Dual-booting between PATA and SATA then deleting PATA

I found this board via a Google search on this subject, with a long thread under a similar circumstance, but it didn't fully address my situation. Here's the deal:

I currently have a 200GB PATA hard drive with multiple partitions, one of which is my boot. I just purchased a SATA 150GB Raptor to use as my new boot drive. I want to then start using my old drive primarily for storage of large files, such as videos and music.

To ease my transition because I work from home, I'd like to do something a little unorthodox. I've reformattef my system many times in the past with little difficulty, and try to do so every six months. Still, the process takes me about two days to do it right, and since I need my computer operational for work, I'd rather be able to boot back to my old installation at my leisure until I'm confident my new set-up is to my liking. Then I'd like to delete the PATA boot partition completely, and resize the partitions on that drive for just storage.

Now I'm no n00b when it comes to this, and I know my biggest problem is that if I just stick with the ntloader (which I'd like to), and install the new copy of Windows XP on the SATA hard drive, allowing it to create its own dual-boot menu choices for me, the boot.ini file will remain exactly where it is... on the PATA boot partition. And therefore when I delete that partition, I'll delete the boot information for my new SATA installation right along with it.

How do I get around this? Is there any way (I'm no novice, so I'm willing to play around here) to move the boot.ini file to the SATA drive and modify its entries to reflect the appropriate drives? Or, worst-case scenario, isn't there an option in the Recovery Console to rebuild the boot.ini file, allowing me to delete the old partition, temporarily unplug the PATA drive to ensure the new file ends up on the SATA, and be good to go, or do I risk losing my OS completely?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

 

Some motherboards allow you to select the hard disk from which to boot. If your motherboard has this feature, use it. Would make your life much easier as you won't have to mess around with BOOT.INI.

 

As far as I'm aware the closest mine'll go is letting me select the boot order of the drives in the BIOS, and I'd rather not have to go through that much trouble. That would also require me to unhook my PATA drive while installing Windows on the SATA drive to ensure it creates a new boot.ini file on that drive instead of just adding data to the other one. Not the route I'd like to take.

 

Hello TurboFool,

Whiskeyman did w/ 98 and XP what you want to accomplish but you seem not to want to do it that way.

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=52735&highlight=dual+boot

When you want to stop the dual boot, then physically switch drives > repair the boot.ini on what was the 2nd installtion and now would be the C partition with the Recovery Console.

Afterwards you would have to change drive letter paths/shortcuts for apps that were installed.


Another possibility: after you're satisfied that the new installtion is ok, leave it there, format the installation on C, run the RC for the 2nd installation. The boot.ini will still be on now what is a data drive C.

Regards - Charles

 

Maybe it's too early in the day, but I'm not quite sure I get that...

Since the drives are a SATA and a PATA I'm not sure what you mean by physically switching them. Do you mean unhook the PATA drive so the computer doesn't notice it anymore? And then what's the specific method of repairing the boot.ini? I've really used the recovery console very rarely.

And finally, when you say to change the drive letter/paths for installations, what are you referring to? If I'm not mistaken each installation of Windows considers itself on C, so there really shouldn't be any changes I need to make, unless you just mean the general shuffle that'll occur when I remove the other partition and modify it. Luckily I'll be installing all my software to the SATA drive, so it's just folders like My Music that'll be on the PATA.

 

Hi TurboFool,

Don't have a mixture of drives, so don't know if you can physically switch them.

A 9X OS has to be on the C partition, XP can be on any drive letter as long as its a primary partition.

If you install a 2nd XP on the SATA drive, XP will install on that drive letter/partition. If you look thru the 98/XP dual boot thread, I posted a picture of my config. I have a XP installed on C and one on D. If I wanted to get rid of the one on C, I would then follow one of the ways I outlined.

The only MUST is for the boot.ini to be on C.

If you did what Whiskeyman did, un hook the PATA drive and installed on the SATA, then yes, the SATA drive/partition would become C and you would then have to change the BIOS to determine which to boot into or a 3rd party boot loader. You wrote you didn't want to do that.

Regards - Charles

 

I feel really thick today, and I'm sorry about that, but I read through that whole thread and I don't exactly see anything equiavlent to my situation, especially since I DON'T have any 9X series on my system, and I don't plan to keep the original partition forever, which is the real problem here.

