[Solved] fdisk? partition? format? dual boot? help!!

[wild sow]

First, Folks, let me say that I have been spending hours and hours on your site reading and soaking up as much knowledge as I possibly can and am very grateful to all of you who volunteer and share your opinions and expertise, Thanks!

Let me tell you what I've got - and what I want...

AMD T-Bird 1000
40 GB Maxtor HD ( partitioned as c and d )
256 DRAM
16x DVD
12x8x32 CD-RW
Nvidia TNT 64 Video
On board Sound

I had it built about 6 mos ago and was using OEM version of Win ME with d: containing a ghost image of c: drive ( when all was new and perfect )

A few weeks ago I bought an OEM version of XP Professional and installed it so the system would offer a dual boot. (Both FAT 32) I could run ME and XP at my choosing and all appeared fine for the first week or so and then I started to receive several different error messages. In ME I was receiving errors pertaining to Windows Installer and Registry errors, and files not found... In XP I also rec'd registry error messages and errors pertaining to missing .msi files. After reading a great many of the issues and problems revealed on your site I believe part of the problem is that I didn't install XP properly to run on the same hard drive. I don't remember creating another partition for XP to be installed in and I don't think it was or it would have been assigned another drive letter other than C , right? Anyway, due to all the problems I was having with ME I uninstalled it and now only have XP installed. However, I did reinstall XP to correct the problems I was having with it and my HD usage doubled ! Could it be that the other installation was not deleted?

Here's what I would like to do and if anyone could walk me through it in "simple, stupid" terms I would be forever grateful.

ME is an unstable OS (at least it has been for me since day 1 ) but I still need to have it on my system to run some software that I cannot live without that unfortunatley I can't run under XP. I love XP Pro and still want to use that OS for everything else.

I want to clean my hard drive and start fresh. After reading a lot of postings here I think I understand that I can run both OS's on one hard drive as long as they are in their own partition, yes? no? If yes, how do I wipe the slate clean and do it RIGHT? I have both OEM cd's with valid coa numbers and I have a ME startup floppy and I went to the Windows XP help site and made the 6 disk setup floppys. Where do I go from here? Do I put ME and XP in their own primary partitions? Do I create additional extended partitions so I can have some additional space for backup and other programs? "fdisk" "format" "partitions", I'm scared...

Starting with Step 1, can anyone help me? Thanks a bunch.

 

[casper03]

firstly install windowsME on the c drive then do a search on google for acronis os selector and run it in me .

it will ask you to make a floppy disk which you will then insert into floppy and reboot it will then install itself....

then what you do is install xp on the d drive and if you have partition magic make this partition hidden so that there is no conflict between the two os ....

then reboot it will take you into the acronis os selector prog
and get it to detect any other os on any partition and it will find xp.
then you will have the choice to boot between the two and all should run perfectly.......

you should be able to download a trial version of partition magic at : www.powerquest.com

 

[kramnnim]

One note: Powerquest has no trial version, only a demo, that doesnt save the changes made to your HDD. =/

 

[crjdriver]

I would run fdisk and delete all partitions. Then create primary dos partition when asked if you want to enable large disk support answer yes. When asked if you want to use all of the available size for your partition answer no. After primary dos partition is created, create an extended partition, and then create logical partition [logical partition is in the extended partition when asked what size leave enough room for a second logical partition. Format partitions after you create them.
Everyone has their own way of partitioning the drive for multiple os here is how I like to do the job.
Set up a dual boot in this manner: ME on c: drive, XP on d: drive and then use e: drive for applications and data. Install ME first then install XP it will install a boot menu for you.
As for the size of the partitions since you will be installing only the os to the c: and d: partitions, I would make them small such as 3 gig for ME and 4 gig for XP [I do not have XP, however it is similar to win2k and I use a 4.5 gig on my system for win2k] make the rest of the hd the e: drive and use that for data and applications. Note you will need to install each app twice [so you get the registry entries] you do not need to install them to different folders i.e. just install to the same folder.
As to using ntfs you are given the option when installing XP. It is up to you, the ntfs partition will not be visible from ME. Ntfs does give you some added security and it makes more efficient use of disk space.
Check out this site for a good explanation of multi-booting.
http://www.xperts.co.za/multiboot/

Hope this helps, I am going out on a long four day trip so someone else can help you if you have problems.
Chuck

 

[crjdriver]

One more thing make backups of anything you want to keep such as data files. Running fdisk will delete everything. You can do this with partition magic, however that costs money and fdisk while more difficult to use is free.

 

[wild sow]

Thanks guys for replying so quickly! Will fdisk allow me to create a hidden partition like Partition Magic?

And would one of you kind souls explain to me the difference between hidden partition, extended partition and logical drive? A primary partition is bootable right, the other 3 are not?

 

[wild sow]

Sorry, thought of 2 more questions...

If I download Acronis do I need Partition Magic or vica versa?

And , if I put ME on C drive and XP on D drive will D drive be a hidden partition? I thought hidden partitions were not assigned a drive letter...

I am my worst enemy...

 

[crjdriver]

I am not familiar with Acronis. I think it is a type of boot manager; you can use a third party boot manager if you want, however XP and Win2k will put in a boot manager for you. If you install XP with ntfs file system, it will not be visible from ME. You can see the ME partition from XP. If you install XP with Fat32 it is visible from ME.
An extended partition is created to contain logical partitions [that is where you will put data, apps, or an operating system. When you install XP it does not have to go on a bootable partition [it will copy files needed to boot to a bootable partition]

 

[wild sow]

Thanks for the info, I am going to give it a try today. Keep your fingers crossed...

 

[wild sow]

I did it !! Instead of partition magic or acronis I downloaded a (free) copy of maxblast from Maxtor. It was super easy to use and so far after 24 hours my machine is running top notch! Thanks to all of you guys who took the time to respond, you really helped me out.
Happy New Year !