Already have 4 primary partitons, need more...

[kprice1658]

Before I attempt this, just wanted to get someone's experienced blessing...

I have a raid'd drive array that I currently have 4 primary partitions ; everything works flawlessly for months - thanks to the knowledge on this forum.

1- 50 meg for OSS (separate partition for booting to OSS - tip from Mudcrab)
2 - XP - 32bit
3 - XP - x64 bit
4 - Vista Business X64 bit

I want to add a couple of more partitions for other OS's. I know I need to "convert" a Primary to Logical - then I can add more logicals after that if needed. I have used DD to re-size a couple of the partitions so I now have 120g available as Unallocated space. My concerns are:

A. Which existing primary is the best candidate for converting to logical ?

B. After converting, what will I need to do to have access to the unallocated space? Merge it with the newly converted logical partition?

I've not used logical's before, but I assume that OS's will boot from them since I'm using OSS ?

Thoughts ?

Kevin

[Brian K]

kprice1658,

How large are your other 3 partitions and how much free space in each?

[kprice1658]

Heres where I'm at now:

Primary Part#1 = 50 meg / 40 free (OSS boot partition)
Primary Part#2 = 105gb / 78 free (Windows XP x64)
Primary Part#3 = 53g / 30 free (Windows XP x86)
Primary Part#4 = 209 / 109 free (Vista Business X64)
Unallocated space = 120g

I want to convert one of the Primary's to a Logical, so I can use the already available 120g unallocated to add a couple more OS's. For example, convert primary part#3 to a logical.

Then - can I merge the newly converted logical drive (53g) with the current unallocated space of 120g - to get 173g (53+120) to use for additional logical drives? That should give me 173g - 23g (used by XP x86) = 150g free ?

Make sense?

Kevin

[Brian K]

Kevin,

This is what I'd do. Create a backup image of your third partition, writing the image to an external HD.

Using the DDS CD, not from Windows, delete the third partition and move the Vista partition to the left to eliminate the 53 GB of unallocated space. Now you will have 173 GB of unallocated space following the Vista partition. Create an extended partition from this space and divide it into logical volumes. Make the first volume 53 GB and restore your image to this volume. You may need to edit the hidden sectors and the boot.ini. I'm not familiar with OSS.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/index.htm

I'd forget merging as it can be dangerous.

[MudCrab]

The OSS partition does not need to be a Primary partition. However, I don't know if you could just convert it and have still have OSS work or if you'd have to reactivate or reinstall OSS.

Also, if you move the Vista partition, you may need to do a Vista BCD repair to get it booting again.

One option to try would be to convert the OSS partition to a Logical and then just create the other Logical partitions in the unallocated space. That way you don't have to move anything. Doing it this way will create a "broken" Extended Partition Container, but OSS and DD shouldn't have any problems with that.

I would also recommend creating an Entire Disk Image of the drive before you make the changes just in case something goes wrong.

[kprice1658]

I converted the OSS partition to a logical and rebooted - everything AOK.

I added another logical drive and formatted NTFS and then did a restore from my server of Vista to the new logical drive. I rebooted and at the OSS screen
did the OS Detection wizard, selected the new Vista partion, made it bootable , but it replied " No operating system found".

I could install vista fresh to that new partition, but afraid it would screw up the booting of OSS?

Kevin

[MudCrab]

OSS will not automatically setup Windows to boot from a Logical partition. If you try to reinstall Vista, it will take over (or add to) the current Active Primary partition. This will result in a Vista/Vista boot menu and will be a pain to separate.

Can you post the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (instructions can be found here)?

Can you also post a screenshot of what DD shows (in Manual Mode)?

[kprice1658]

Heres my oss file & DD screen in manual mode..

Thanks for helping...

[MudCrab]

The BOOTWIZ.OSS file you posted does not have either of the Logical partitions listed. Since you've run OSS after converting the OSS partition to a Logical partition, perhaps it's an older file or the incorrect one?

Is there another \BOOTWIZ folder that contains a BOOTWIZ.OSS file?

What is the Modified Date on the file? Was it updated after you made the partition changes?

[kprice1658]

Sorry about that, since its a hidden partition, trouble getting to it easily.

I just backed it up and restored it back to a new location - so this should be the current one...

[MudCrab]

This BOOTWIZ.OSS file looks correct.

I've been working on this. Getting the Logical Vista into OSS is easy. However, getting Vista to like booting from a Logical partition is more difficult.

What version and build of TI did you use when you restored your Vista image to the Logical partition?

Did Vista (saved in the backup image) see the new Logical partition (assigned it a drive letter) or was the Logical partition created after the backup image was created?

Do you have a standard Microsoft OEM or Retail Vista DVD (one that can boot to the Repair Mode)?

Also, if, when booted into your original Vista, the drive letter assigned to the Vista partition is not C:, let me know what it is.