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how to dual boot cloned hard drive
- Thread starter ratzo
- Start date
Since you have cloned your first XP install rather than having installed each XP individually, standard dual-booting or boot managers won't work as your E: XP registry entries will be coded for C: drive.
In the past I did exactly as you did and was able to boot either XP by changing the boot order in the motherboard's BIOS.
In the past I did exactly as you did and was able to boot either XP by changing the boot order in the motherboard's BIOS.
Normally to get a dual boot scenario, is to install one Os after the other, and as such create the boot loader on setup. But by cloning, you've effectively created 2 separate instances of Windows, which have no knowledge of the other, and as such would not dual boot. Add to that both instnces expect to find their boot files in C: drive, and it only complicated things, as they cannot both be C:
short of physically swapping the drives on the cable each time, I'm not sure its possible as I don't think you can change drive letter assignments in BIOS.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
short of physically swapping the drives on the cable each time, I'm not sure its possible as I don't think you can change drive letter assignments in BIOS.
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
By changing the boot order in BIOS I able to boot either of my drives' first primary partition, one the clone of the other and it worked fine; either drive was assigned the C: drive letter when booted. Other's mileage may vary as BIOS and Windows drive enumeration may not work the way it did for me. And having two partitions marked as Active can be a bit tricky too.
Can't hurt to try.
Can't hurt to try.
You can boot off either of your cloned drives without swapping in the BIOS or altering drive letters, etc.
On physical drive 0 add another line in its BOOT.INI file so it looks something like this:-
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional DISK-ONE" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional DISK-TWO" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
No alterations are required to the BOOT.INI on physical drive 1, as it is not used. Upon booting up, you will be offered the two options at the traditional DOS type operating system menu.
ROGER - G0AOZ.
On physical drive 0 add another line in its BOOT.INI file so it looks something like this:-
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional DISK-ONE" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional DISK-TWO" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
No alterations are required to the BOOT.INI on physical drive 1, as it is not used. Upon booting up, you will be offered the two options at the traditional DOS type operating system menu.
ROGER - G0AOZ.
One comment (may be late!) - the cloned drive needs to be booted on its own (ie, with original not connected) before further use - otherwise it will make its system drive E: (or whatever - but not C
. As the installation registry will be based on C:, this would cause problems later when trying to use this copy. If its booted on its own, it will be established as C:. Then if you use Roger's suggestion, whichever installation you boot, it will have a system drive of C: (and the other drive will be allocated an appropriate letter)
. As the installation registry will be based on C:, this would cause problems later when trying to use this copy. If its booted on its own, it will be established as C:. Then if you use Roger's suggestion, whichever installation you boot, it will have a system drive of C: (and the other drive will be allocated an appropriate letter)
firewolfrl
Technical User
Ahhhg! don't use the windows boot manager....you won't be happy at all with the results
Bootit NG is very good
I posted in this thread some great instructions on how to dual boot using XOSL
I dual boot cloned drives all the time ....lol
Bootit NG is very good
I posted in this thread some great instructions on how to dual boot using XOSL
I dual boot cloned drives all the time ....lol
firewolfrl - while I tend to agree, it is in fact ok in this situation as the 2 installations are independent (so second will still boot if you remove first). Problems tend to occur when you let the windows boot manager create the dual boot - with everything using a shared boot sector on the first drive/installation.
firewolfrl
Technical User
Hmmm!
I leave the default boot.ini alone in both harddrives. the boot sector is not the only thing that is shared. the registry has a tendency to share the registry of the C: drive when you boot the D: drive and this does not make a true separate OS....and if you crash the c: drive the d: drive may not boot
I do more than the dual boot. I run true separate OS's that can boot independently of the installed boot manager. I had a scenario happen from not too long ago where I had a main windows xp drive up and die. I have an exact clone of the drive that died and was able to boot to it just by selecting the clone from my boot manager. the clone was only a couple of days old so it was all good....lol
the drive that died I pulled apart and have good fridge magnets and a great coffee cup coaster. and I cloned the clone with a new drive and have a backup again.
