Dual boot independently

I have a computer with a harddrive that has been in used for a few years that has Windows XP pro on it so the drive may die sooner than later. As an insurance in case that happens, I want to create a dual boot system on this PC with the second copy of XP Pro on a physically separated harddrive. The problem is the boot manager and menu files (boot.ini and such) reside on the older drive. Therefore, if that drive craps out, I have no boot menu and therefore cannot boot into the second XP. In other words, the second XP depends on this first drive to be able to boot into.

Is there any way in my situation where I can do a dual boot system with each OS on its own physical drive but each has its independent boot manager and files so that if one drive is removed from the PC, the other one can boot up just fine by itself? I know I can create 2 independent drives and use the BIOS to choose the boot order. However, this is not a good solution because this computer is shared by some less experienced users so having them tweaking the BIOS is not a good idea.

 

Hi moboking and welcome to WindowsBBS.

Perhaps an answer would be to use a boot floppy or boot CD that contains a boot.ini file that will accommodate your wishes. Modify it to give a selection of different drives and partitions.

I have used that method before and will share the CD image file with you if you're interested. It's a Nero proprietary image and will create the boot CD when double-clicked, but only if you have Nero installed.

Of course you can make your own floppy boot diskette by formatting a floppy on the machine you need to boot. Then copy NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini to it. Then edit the boot.ini to reflect your wishes. Perhaps:

Code:

[boot loader]
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
timeout=-1
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows Whistler Personal" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows Whistler Personal" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

(Correct flawed spacing in the code string [S following Window]as need due to line wrap here)

Then either use that floppy or make a CD of it by imaging it during the creation of a bootable CD.

 

The boot loader version of the boot.ini that I have on the Nero Boot CD image is:

[boot loader]
timeout=-1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "disk1-partition1-STANDARD SYSTEM" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS= "disk1-partition2-systems w/hidden restore partition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS= "disk1-partition3-other multi boot systems" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS= "disk1-partition4-other multi boot systems" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "disk2-partition1-boot second drive" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS= "disk2-partition2-boot second drive w/hidden restore partition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS= "disk2-partition3-other multi boot systems" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\WINDOWS= "disk2-partition4-other multi boot systems" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\= "Previous Operating System on C:\ "

 

moboking,
Here's another suggestion. This site has loads of information on Dual Booting. Might find what you're looking for here. I currently have 98SE and WinXp on my PC. I got lots of good stuff from here:
Just click on "Boot "
http://thpc.info/

 

Hello moboking,

The problem is the boot manager and menu files (boot.ini and such) reside on the older drive. Therefore, if that drive craps out, I have no boot menu and therefore cannot boot into the second XP. In other words, the second XP depends on this first drive to be able to boot into,

While all that is true, you're making it a bigger problem of it than it really is.

I'm dual booting and I switched out the C drive and it took me alll of 5 minutes, if that, to rebuild the boot.ini file on that C drive to include the D drive's installation by using the Recovery Console. Booting with the XP disc, you will be presented with a menu of tasks, choose the RC, which in turn will have menus of tasks, one of which is to find all the OS installations on the system and create the boot menu accordingly.

Regards - Charles

EDIT:Looked up the RC procedure - type help and all the available commands display. The one you would want is Bootcfg: Automatically scans all local disks for Windows installations and configures and repairs entries in the OS system menu (Boot.ini)

You also have "manual" access to the Boot.ini in msconfig > BOOT.INI tab where you can edit it. There is also a Boot.ini.backup on the D installation: D:\WINDOWS\pss\