Booting From Two Hard Drives

I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.

The new drive is larger and faster than the old one, but there are some
device and program issues there. The C Drive is currently my boot drive. Is
there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play with
the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?

Also, is it possible to ghost the old hard drive and to then transfer that
ghost image to the new hard drive so that I wouldn't need to reinstall
Windows and all of my other programs? Do I use something like xxcopy (which
I downloaded but don't fully understand) or a program like Norton Ghost? I'd
really like to get a mirror image of my working hard drive onto the new one.
--
{ : [|]=( DaffyD®

If I knew where I was I'd be there now.

You really, REALLY need a copy of Norton Ghost or Image from Terabyte
Unlimited (Image is shareware and can be downloaded, BTW). That's the only
safe and reliable way to copy an entire disk. And yes, if you use an
image-based copy program you can make an exact copy of disk #1 on disk #2,
remove disk #1 and use disk #2 instead.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"DaffyD®" wrote in message
...
I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.

The new drive is larger and faster than the old one, but there are some
device and program issues there. The C Drive is currently my boot drive.
Is
there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play with
the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?

Also, is it possible to ghost the old hard drive and to then transfer that
ghost image to the new hard drive so that I wouldn't need to reinstall
Windows and all of my other programs? Do I use something like xxcopy
(which
I downloaded but don't fully understand) or a program like Norton Ghost?
I'd
really like to get a mirror image of my working hard drive onto the new
one.
--
{ : [|]=( DaffyD®

If I knew where I was I'd be there now.

"DaffyD®" wrote in message

I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary

[...]
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.
[...]
Is there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play
with the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

No, and in stock w9x setups you can only boot from whichever drive is
connected as Master, where naturally the other drive is secondary slave.

[...]
I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?
[...]

No, and remember you are posting in a Win98 group, and since you said you
have each drive with only W98SE installed then you won't find any boot.ini
there.

Rick

Rick

I not sure what you mean by a stock setup; however, with a boot manager such
as BootIt NG, you can boot from the slave drive.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Rick Chauvin" wrote in message

No, and in stock w9x setups you can only boot from whichever drive is
connected as Master, where naturally the other drive is secondary slave.

This program will allow you to boot from either drive and it shoots a
compressed image.

BootIt Next Generation is available from:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html and it does partitioning,
makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning chores and is a boot
manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition Magic but it is half
the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled PMagic demo, BING is a
*full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30 days. The web site has a
lot of support articles.


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"DaffyD®" wrote in message
...
I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.

The new drive is larger and faster than the old one, but there are some
device and program issues there. The C Drive is currently my boot drive.
Is
there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play with
the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?

Also, is it possible to ghost the old hard drive and to then transfer that
ghost image to the new hard drive so that I wouldn't need to reinstall
Windows and all of my other programs? Do I use something like xxcopy
(which
I downloaded but don't fully understand) or a program like Norton Ghost?
I'd
really like to get a mirror image of my working hard drive onto the new
one.
--
{ : [|]=( DaffyD®

If I knew where I was I'd be there now.

"DaffyD®" wrote in message ...
I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.

The new drive is larger and faster than the old one, but there are some
device and program issues there. The C Drive is currently my boot drive.

If you swap the drives around, so that you're booting from the other install,
C: will still be your boot drive. Drive letters are assigned by the booted OS.

Is
there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play with
the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

Unless your BIOS supports it, a boot manager with "swap" capability
would need to be installed. BootitNG does this. I'm sure there are
many others.


I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?

That's NT/XP specific.

Also, is it possible to ghost the old hard drive and to then transfer that
ghost image to the new hard drive so that I wouldn't need to reinstall
Windows and all of my other programs? Do I use something like xxcopy (which
I downloaded but don't fully understand) or a program like Norton Ghost? I'd
really like to get a mirror image of my working hard drive onto the new one.

A imaging program is definetly the way to go. If you're only going to do it once,
Terabyte has a free cloning tool (CopyWipe). Be very careful with it. As the name
suggests it has Wiping capabilities, and it's also possible to clone "in the wrong
direction".

"DaffyD®" wrote in message
...

I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.

The new drive is larger and faster than the old one, but there are some
device and program issues there. The C Drive is currently my boot drive.
Is
there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play with
the jumpers?

Go back to the basics . . .
1. Win98 is designed to boot from a hard drive.
So if you have two identical physical drives, and
do not mind interchanging them, you can boot
from whichever is connected on IDE line no. 1
as master.
2. Win98 is designed to load a single operating
system (Win98.) So if you want to boot any other
OS (including another implementation of Win98)
you must add a "boot manager."

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

"Ron Badour" wrote in message

Rick

I not sure what you mean by a stock setup; however, with a boot manager
such as BootIt NG, you can boot from the slave drive.

Hi Ron,

Yes by stock setup I meant stock with No Extra Software installs to do so.

Thanks for bringing that up though.
I'm sure that BING comes with its "limit Primaries" option enabled,
otherwise forget about using any third party partitioning programs except
theirs since it messes with the MBR.

Rick



--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

.....OR a copy of Acronis True Image 7.0 for Free, as described below by Rick
Chauvin, with some added info by me):

- register at http://www.acronis.com/mag/vnu-ati7
(fill out all the lines that are marked with a red asterisk, including naming what
computer mags you read, and check the box saying you read the Privacy Policy)

- save the information provided and/or is sent to your email upon successful
registration
(you will use your email address as a log-in and they will give you a password to
use to access your Acronis account page....I think the password will be on the
confirmation web page after you get the first email back....they will also send an
email with your serial number to use when installing)

- go to https://www.acronis.com/my/download/...0.638_s_en.exe

- login ...download should begin.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/


"Richard G. Harper" wrote in message
...
You really, REALLY need a copy of Norton Ghost or Image from Terabyte Unlimited
(Image is shareware and can be downloaded, BTW). That's the only safe and
reliable way to copy an entire disk. And yes, if you use an image-based copy
program you can make an exact copy of disk #1 on disk #2, remove disk #1 and use
disk #2 instead.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"DaffyD®" wrote in message
...
I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.

The new drive is larger and faster than the old one, but there are some
device and program issues there. The C Drive is currently my boot drive. Is
there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play with
the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?

Also, is it possible to ghost the old hard drive and to then transfer that
ghost image to the new hard drive so that I wouldn't need to reinstall
Windows and all of my other programs? Do I use something like xxcopy (which
I downloaded but don't fully understand) or a program like Norton Ghost? I'd
really like to get a mirror image of my working hard drive onto the new one.
--
{ : [|]=( DaffyD®

If I knew where I was I'd be there now.

"Rick Chauvin" wrote in message
...
"DaffyD®" wrote in message

I've been posting messages about installing a second hard drive and
designating it the primary master while making the other one the primary

[...]
slave. Win 98SE is installed on both.
[...]
Is there a way that I could boot from either one without having to play
with the jumpers? I've googled this and haven't read any good answers.

No, and in stock w9x setups you can only boot from whichever drive is
connected as Master, where naturally the other drive is secondary slave.

[...]
I have been told about a boot.ini text file. Do I edit this file?
[...]

No, and remember you are posting in a Win98 group, and since you said you
have each drive with only W98SE installed then you won't find any boot.ini
there.

Rick

I researched this after I posted because a friend assured me that boot.ini
was a W98SE file. You and the research proved him wrong.