Re: Partition and Dual Boot (was Windows XP)

"Hawkeye23" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ei89o1tqk8g0hh0k77fr2frb03h2ih8q2b@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> There was a long thread about a week ago about going from W98SE to XP

Yep - there have actually been quite a few Threads about that sort
of thing!
:-)

> in which the final suggestion from Mikk was to keep both each in its
> own partition and have a dual boot arrangement.

Which is what we often suggest & recommend, for various reasons.

> I am keen to implement this suggestion but don't know how to go
> about it.

Yep, it does take a fair bit of "getting your head round it all"!
:-)
But once you have the principles & concepts involved clarified,
then it's all actually fairly straightforwards.

>...I wonder if Mikk or pmj (who I know has helped a number of people
> in this area) or anyone else can offer some guidance.

Yep!!!
& there are quite a few WebSites around which explain a lot about
it all.
We can Post up some URLs if you want - or you can do a Web Search for
them, but you will be able to find them (& Info about it all) by doing
a Google *Groups* Search, for Posts about this sort of thing in this
Newsgroup.

Try this, for starters (the sort of things to include in the Search
Terms are words such as "partition" & "fdisk"...

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=partition+fdisk&as_ugroup=uk.people.silversurfers&num=100

>... The current setup is P3 1GHZ CPU 256 MB memory W98SE and 40GB HDD
> all in one big partition.I am buying a full (not upgrade) version of
> XP Home with SP2.

Well, you can also use an *Upgrade* Version of WinXP!!!

An Upgrade Version will also do a Full Installation!
:-)

The only real difference between them is that the Upgrade Version looks
for an existing Version of windoze, such as w98 on the Hard Disk & if
it can't find it (which it wouldn't be able to, if you have Partitioned
& Formatted the Hard Disk), then it asks you to Insert a w9x CD as
"Proof of Entitlement to Upgrade".

>... I do not have the original W98SE OS CD

Which is a bit of a bummer!
:-(

So you may not be able to use an Upgrade WinXP Install CD then.

>... since it dates to the fashion of not supplying such things a few
> years ago.

Well, actually a few years ago, it was *more* common to get an Install
CD - it's more recently that more Manufacturers have been tending to
not supply a proper Install CD.

>...What I have is a CD supplied by the PC manufacturer called '98
> Product Recovery CD-ROM' which I have never attempted to use and
> I do not know what is on there.

Well, first thing I would suggest is to have a good look on there
& see what's actually on it!

Use windoze Explorer to look at it.
If you just bung it in the CD Rom Drive, while windoze is Running,
then it will AutoRun (unless you have turned AutoRun off) - just Exit
out of the "Welcome" Screen & then Open up windoze Explorer & navigate
around it, to see what's on it.

You can also Boot Up the PC from it (probably) - try that & see what
happens.
Depending on what sort of actual CD it is, you may find that it will
do what you need.

Post back with what you find.

You do need to be able to (& know how to) Boot Up from a CD, to do
most of the sort of things that are involved, so that's prolly the
first thing to learn about.

> What I am looking for at least for the moment is some general
> guidance on what is involved in such a project and what order
> the various parts of the job need to be done in.

Yep, it's crucial that you do do the right things, in the right order,
cos some of the Steps can't be reversed!

>...And of course all those things I don't even know I need to know.

LOL!!!

> Very many thanks in advance.

OK...
A few things that you need to think about (& that we (or anybody else
who is going to make any suggestions or advice about it) are going to
need to know)...

Do you have anything on your PC at the moment (in the way of various
Files & Documents etc, such as Pictures, Word Processor & Spread***
stuff & Music & eMails & Account Details & PassWords etc,) that you
don't want to lose?

If so, *make sure* to properly Back all that sort of thing up.
& that includes the Install Files for any Programs you may have
Downloaded from the Internet.
& also make sure you have any Drivers that your particular HardWare
needs.

WinXP does come with a load of Drivers, for many things, but you
should make sure that you have the right Drivers for any weird
HardWare that you have.

The WinXP CD has a "Hardware Compatibility" Utility thing on it,
that you can Run, which can Help sort those sort of things out.

Once you've made sure you have any important stuff Backed Up OK,
then you can think about Partitioning the Hard Disk.

Unless you fork out Money for something like Partition Magic, you
have to realise that Partitioning a Hard Disk (for the first time)
will by necessity involve *completely* Wiping everything out on it.

But once you have it Partitioned, then you can Format any of the
Partitions, without affecting the others, which is prolly the main
reason that having your Hard Disk Partitioned is so useful - it means
that you can have the Operating System(s) on their own, separate
Partition(s) & have your Data (Documents, Pictures, Music, Drivers
& Install Files etc,) on another Partition.

You can do the Partitioning using the WinXP Install CD, or using an
ordinary w9x Install CD, or even using a Boot Floppy.

If you intend to have a Dual Boot System, with both w9x & WinXP,
you should Install w9x first (into one Partition) & then Install
WinXP into another Partition.

WinXP will recognise that there is a w9x Installation present
& create the right Boot Loader Files, as part of its Installation.

If you attempt to do it the other way round, w9x will Wipe out the
WinXP Boot Loader Files (cos w9x doesn't know about WinXP) & then
you will have to do a lot of Faffing around to get it to work.

Do you also have any knowledge of & experience of using the Command
Line? - Things such as MSDOS & the WinXP Recovery Console?

You may well find that some things you do, (depending on what they are!)
will involve having to do Command Line stuff to sort out any probs.

HTH

--
pmj


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