multi OS and multi HD migration to one HD

[brent12345]

Hello,

I have 2x Hard drives. I dual boot Vista Business and XP Pro.

I have XP Pro on one HD with program files installed on both drives. The smaller XP drive is the boot drive. On the 2nd HD I have Vista--both are SATA drives.

I am running out of space and the drives are old. Can I migate everything to my new 640 gb hard drive?

Thanks,

Brent

[Xpilot]

It would help a lot if you could post screen shots of the XP boot INI and the layouts of both the hard drives from disk management. Because at the moment one can only guess at these important details.

You will need TI installed on one of your HDDs, a TI rescue CD and another backup drive to hold images of both the existing drives. Depending on your present set up you will probably need a partition tool to set up the new 640GB drive. A Vista install/repair DVD will also probably be needed.

It would be helpful to know if you have used TI before to make backup images and restores or whether this is a new venture.

Xpilot

[brent12345]

I'm new to TI. I plan on purchasing and down loading a copy from Newegg given it will do what I need. My new HD will be here today. Can TI image both hard drives and merge them onto the one drive?

It sounds like from your post I will need to partition the new drive. Will I have to copy each drive onto separate partitions? How does TI manage the boot sector for dual booting vista and xp? I'm assuming I could probably use the Vista recover consol to fix problems.

Thanks,

Brent



Xp boot.ini
;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[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" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN

[brent12345]

Disk manager image of my system

Thanks

202488

[MudCrab]

You should be able to image both the XP and Vista partitions and then restore them to the new drive (resizing as desired).

TI may not setup the Vista BCD file correctly for both entries so only one may boot properly. If you have a standard Microsoft OEM or retail Vista DVD or can successfully boot into one of the restored Windows, you can repair the BCD file. An automatic repair from the Vista DVD may also work.

It would be best to disconnect or remove both the existing hard drives (the current drives) before you do the restore. This will help avoid drive letter assignment problems. However, this will require that the backup image be located on another drive (a USB drive or another internal drive that doesn't have any Windows partitions on it, for example).

Example Procedure:

Create TI image of XP partition - save to USB drive.
Create TI image of Vista partition - save to USB drive.
Remove or disconnect the current hard drives.
Install the new 640GB drive.
Boot to the TI CD.
Restore the XP image to your 640GB hard drive - resize as desired.
Restore the Vista image to your 640GB hard drive - resize as desired.
Remove the TI CD and shutdown the computer.
Turn the computer back on and enter the BIOS. Set the 640GB drive as the booting hard drive. Save changes (if necessary).
Boot the computer normally.

[brent12345]

Thanks,

I try this. I'll need to get another drive.