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#11
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Thanks for your input but ... I bought a copy of PowerQuest's Drive Image at the same time that I bought PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 7.0. But, ended up liking PM7 much more than Drive Image. I tried 'xxCopy' but didn't like it. And, I don't use WinXP. "Timothy Daniels" wrote in message ... "Adam" wrote: I'm looking for partitioning software that is capable of backing up (or copying) existing FAT32 bootable partitions. Are the partitioning software you mention capable of this? You're looling for what is frequently called a "disk cloning" or "imaging" utility. PowerQuest's Drive Image 7.x (now Norton's Ghost 9.0), Acronis' True Image, and several others do this, not partitioning utilities. Xxcopy does this, too, but I've not heard much about it except that it's free (see their website at http:\\www.xxCopy.com ). If you want the cloned partition to be bootable (assuming it contains an operating system), tell the utility to copy the Master Boot Record ("MBR") as well. On the 1st boot-up of the clone, don't let the original OS be visible to the clone or the clone will hook into files on the original drive and the clone thereafter won't run without the original OS present. To do this, just disconnect the original drive and put the clone in its place for that 1st boot-up. Thereafter, the clone can be booted even with the original visible to it. If you have WinXP (or Win2K) (and if the clone drive has the space), you can put at least 4 copies of the original OS on the clone drive, and each can be bootable from its separate *primary* partition. (It may be the case that WinXP/2K can be booted from a logical drive, but I've never put a clone into a logical drive.) You can then use WinXP/2K's) multi- boot feature to select the clone for booting at boot time. You would have to adjust the original drive's boot.ini file (at C:\boot.ini) to add a line pointing to the clone to include it in the original drive's boot menu to do that, but that is trivial if you know the boot.ini syntax. Since your clone(s) might also act as emergency copies of the original in the event the original drive crashes, you ought to adjust the boot.ini file in the "active" partition on your clone drive as well. You can make any partition on a drive the "active" partition by using Disk Management (rt-click on My Computer, click Manage, click Disk Management), and that indicates that the boot.ini file in that partition will be used for the boot menu of OSes to select from. When pointing to partitions with boot.ini, remember that the 1st partition on the drive is known as "partition(1)", the 2nd partition as "partition(2)", etc. You can use the part of the boot.ini file that is in quotes to call each OS whatever you want. If the original drive crashes, just pop the archive drive in its place and boot the OS version that you want. Otherwise, you can keep the archive drive connected where it is, and you can boot into it by adjusting the boot sequence in the BIOS. If you have WinXP and the archive drive is selected by the BIOS' boot sequence, the boot.ini file in the drive's "active" partition will let you select which partition (i.e. which OS version) to boot into. Keep in mind that the boot.ini file in the "active" partition will always think it's in the booted partition (called "Logical Disk (C" by Windows), so set the rdisk() lines in boot.ini file to point appropriately to "this" hard drive (i.e rdisk(0) ) or to "the next" hard drive (i.e. rdisk(1) ) or "the one after that" (i.e. rdisk(2) ). This sequence of hard drives, by the way, is determined by the boot sequence in the BIOS, and by adjusting that sequence, you adjust what is meant by "this drive", "the next drive", and "the one after that". *TimDaniels* |
#12
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"Adam" wrote:
Thanks for your input but ... I bought a copy of PowerQuest's Drive Image at the same time that I bought PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 7.0. But, ended up liking PM7 much more than Drive Image. Yeah, but does PM7 make a bootable OS for you? Probably has something to do with not copying the MBR. I tried 'xxCopy' but didn't like it. And, I don't use WinXP. In that case a copy of Drive Image 2002 should work fine. You can purchase it online for $13 or $14. Check it out using Froogle.Google.com or NextTag.com (see http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...ge+2002&node=0 ). All that I wrote except the part about multi-booting (and perhaps not the part about keeping the clone isolated during its 1st boot-up) applies to Win98. *TimDaniels* |
#13
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Yes, PM7 can make a bootable OS for users. I've done it many times. PM7 provides ways for the user to set partition attributes. Key attributes a - Primary / Logical - Active / Hidden / None And, if a partition (with an OS installed) has the correct attributes (like Primary and Active) and is located in the proper location (like below the 8 GB address space) on the HDD, then that partition should be bootable. Like I said, I already own a copy of Drive Image but seldom used it since PM7 was sufficient. "Timothy Daniels" wrote in message ... "Adam" wrote: Thanks for your input but ... I bought a copy of PowerQuest's Drive Image at the same time that I bought PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 7.0. But, ended up liking PM7 much more than Drive Image. Yeah, but does PM7 make a bootable OS for you? Probably has something to do with not copying the MBR. I tried 'xxCopy' but didn't like it. And, I don't use WinXP. In that case a copy of Drive Image 2002 should work fine. You can purchase it online for $13 or $14. Check it out using Froogle.Google.com or NextTag.com (see http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...ge+2002&node=0 ). All that I wrote except the part about multi-booting (and perhaps not the part about keeping the clone isolated during its 1st boot-up) applies to Win98. *TimDaniels* |
#14
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Every disk must have a MBR. It is created when the partition(s) is created.
