Defrag, clean-up Partition --Including registry before "Copy Partition" operation

De fragmenting and cleanup (Including the registry) is essential for an uncorrupted and fast XP system (at least on my machine).

The best way to insure an uncorrupted multiboot (visible-to-each-other) system is to make a "Fresh Install" (no Imaging) with Full Formatting by XP and then doing the following before doing a "COPY PARTITION" operation:

1. Defrag after install of XP (If SP2 is on disk skip #2).

2. Defrag after SP2 (install this prior to any updates is very important).

3. Install all desired updates (yes this may be reading intensive: if unsure install ALL updates).

4. Defrag again after updates.

5. Use a soft-and-gentile registry utility such as "NTREGOPT" (freeware --search ERUNT on google) to clean and defrag registry.

6. Make sure these parts of XP work OK: A: User Accounts B: XP Firewall C: System restore D: Internet Explorer E: My Computer F: Windows Explorer copy capabilities (to CD, DVD, Data partition ect.).

7. Now you can copy Partition with minimal risk of corruption (if it happens at all on your set-up).

If you desire to have the surer way, use fresh installs for ALL XP partitions, simply repeat all steps 1-6 with True fresh installs of all XP's!! DD10 is still used for partitioning and hiding spare XP's.

After a half year of testing, fresh fully formatted installs of XP result in the best configuration of visible-to-each-other mulitboot system (Imaging with TI10 does work well but not as good as a fresh install).

They are damn near bulletproof! Even malware have not crossed partition boundaries ( a "hyjacker" from a file sharing site stayed put [quarantined] in a partition w/ virus and firewall protection on my machine).

This of course may be hardware/software specific to my machine, but I think it will work with many systems as this is a very generic machine with basic drivers and hardware. For insurance, one or Two XP's going unused but loaded for bear, are instantly available if any XP's go down.

Somewhat time consuming but the XP's could be added days apart to lessen the time in front of the computer at any one time-- well worth it in my experience.

I have in the past put in a duplicate hidden "System Partition" with an intact boot.ini file for fast recovery if the C:\ partition goes bad , but have yet to have use of it, ( Hybrid hidden and unhidden XP's are perhaps the best solution to multibooting; a subject for another post).

True Image and DD10 users must cringe at the time needed but when necessary, not so bad when repeated corruption is the normal outcome with both programs.