98 on one drive, adding XP to 2nd drive?

Hello

I posted awhile back that I "was" going to set up a dual boot with 98se and Xp on a single WD 160 drive. After much thought I'm going to keep 98se on one drive and add Xp to the new one. Here's what I have:

Presently 98se is on a 13.7 gig drive that I'm replacing with a Seagate 40 gig. I'll break it in two partitions with both as Fat32. It'll connect to the (IDE 1) channel on the ATA 100 Promise card.

The new WD 160 will have XP Home (upgrade) and at least 4-5 partitions. Three of which in NFTS and 1-2 will be in Fat32. This will connect to the (IDE 2) channel on the ATA card.

Now my question is what's the best way of installing XP on the new drive so I can choose 98 or XP?

** In other words do I connect the new drive as a slave to the one with 98se or disconnect the 98 drive ,connect the new as master and load XP?

** I'll use Xp to format and partition the drive since I'm still unsure if the "Data Lifeguard Tools" from Western Digital will configure the drive the way I want. Someone suggested use XP to setup and format the first partition, install XP and then use the "DIsc Management ?" to format and partition the remaining space on the drive. Is this ok or is there a better way?

** If the 98 drive has (C & D) what will XP be and does it really matter?

** If I have 1-2 partitions in Fat32 on the new drive will I be able to transfer or access any data/files from the drive with 98 even though both are on seperate channels?

Thanks for any help and or suggestions on this.
Kenny J.

 

Hello McGuyver,

Much easier, you can now use the XP cd to do the formating. Pop the xp cd into the rom and follow the on screen instructions. The install sites references I gave you will tell you what to expect and about how long it will take.

XP will create a dual boot menu at the end of the install.

The original thread: http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=33252

I thought I made it clear - 2nd post. Perhaps someone else can make it clearer.

Regards - Charles

 

If it was my computer, I wouldn't run a boot manager. I'd run swap drives. I'd have them both set up as CS, with the Windows 98 SE on the CS-secondary.

I'd have XP as CS-primary. The XP hard drive would be in a removeable tray. I'd leave the tray IN when I wanted to boot to XP and pull it out when I wanted to boot to 98.

Install XP with 98 out of the computer.

 

First, let's deal with your partitioning. You are going to make a lot of partiitions. The job is best done with Partition Magic 8. You can go to Price Watch and find a vendor that has Partition Magic 8 for less than $30 delivered. Just put Partition Magic 8 in their search box.

Partition Magic can be set up in Windows or run from a pair of floppies. It's a lot easier and quicker than messing around with anything else. Besides, you will probably be changing your mind about partitions in the future and will want to move them.

With as many partitions as you are going to have, you will do good for yourself to use VOLUME LABELS (name the partition). It stops a lot of confusion.

 

FAT 32 partitions do not recognize NTFS partitions. To FAT 32, NTFS partitions are unallocated space.

NTFS can read/write to/from any and all FAT 32 partitions in the computer regardless if on the same IDE channel or another.

FAT 32 can read/write to/from any other FAT partition located in the computer.

 

Drive Mapping is OS specific. I am basing this on how you say you want to partition your drives: 40 GB (2 FAT 32); 160 GB (3 NTFS and 2 FAT 32).

The standard way of creating a dual boot will give Windows 98 seeing the 2 FAT 32 partitions of the 160 GB as E and F. When you boot to Win XP, it might be H and I.

Don't be concerned about the drive letters as such. All data put on the physical location will be mapped by each OS and will find it. That is, Windows 98 may see a folder called D:\Bubble Gum. Windows XP will see the same folder as H:\Bubble Gum.

That's why work with VOLUME LABELS.

 

If you want Windows 98SE to be able to access the FAT 32 partitions on the 160 GB drive, then the standard method of dual booting is in order.

That is, first you install Windows 98SE. Then you install Windows XP. In the course of installing Windows XP, a boot manager will be created. This boot manager allows you to select between which OS you want to boot. Default will be Windows XP.

An alternate dual boot method essentially runs the hard drives independent of each other. THIS RACK works like those old removeable car stereos. You mount the hard drive in them. They slide in and out of a CD ROM bay.

You can mount both hard drives on the Primary IDE in cable select. The Win XP would be in the MASTER in the rack. Windows 98 would be slave permanent inside.

The computer will boot the first drive it finds. If you want to boot to Windows XP, you push the rack in. If you want to boot to Windows 98, you pull the rack out.

