🚀 go-pugleaf

    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*