Copying a dual boot partition to another partition

I am running a dual boot system with two versions of XP Pro - one on partition C for general use & a second version on partition E for video work.
The version on C is clogged up & slow in all respects compared to the other.
What I would like to be able to do , using TI_10 (4942), is to make a copy/image/clone of the E partition and restore it to C thus overwriting the clogged up copy.
Although I think this can be done, will the result boot & work properly? What concerns me is the replaced OS on C will contain the E Registry. So can this be changed to reference C?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Peter

 

This is one of those situations where you need a bootup utility that can change drive letters on a non-booting hard drive.
On windows xp, whenever you have multiple partitions on a hard drive, during the restoration the drive letters might change. Your E: drive might end up being F:.
All you need to do is make an image of your E: (system partition), the image of a system partition is automatically bootable (no clone requiered).
When you restore it on your C: partition, C: partition well now become E:, If your lucky your restored partition will boot up.
If it doesn't boot up, download the demo of "paragon justboot corrector", use the demo to analyze your non-booting hard drive. From there you can see what your system registry is looking like and where all the drive letters are being referenced.
The only programs that I have actually used to change drive letters are "paragon justboot corrector" and vcom partition commander pro version 10", both can modify the registry on a non-booting hard drive. The times that I have had to fix drive letters with the above programs it's been a simple 5 minute fix, reboot and windows will load up as normal.
As long as you have a way of changing drive letters, what you want to do is fairly simple.

directions to change drive letters using freeware.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174958

 

Hi jonyjoe81 thanks for the reply.
I think I didn't make it clear that what I want to end up with is two copies of WinXP Pro, one on C the other on E. If restoring the image to C makes it E have I not lost one of them ?

 

Peter John,

See, "What's wrong with the Microsoft way"

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

This also applies to two WinXP installations.

 

Brian K
Need to have a good think about this. Doesn't seem too easy!!! Perhaps it my old age !

jonyjoe81
If in doing the restore my C drive becomes E, what happens to my E drive ?
Does it become C ?

Peter

 

I usually try to avoid situations like this if I can. Also, I keep my OS's isolated and hidden from each other and don't use the Windows bootloader to manage multi-booting.

I would recommend you create a whole disk backup of the drive before you attempt this. That way you can get back to the current state if something goes wrong.

It may go smoothly or it may not. You may end up with some things to sort out. You should also be aware of the fact that TI 10 changes the order of partitions in the partition table when they are restored. Since you are restoring an image from one position to another, this will happen. Maybe Windows won't care, maybe it will.

At the very least, you may have to sort out some drive letters. Since the partitions are visible to each other, there may be cross-linking or registry problems to sort out.

 

Peter,

I wouldn't even start. It's doomed to fail. Take your time reading this. You can omit the section on Extended partitions as you don't intend to use four OS.

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

 

Mudcrab
Which Boot Manager do you use ?

 

I currently use Acronis OS Selector (included with the Acronis Disk Director 10Suite). It has some "bugs" and "quirks" that can make it problematic at times, but I've gotten pretty good at working around them now that I've used it for a while.

 

To all --- Many thanks for all the advice.
Just to update - Got it to work (sortof) on my old PC. Managed to dual boot but the version on C of course had shortcuts pointing to E & there were one or two quirks & error messages. Used JustBoot Corrector but it didn't solve everything, but neverthe less it's a useful utility.
Decided it wasn't worth the effort for my main computer. So will reinstall XP from OS CD onto C.
Hope then I can get it to dual boot OK with the version on C.