bootable image of one partition of a dual disk

edit: sorry title went wrong. Should have been 'bootable image of one partition of a dualboot disk '

I have the following problem:
The disk contains XP and Server 2003 on one physical disk, but in different partitions. My other machine has the same setup.
I need to make an image of just one of the partitions, but after transferring it the receiving machine must still be bootable.

I tried by coping only the partition and it didn't boot. Should I select the whole disk and then deselect one partition? I'm anxious to just try it out as it's a complex setup and I already lost lots of work when doing it the wrong way.

edit:
After searching and reading on this topic it's seems that the best way is to just make an image of the partition, restore it to the other machine and leave the existing mbr's just like they are. Correct?

For people who wonder why this cross imaging: it's meant for a redundant spare server.
I set up server W2k3 and configure it. On the same machine I set up a basic XP install. After that I transfer this complete setup to an identical machine. There I start configuring the XP part as client of the W2k3. After completing the tuning of both OS's I take the best W2k3 and put it on the other machine and vice versa for the XP. This way I can run both machines in the network; one W2K3 and one XP as the receiving end for backups. If machine one fails I boot the second in W2k3 and the client has no downtime when I fix the defect machine.
The alternative: two W2K3 machines simultaneously in the network won't work as you can't have two AD's and identical IP's etc.

 

Hello max3d,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

The important point here is to make one image of the entire drive. That's the only way to be sure that you will have a bootable drive after you restore it. Only when you image the entire drive (all partitions in one image) is the MBR included in the image.

But if you create image of one partition and then restore it you should fix the MBR manually.

Thank you.
--
Irina Shirokova

 

And what is your recommendation for doing that, please?

 

Sorry, I just found the answer, in "PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST" (which I hadn't read )

 

Irina, I understand this, but as explained in my first post I don't want to image the whole drive. I need one partition of this dual boot system, transfer it to another dual boot system. See my longer explanation and please advise. Thanks in advance.