Installing WinXp on a 2nd Hard Disk, on a System with w98(SE)

I know that Hawkeye has been thinking about Installing WinXP on a 2nd
Hard Disk, that he has got for his PC that already has an existing (OEM)
Installation of w98SE on it (in a single Partition on the C: Drive)

So I had a bit of a Play - Errr... Sorry - I mean test, experiment
& research...

I Installed WinXP onto a 2nd Hard Disk in a similar Setup & it all
went fine!
:-)

There are various ways of doing it (as has been discussed in several
Threads in here recently) - I decided to try it starting off from having
the 2nd Hard Disk *completely* Blank.

Yes, you can use things like FDisk to Create various Partitions on the
(2nd) Hard Disk before doing the Install (&/or you could also either
wipe the existing w98 Installation, on the 1st Hard Disk & (Re-)Create
the Partitions on the 1st Hard Disk, or use a 3rd Party Utility, such as
Partition Magic etc, to do that & install all the Operating Systems on
the *1st* Hard Disk), but I decided to see how easy it would be to just
bung the WinXP straight onto the 2nd Hard Disk...

I Ran the WinXP Setup Routine directly from the WinXP Install CD, from
within win98, rather than by Booting up off the Install CD.

That gives a normal, windoze type GUI (Graphical User Interface),
where you can choose the various Options, such as saying that you
want to be able to Choose which Disk/Drive (Partition) & Folder to
Install the WinXP into, as part of the actual WinXP Installation &
Setup.

It then Copies the Setup Files from the CD to a (Temporary) Folder on
the C: Drive & ReBoots the Machine, having also ReWritten the Boot
Sector (on the C: Drive) & Set up the various Boot Files so as to have
a Dual Boot System.

When it ReBoots (from the Files on the Hard Disk), it then goes into
the (Text-Based) WinXP Install Routine itself, (similar to, but quicker
than when Booting into it from the WinXP Install CD), where you get the
opportunity to Create any Partitions that you want on the 2nd Hard Disk
(that is instead of already having Created them using FDisk, from within
w98 or by Booting into MSDOS)

I actually only Created *one* Partition (leaving plenty of spare,
UnPartitioned Space, ready for the other Partitions that would be
needed for the other (test) WinXP (& possibly w98?) Installations.

The WinXP Install all went into that Partition fine & that now means
that the other Partitions (on the 2nd Hard Disk) can all be very easily
Created using the built-in WinXP (GUI) Disk management Utility thingy.

So, that may be easier (for some people?) than using FDisk, which is
often the normal way that many people suggest doing it.

Basically, you can do it either way.
It all works fine.
:-)

It all really depends on whether you want to use FDisk, in a "Command
Line" (MSDOS) type of environment, or using the WinXP GUI (Graphical
User Interface) to do it (Create the additional Partitions).

Another thing that has to be decided, is whether or not to (& *how* to!)
Partition the *existing* Hard Disk, which, at the moment Contains the
existing (OEM) w98SE Installation.

That will involve either using a 3rd Party Utility to ReSize the
(existing) Partition or using FDisk (or the Partitioning Utility in
the WinXP Install Routine) to Delete the Partition, then Create the
required Partitions & then (Re-Install) the w98SE - but to do that,
would mean having to *first* Create a w98 Install CD, from the .CAB
Files on the (existing) Hard Disk.

Bunging the WinXP straight onto the 2nd Hard Disk means that both the
existing w98SE Installation & the new WinXP Installation would be
available to use (Dual Booting), while the rest of it is investigated
& found out about.
:-)

Then, when you've sussed out more about it & decided how you want
things, you can Wipe it all & do it all again, however you want!
:-)

HTH

--
pmj


.

Relevant Pages

  • Further "tests" & "experiment" type things - Re: Installing WinXp on a 2nd Hard Disk, on a S
    ... >> the existing w98SE Installation & the new WinXP Installation would ... > time create a primary partition and an extended partition using ... on the *other* Physical Hard Disk) ...
    (uk.people.silversurfers)
  • Re: Partition and Dual Boot (was Windows XP)
    ... Yep - there have actually been quite a few Threads about that sort ... So you may not be able to use an Upgrade WinXP Install CD then. ... Well, actually a few years ago, it was *more* common to get an Install ... Unless you fork out Money for something like Partition Magic, ...
    (uk.people.silversurfers)
  • Re: Can I set up dual boot this way
    ... Again, very possible, and Win98 and WinXP on the same system coexist just ... If the drive you install is larger than 32GB, ... will need to use fdisk for Win98 to partition it, ... Each will have its own registry, however the boot loader will be shared on ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Help replace hard drive
    ... as primary master; set your computer to boot from CD; insert the WinXP ... room for a second partition. ... install your old HD as ... > my old HD (C: & D: drives) into the new HD. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Help replace hard drive
    ... As far as hooking up the drives. ... >unplugged until after WinXP is installed on your new HD. ... Boot up and let WinXP Setup partition and format ... >install WinXP on it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)