CREATE DUAL BOOT - BOTH XP

Forum members,

I have not set up a dual-boot system in a long time. I have googled, read forum articles, and help sections, but can not find clear cut instructions to do the following:

I have Acronis True Image, Disk Director, and installed the Acronis OS selector. I wish to copy my current Windows XP partition to one of my other newer internal hard drives (to a primary partition within the hard drive). Can I copy the partition to a partition on another internal hard drive? Or can I only clone the image to the total hard drive, thus wiping out my hard drive data which is currently stored under (3) primary partitions within the second internal hard drive? If I can do this, I will always have a backup of XP on my newer hard drive, just in case my current 4 year old hard drive dies. I can also use the OS selector to boot to either XP, thus doing some experimentation if so desired. Can bootable OS's only be installed on the first IDE (where my current Windows XP is) only, 0 sector? Like I said, it has been a long time (the last time I did this, I used some sort of System Commander software to set up a dual-boot system, XP and 98 then), and my mind needs to be refreshed. I tried using the OS selector to make a extra copy of XP, but it only placed it on the same partition (thus not helping me if my hard drive goes out). I have backup Acronis True Images on my extra internal hard drive, but not sure if I can restore them to another partition and boot up to them. I definitely would appreciate some guidance from someone who has done this before.

PMADDOCK

 

iirc, u can place ur windows xp on any drive. u just have to make sure that u make ur computer starts from that drive. check ur BIOS for the device boot order. i dont know much about dual booting tho.

 

Hello pmaddock,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Software.

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

Please be aware that you can copy a partition containing your operating system by means of Acronis Disk Director Suite or create and restore the image of this system partition by means of Acronis True Image:

- Prepare the operating system using Microsoft System Preparation Tool (sysprep) as it is described in this FAQ article;

- Boot from Acronis Disk Director Bootable Rescue CD and copy of the prepared partition to the unallocated space of your second hard drive;
or
- Boot from Acronis True Image Bootable Rescue CD and create an image of the prepared partition and restore it to the unallocated space of your second hard drive;

- Boot from the original operating system's hard drive and accomplish the sysprep procedure;

- Add the appropriate string to the boot.ini file of the first operating system. Please take a look at this article describing how to edit the boot.ini file;

- Install Acronis OS Selector and activate it;

- Boot the second operating system from Acronis OS Selector and accomplish the sysprep procedure;

You can also perform these operations to copy the operating system partition to the first hard drive's unallocated space.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Forum members,

FYI,

I was able to establish my dual-boot system, both WinXP PRO. Here are the steps I ended up taking:

1. Back up all of my key files to my external hard drive.
2. Make an Acronis True Image of my entire C: partition (with my OS, of course) to a primary partition on backup internal hard drive #1
3. Restore the same C: partition image to a primary partition on my third (backup internal hard drive #2) internal hard drive (thus making this partition, by default, the active one)
4. The system reboots to restore the image, and reboots after the restore.
5. At reboot, Acronis OS Selector kicks in (before the MBR), with Windows XP being displayed twice, XP and XP(2), in the Acronis OS Selector boot option menu. XP(2) is set to boot as the default option.
6. Click on the flag icon to boot up to the second XP.
7. The system continues the bootup, bringing me successfully to XP(2)
8. Reboot my system, choosing my original XP in the Acronis OS Selector menu.
9. The system continues the bootup, bringing me back to my original XP.
10. The experiment is a success.

The bottom line - if you have Acronis True Image, and Acronis Disk Director (with OS Selector installed), you can easily create a dual boot system for your computer. I plan to use the extra copy of XP for experimenting and also as a backup (in addition to my True Image backups) in case my original OS gets FUBR'ed some day.

PMADDOCK

 

Hello pmaddock,

Sharing your experience is very much appreciated.

If you have any further experience to share, please feel free to post it on this forum.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Hi All,I am using Disk Director10 and True iImage 9and have had some success with dual booting (all XP) but am now having a problem when i try to boot a subsrquent O/S.I get the window s sign but dont get into the welcome screen.Must be some thing i am doing wrong any suggestions appreciated.I have 2 internal discs and one external Cheers flylor

 

Hello flylor,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Software.

Could you please describe the issue in more details?
Please let us know what exact actions you have taken before the problem appeared?

Please also create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post and submit a request for technical support. Attach the collected report file to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Hi KIRILL,Thanks for your reply..Unfortunately i am unable to give exact details of what i was doing when the problem arose.Next time i shall try to record my exact actions.
Eventually i recovered a full copy of both internal discs using TRUE IMAGE which i have used for quite some time now.... I would have given up on computers long ago if i didnt have TRUE IMAGE. Regards flylor

 

Hello flylor,

Please boot up from the Windows Bootable CD, then go to the Recovery Console (the first Repair option you come to).

From the command prompt please type:

FIXMBR C:
FIXBOOT C:
COPY CDDrive:\I386\NTLDR C:\
COPY CDDrive:\I386|NTDETECT.COM C:\
BOOTCFG /rebuild

After that, please reboot your computer.

If this does not help then please create Acronis Report and submit a request to us as I have suggested above. We will certainly try to find a solution for you.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko