuest says that things go better if
>        the positions of the partitions containing the
>        operating systems are the same on both hard drives.)
>
>        The character string in quotes is arbitrary, and
>        you can set them to whatever you feel describes
>        the contents of the associated partition.
>
>        For example, with a BIOS boot sequence that
>        has as its High Priority hard drive the one that
>        contains the OLD system, in the boot.ini file
>        on the old hard drive set one of these lines to
>        indicate "this HD contains the old system in
>        its 1st partition", e.g.
>
>        ...rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="old system" /fastdetect
>
>        Set the other line to indicate "the other HD
>        contains the new system in its 1st partition",
>        e.g.
>
>        ...rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="new system" /fastdetect
>
>
>        In the boot.ini file on the NEW hard drive,
>        set one of these lines to indicate "this HD
>        contains the new system in its 1st partition",
>        e.g.
>
>        ...rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="new system" \fastdetect
>
>        and the other line to indicate "the other HD
>        contains the old system in its 1st partion".
>
>        ...rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="old system" \fastdetect
>
>
>     3) Choose between the two methods of OS selection
>        at boot-up:
>
>          A) OS selection by BIOS boot sequence
>
>               If you want to delve into the BIOS to switch
>               between operating systems (i.e. which hard
>               drive boots), make the 1st "operating systems"
>               line on each hard drive's boot.ini file be the
>               one that refers to the OS on that hard drive.
>               Comment out the 2nd line by putting it between
>               brackets.  For example, on the OLD hard drive's
>               boot.ini file, include the lines:
>
>               [operating systems]
>                ...rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="old system" /fastdetect
>               [...rdisk( etc. )...]
>
>
>               On the NEW hard drive's boot.ini file,
>               include the lines:
>
>               [operating systems]
>               ...rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="new system" /fastdetect
>               [...rdisk( etc. )...]
>
>
>               To switch between operating systems, do
>               a Restart, then enter the BIOS set-up
>               (on Dell computers, press Del), and put the
>               name (assigned by the BIOS - usually the
>               manufacturer's model no.) of the desired hard
>               drive at the top of the list of bootable
>               devices (the "boot sequence"), then exit the
>               the BIOS set-up.  The OS on that hard drive
>               will then boot up this and every other time
>               until you change the boot sequence.
>
>
>          B) OS selection by keyboard input during boot-up
>
>               If you want to explicitly select the OS at each
>               boot-up and you'd like to stay out of the BIOS,
>               don't comment out any of the "operating systems"
>               lines in the boot.ini file.  The BIOS will take
>               the character strings in those lines in the same
>               order as they appear in the boot.ini file of the
>               Highest Priority drive in the boot sequence and
>               display them in a selection list.  By selecting,
>               "old system" or "new system" (as in our example
>               lines above), you can select which OS loads.
>
>
> Tips to make things easier:
>
>         Use hard drives from different manufacturers or of
>     different sizes to make their model nos. distinguishable
>     in the BIOS boot sequence.
>
>         Put a shortcut on the Desktop of each OS to a folder
>     that has as its name some indication of the system that
>     it's in.  When you boot up, you'll immediately know if
>     the right system got loaded.
>
>        Put an emply file named something like "bootNEW.ini"
>     under the C: root of the new system, and "bootOLD.ini"
>     under the C: root of the old system.  This will help you
>     to remember which system you're working with when you
>     diddle with the boot.ini file - which will be displayed
>     right above it.
>
>
> Things yet to learn about boot.ini:
>
>         What does the "rdisk" parameter mean if there are
>     three or more bootable hard drives?
>
>     What do the "multi" and "disk" parameters mean?
>
>     Can you put the OSes on different partitions if
>     you indicate their positions with the "partition"
>     parameter?
>
>
>     Thanks to Rod Speed (the Whizzer of Os) for the
> exhortations to disconnect the old hard drive before
> booting up the new hard drive for the 1st time.  This
> is critical.
>
>     Additions and corrections are welcomed.
>
>     I hope this helps someone.
>
>
> *TimDaniels*
>