I also boot vista this way
I leave the default boot.ini alone in both harddrives. the boot sector is not the only thing that is shared. the registry has a tendency to share the registry of the C: drive when you boot the D: drive and this does not make a true separate OS....and if you crash the c: drive the d: drive may not boot
I do more than the dual boot. I run true separate OS's that can boot independently of the installed boot manager. I had a scenario happen from not too long ago where I had a main windows xp drive up and die. I have an exact clone of the drive that died and was able to boot to it just by selecting the clone from my boot manager. the clone was only a couple of days old so it was all good....lol
the drive that died I pulled apart and have good fridge magnets and a great coffee cup coaster. and I cloned the clone with a new drive and have a backup again.
I also boot vista this way
No need to edit anything. Just install this software and it will do everything for you. It can even swap the drive letter.
although the original poster has not actually responded to any suggestions, I'm feeling bored so a few more points!
firewolfrl - 'the boot sector is not the only thing that is shared. the registry has a tendency to share the registry of the C: drive when you boot the D: drive'
not true if you boot the clone independently first. Once you do that you have 2 C: drives - ie, whichever you boot will see itself as C: and if you remove either drive the other will still boot its host operating system.
seanform - firewolfrl posted a link regarding xosl. And when you mention editing, do you know what mechanism xosl uses to support its boot management (I haven't used xosl for years - so don't know) - because boot managers often use unused bytes in the mbr. This is potentially dangerous - for obvious reasons. I don't do much multi-booting anymore - tend to use virtual machines instead - but when I do I use installed to either a floppy or CD so no hard drives are actually updated by it.
This is a bit of a nostalgia post as multi-booting seems to have become a very minority sport (in these forums anyway).
firewolfrl - 'the boot sector is not the only thing that is shared. the registry has a tendency to share the registry of the C: drive when you boot the D: drive'
not true if you boot the clone independently first. Once you do that you have 2 C: drives - ie, whichever you boot will see itself as C: and if you remove either drive the other will still boot its host operating system.
seanform - firewolfrl posted a link regarding xosl. And when you mention editing, do you know what mechanism xosl uses to support its boot management (I haven't used xosl for years - so don't know) - because boot managers often use unused bytes in the mbr. This is potentially dangerous - for obvious reasons. I don't do much multi-booting anymore - tend to use virtual machines instead - but when I do I use installed to either a floppy or CD so no hard drives are actually updated by it.
This is a bit of a nostalgia post as multi-booting seems to have become a very minority sport (in these forums anyway).
I've used the Windows Bootloader for about 3 or 4 years with no adverse results whatsoever.
I had Win98, WinXp, and Win2003 server Multibooting at one point. Removed 2003, and all I had to do was format the partition it was in, and edit the Boot.ini to remove the entry.
No Problems with it so far.
I've also never heard of multiple OSes sharing a registry.
Unless you purposely set them to do it.
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
firewolfrl
Technical User
wolluf ....LOL I must be bored too.
I do enjoy having true separation and the ability to hide and lock out the bootable drive.
Here is what I do.
I have out of 5 drives that I can see the one drive that is my clone is blocked and hidden before boot. so if something like a virus screws up the OS it can't see the cloned drive and infect it.
the cloned drive can see the original and scan for the virus as the original is only a slave in that scenario
you can't do that with the native boot.
I use virtual machines for my laptop.
I also use virtual machines for testing.
I use the multi-boot because I get irritated with Vista and just work out of XP. LOL
I have been multi-booting for so long it is a way of life I think.
I think you are right is some stuff and some of the techs that post here get in a rut
I do enjoy having true separation and the ability to hide and lock out the bootable drive.
Here is what I do.
I have out of 5 drives that I can see the one drive that is my clone is blocked and hidden before boot. so if something like a virus screws up the OS it can't see the cloned drive and infect it.
the cloned drive can see the original and scan for the virus as the original is only a slave in that scenario
you can't do that with the native boot.
I use virtual machines for my laptop.
I also use virtual machines for testing.
I use the multi-boot because I get irritated with Vista and just work out of XP. LOL
I have been multi-booting for so long it is a way of life I think.
I think you are right is some stuff and some of the techs that post here get in a rut
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