Clone system from 1 partition to another??

I was hoping to clone my XP Pro to another partition on the same hard drive using True Image/Symantec Bootmagic etc. so I have another bootable system for beta testing.
True Image can only clone to another hard drive. I have an external hard drive (Maxtor 1-Touch ll USB) but I believe those aren't suitable vessels for bootable systems.
I think I'm out of luck...any suggestions?

 

Hi, Ex_Brit

You could use removable HDD's.

I only have one PC System [64bit] I have used ViPower for years now, I have W2K, WinXP, WinXP x64 and Linux, plus my Backup HDD's. [I see now they even do ones for SATA HDD's now]

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

I'm a little baffled with all the stuff I've read about people who have multiple OSs on their PCs. Particularly the logical/primary questions...only 4 primary partitions per physical disk. Plus I believe all bootable OSs HAVE to be on Primary partitions (even if using Bootmagic as I will be). So what do I do when I want to beta test Vista when the public beta is released?
This is the layout I have now. Are you saying I could install an OS on my USB drive...I know for a fact that it boots up last in the totem poll.
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5431/pm9yi.jpg

 

You are on the right track, but you can't do what you are describing by cloning. That is for disk to disk.

If you make an image of your current boot partition, you can restore that image to another partition on the same hard drive. This is close to what you want. In the second partition, the BOOT.INI file will have to be edited (NOTEPAD will do it.) to make the second partition instead of the first the location of the Windows files. Now, when you choose the second partition as the boot partition with BootMagic or other program, you should boot to the second installation.

 

I think the easiest way to go is to use my second copy of Pro...yes I have two, (full retail) and install it separately on that partition. That should get around the boot issue I would think? I've converted the XPPROSP2F to Primary by the way as I believe it wouldn't be bootable as a logical drive.

I was only trying to be lazy and get all my settings/files/folders transferred at once plus I was concerned that the odd OEM products I have such as Works wouldn't activate on the second installation.

I'm going to delete that primary extended partition and just create an ordinary logical partition for my Backups.

Trying to be lazy but also thinking of future Vista testing...perhaps.