This has a couple of advantages: If you reformat Windows 98, you don't have to worry about recreating the boot manager. Also, if you decide to get rid of Windows 98 it's a lot easier than the standard dual boot!

 

I would save the data from Win98 and put it on my new clean NTFS XP install. Then I would dump 98. Win9X is obsolete, and with XP, it is also redundant. There is nothing Win9X can do that XP can't do, and XP usually does it better. XP is stable- no need for a back up OS, and if you're worried about data, partition XP. Keep your OS isolated and use your second or whatever number of partitions you want, for everything else.

File and Transfer Wizard
JMO
YMMV
Johanna

 

Presently 98se is on a 13.7 gig drive that I'm replacing with a Seagate 40 gig. I'll break it in two partitions with both as Fat32. It'll connect to the (IDE 1) channel on the ATA 100 Promise card.

Ok, do that first, install 98 on the 40 GB drive - get it working.

The new WD 160 will have XP Home (upgrade) and at least 4-5 partitions. Three of which in NFTS and 1-2 will be in Fat32. This will connect to the (IDE 2) channel on the ATA card.

If its going to have its own channel and cable, then we're not talking about master/slave here. I've got a Dell, and my 2nd drive w/XP on it, is setup the same way. The setup is called Cable Select with pin settings on the HD's to match. You are going to have to find out if your system is capable of that.

Now my question is what's the best way of installing XP on the new drive so I can choose 98 or XP?

At the end of XP's install, a boot menu will be created - XP will be the default choice with a 30 second count down which can be changed. During that countdown, you intervene if 98 wanted.

** In other words do I connect the new drive as a slave to the one with 98se or disconnect the 98 drive ,connect the new as master and load XP?

Has it's own IDE channel - if you have to have a master/slave, than the 98 drive is the master (may be hardware dependant) - in any case, no need to diconnect the 98 drive. And has nothing to do with accessing either OS, or installing either OS.

** I'll use Xp to format and partition the drive since I'm still unsure if the "Data Lifeguard Tools" from Western Digital will configure the drive the way I want. Someone suggested use XP to setup and format the first partition, install XP and then use the "DIsc Management ?" to format and partition the remaining space on the drive. Is this ok or is there a better way?

XP can format and partition the drive before the install.But remember, XP can only create up to a 32 GB FAT32 partition. We went thru this discussion in the first thread. So as also mentioned in the first thread, you can finesse that by creating multiple combinations of FAT32 partitions.

** If the 98 drive has (C & D) what will XP be and does it really matter?

Doesn't matter, but 98 MUST BE on C. The install will ask you which partition you want it to install on. Keep in mind, that the easiest way to install is to be in 98 at the time.

** If I have 1-2 partitions in Fat32 on the new drive will I be able to transfer or access any data/files from the drive with 98 even though both are on seperate channels?

Yes, but keep in mind, as Ray pointed out, 98 can't access NTFS partitions. Accessing the OSes is transparent as far as a channel is concerned.

Regards - Charles

 

I received this privately:

McGuyver, I apologize. Charlesvar, in both threads, gave you pertinent info and tools, I gave you nothing but an opinion. Truly sorry for wasting everyone's time.

Johanna

 

The standard way of creating dual boot is to install W98SE first and then install WXP, allowing Windows to automatically create the boot manager.

I have built a bunch of 98/XP dual boots for members of my family. Only my youngest son, who has a bunch of games that doesn't run on XP, uses the 98SE any more.

In doing the transition most people find that most of their software works just fine under XP. Those software that don't usually have an easy replacement. So most don't want W98 se after a bit.

In fact, once they see how good NTFS partitions are, the only FAT32 partitions they keep are to dump ghost files!

The independent boot method (using the swap rack) will allow you to get rid of Windows 98SE without hassle. It's big time hassle to get rid of a dual boot with XP if you created a boot manager with Windows situation.

 

Ray,

You have a good point about not using 98 after awhile.

I use WinME essentially as a backup, just in case XP gets hosed. I still have internet access and I don't have to panic fixing XP allowing me to think it thru.

The point about NTFS being "better" is debatable with valid arguements on either side. If I were not dual booting, I would be using NTFS myself. I have worked on NTFS Pro systems and the advantages are the security aspects. Outside of that, really didin't notice "how good they are ". Besides which, any FAT32 partition can be converted to NTFS thru XP - no outside tool needed to do that.

Deleting a dual boot config is not that hard, certainly not any harder then what we're discussing now.

Regards - Charles