Your method, so far as I can tell, would only modify the boot.ini file that's on my old PATA installation, unless I'm confused. My whole issue is that I want to get all of the boot information shifted over to the new SATA installation so that I can later delete the PATA installation without rendering my system unbootable. Maybe I'm not being creative enough or it's not seeping through, but I didn't see anything in that thread that applied to this situation.

That said, I'm beginning to suspect that, maybe, although it's certainly risky, if I were to delete the boot.ini file on the PATA drive altogether, then use bootcfg with the SATA drive as the primary, it might recreate it on that drive. But that's the closest I'm getting here, and that's too many maybes for my taste.

 

Yes, that's what re creating the boot.ini via the RC would do. The RC would see the C installation and ask if you want to include it in the boot.ini, saying no would create a single boot.ini pointing to D. Then you would deal with the installation on C as you see fit - keeping it for awhile or not.

I have XP installations on C and D dual booting now - each has access to the other's files.

If I wanted to get rid of the one on C - I would use the RC's bootcfg command to re create the boot.ini file which MS insists must be on C - no problem.

The D installation then boots as a single installation.

Regards - Charles

 

While technically not difficult, I'd personally rather not do it that way. I'd prefer the physically-simple route, especially as I'd probably leave it like that for a week or more, just to be anal about it. If I have the luxury, I'll end up taking it. It's not so much verifying I did it all right as having a fully-working installation to get my work done while I more leisurely set up the new one.

 

If you use a utility such as Acronis' TruImage, you can 'clone' the partitions from the 'old' disk on to the 'new' disk. If this is done in 'manual' mode, partition sizes can be adjusted during the process. You can check out TruImage HERE.

B

 

Does cloning support drive differences (switching from PATA to SATA) ?

 

I have mixed drives on my machine. I haven't cloned from PATA to SATA, but I started the clone 'wizard' and set it up to clone mixed drive types with no problem (then 'cancelled out). Acronis' help files do not advise against this. I am assuming this will work. I hope it does at any rate, I plan on changing over to all SATA drives later this spring.

B

 

As far as I'm aware, you can't clone between drive types. I've heard of this problem before. It's primarily Windows, itself, which won't boot from a different controller than it was expecting, I believe.

Still, I'm not entirely sure how this would help me, really. I'm looking to do a fresh installation on the new SATA drive, not copy over my old one. I think it may be as much as a year since I last reformatted, so I need it badly.

 

Then the only option I see that will work for you is to use a boot manager. Disconnect your PATA drive, install the OS on your SATA drive, install the boot manager, then reconnect your PATA drive and configure the boot manager. Then you can switch between drives until your done tweaking the SATA. HTH

B

 

Then the only option I see that will work for you is to use a boot manager. Disconnect your PATA drive, install the OS on your SATA drive, install the boot manager, then reconnect your PATA drive and configure the boot manager. Then you can switch between drives until your done tweaking the SATA. HTH
Hi Mr.B,

What's the point?

The XP install creates a boot manager, plus each installation has access to the other.

He can't switch drives afterwards so having the 2nd installation as a C partition installation is pointless, works just as well as D or E partition installation - I personnally have a D partition XP.

Getting rid of the original installation is easy - format the drive with the XP cd after deciding no longer needed and then re creating the boot.ini record on the formated drive C which then is the data drive. Unconventional sure, so what?

Given the drive type mixture, that is the easiest way.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles,

That would work but...

Why couldn't he switch the drives? (I'm still stuck in the Win98 has to be on C mode)
I got to go to work, I'lll check back when I get home.

B

 

Hi Mr.B, you may well be right - could be an unwarrented assumption on my part.

Regards - Charles

EDIT: to make the drive switching issue clear, there are two drive types PATA and SATA.

 

The main reason I couldn't deal with physically unhooking one drive or the other is that I'd need access to the data on both drives from the other (primarilly the old drive from the new one). This would be the main reason I'd need a software option.

So far deleting the old installation when I'm done with it and using bootcfg to rebuild the boot information for the new and current one sounds like the best bet. I take it this is a fully reliable method?