Copying logical boot partition

I am running W2000 SP4. The main (primary) boot and system partition has drive letter C:, however I have created a second (logical) system partition booted via C:, also W2000 SP4. So, on booting the NT loader gives me the choice of which to boot into. The drive letter on this second one is H: (ie C: is the primary active boot partition, which then vectors into logical partition H.

That's fine, but I wanted to set up a 3rd one on the same principle as the logical H: boot. Rather than create the partition then install the OS, I tried to save time by simply copying the H: partition to another logical partition, then modifying C:'s BOOT.INI to give me the third choice.

That seemed to work, but actually, when this third partition boots, its drive letter is F:, not H: (not my choice - it just was). As soon as I try to make changes in this (eg hiding other unwanted partitions etc), it all goes wrong (can't log in again actually). I suspect that this is because a lot of registry entries say "H:\....." instead of "F:\.....", as that was what the partition was called when it was installed.

So, I have some queries someone might be able to answer:
- Is this shortcut copying partition process possible at all? can I sort out the H:/F: confusions or do I really have to install the OS into the new partition?
- When I did install from scratch into the first logical partition, I didn't choose H:. Can I have any choice over the driver letters? It seems the W2000 install process made it's own mind up that the primary boot partition would be C: and the system partition would be H:. So, can I change that - at the time or later?

 

Hello NickWhitehead,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Partition and Disk Managing Software.

Could you please describe in more details how you have created the second and the third partitions and how you have installed Windows there?
Please create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post. This will allow us to analyze your current partition layout and provide you with further instructions.

Please create an account, then log in and submit a request for technical support. Attach the collected report file to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Support request has been made, thank you.