Moving the Windows partition

As i get to know Debian, i also get uncomfortable with the present partitioning of my disk. I want more room for it, and i want XP to the end (since i won't be needing more than the space i've given it, and won't be booting it often). Then if/when i'm comfortable, i just delete it for room, and extend the data partition. Or something.

(1)What's the best way to move the XP partition to the end of the disk?
Just move the partition; or image it, delete it, create a new one where i want and load image.

Or put it this way,
(2)if i image and wipe it from HD, can i restore it anywhere and anytime, as long as the target partition is at least the same size, and is a primary partition? The only problem would be reconfiguring my bootloader (GRUB)?

Then again, i want to start fresh with XP, image, update and image, etc.
(3)If i create a new NTFS partition in the end of the disk, delete the other ones, and install XP with the recovery CD, will it ask me to install on that partition? Or it tries to install on the beggining regardless? I know that if there is a NTFS partition on the begginning, the CD asks and allows to install on that partition (not the whole HD as default), so it seems logical the same is true regardless of where the partition is located. No?

If you can, please help me on all 3 questions, even if you feel not pertinent given your answer to my main problem.
It helps me understand the whole partitions / imaging a bit more.

TIA

Pedro

 

Hello,
XP might not like being at the end of the drive.
But you should simply move the partition - and hope for the best.
Mrk

 

Thank you for the reply. Will do.
However, can you (or anyone else) answer (2) and (3) ?

 

I doubt that Windows will boot at all when you move it, because it relies on the partition number in the partition table.

The bootloader reads like this:
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

And the registry has many entries that refer to that partition in a similar way.

Reinstallation is your option.
Or better: Partition the whole disk for Linux and use Virtualbox/VMware for your Windows sessions, since you are headed that direction anyway.

 

Yeah, just run windows virtualized within linux to make life easy for yourself.

 

I'll try the move anyway, with that in mind. Might as well look at it not booting
The problem with the vm is that it's a recovery cd. But it is a good suggestion, why not indeed.

 

I've tried this a couple times in life - and though I fixed the boot.ini to point to the correct disk/partition, it didn't work- windows would begin to boot, the log in screen would appear, and then I would get a "windows is shutting down" recurrent loop - good luck.