"Timothy Daniels" wrote in message ... "Adam" wrote: Thanks for your input but ... I bought a copy of PowerQuest's Drive Image at the same time that I bought PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 7.0. But, ended up liking PM7 much more than Drive Image. Yeah, but does PM7 make a bootable OS for you? Probably has something to do with not copying the MBR. I tried 'xxCopy' but didn't like it. And, I don't use WinXP. In that case a copy of Drive Image 2002 should work fine. You can purchase it online for $13 or $14. Check it out using Froogle.Google.com or NextTag.com (see http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...ge+2002&node=0 ) .. All that I wrote except the part about multi-booting (and perhaps not the part about keeping the clone isolated during its 1st boot-up) applies to Win98. *TimDaniels* |
#15
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In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage SFB - KB3MM wrote:
Every disk must have a MBR. It is created when the partition(s) is created. Actually every disk must have a top-level partition table. There is no need for boot code to be in there and it is an MBR only with boot code. Arno "Timothy Daniels" wrote in message ... "Adam" wrote: Thanks for your input but ... I bought a copy of PowerQuest's Drive Image at the same time that I bought PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 7.0. But, ended up liking PM7 much more than Drive Image. Yeah, but does PM7 make a bootable OS for you? Probably has something to do with not copying the MBR. I tried 'xxCopy' but didn't like it. And, I don't use WinXP. In that case a copy of Drive Image 2002 should work fine. You can purchase it online for $13 or $14. Check it out using Froogle.Google.com or NextTag.com (see http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...ge+2002&node=0 ) . All that I wrote except the part about multi-booting (and perhaps not the part about keeping the clone isolated during its 1st boot-up) applies to Win98. *TimDaniels* -- For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus |
#16
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"Arno Wagner" wrote in message
... In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage SFB - KB3MM wrote: Every disk must have a MBR. It is created when the partition(s) is created. Actually every disk must have a top-level partition table. There is no need for boot code to be in there and it is an MBR only with boot code. If you use a really ****ed up OS, it may not put boot code in, and your computer hangs on startup. The majority of us use a real OS. Boot code is a requirement of the MBR. |
#17
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"Arno Wagner" wrote in message In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage SFB - KB3MM wrote: Every disk must have a MBR. It is created when the partition(s) is created. Actually every disk must have a top-level partition table. 'Actually' it does not 'must have' a top-level partition table. There is also the Large Floppy type format. There is no need for boot code to be in there and it is an MBR only with boot code. Says who? Arno "Timothy Daniels" wrote in message ... "Adam" wrote: Thanks for your input but ... I bought a copy of PowerQuest's Drive Image at the same time that I bought PowerQuest's PartitionMagic 7.0. But, ended up liking PM7 much more than Drive Image. Yeah, but does PM7 make a bootable OS for you? Probably has something to do with not copying the MBR. I tried 'xxCopy' but didn't like it. And, I don't use WinXP. In that case a copy of Drive Image 2002 should work fine. You can purchase it online for $13 or $14. Check it out using Froogle.Google.com or NextTag.com (see http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...ge+2002&node=0 ) . All that I wrote except the part about multi-booting (and perhaps not the part about keeping the clone isolated during its 1st boot-up) applies to Win98. *TimDaniels* |
#18
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Update ... my solution ... I purchased a copy of PartitionMagic 8.0 with a copyright year of 2002. It's great! "Adam" wrote in message . com... My system is running Win98SE. I have PowerQuest PartitionMagic 7.0 installed. I just bought a 80 GB HDD (Seagate ST3200822A), which exceeds PM7's capabilities. So, I need to either upgrade to or buy PM8. But, due to Symantec and PowerQuest's deal, I hear people are very disappointed with Symantec's handling of PowerQuest's software. Is it still possible to get a version of PM8 that has not been processed by Symantec? |
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