EMBR on 2 disks or move

[Patosan]

I bought and used BING to setup my single boot XP system 5 years ago and am very happy with it, though I haven't used it for much more than partition management so far. Now I'm ready to use the multi-boot option. So to start with I've fitted a 2nd drive, ssd 60G, this is intended to be my main os drive, keeping the spinner for data and other os.

Now the EMBR is in it's own HHD partition on HD0, I've copied my current xp image to the ssd HD1, but am at aloss of how to continue from here. Really I was up ALL last night. Can I install an EMBR to the ssd and change the BIOS to boot from this prior to the HDD ? If I can't install have multiple EMBR then how do I put it in the ssd HD1 ? In addition I suspect I've limited the primary partitions to 4 or under, and this is for the system not each drive I now learn. How can I change remove the limitation ?

I believe for multiple os bootIng, even from different HD I have to frormat the os partition in FAT32, can I do this without losing the os/data ?

[oakeny]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:04:07 PST, Patosan wrote:

> I bought and used BING to setup my single boot XP system 5 years ago and am very happy with it, though I haven't used it for much more than partition management so far. Now I'm ready to use the multi-boot option. So to start with I've fitted a 2nd drive, ssd 60G, this is intended to be my main os drive, keeping the spinner for data and other os.
>
> Now the EMBR is in it's own HHD partition on HD0, I've copied my current xp image to the ssd HD1, but am at aloss of how to continue from here. Really I was up ALL last night. Can I install an EMBR to the ssd and change the BIOS to boot from this prior to the HDD ? If I can't install have multiple EMBR then how do I put it in the ssd HD1 ? In addition I suspect I've limited the primary partitions to 4 or under, and this is for the system not each drive I now learn. How can I change remove the limitation ?
>
> I believe for multiple os bootIng, even from different HD I have to frormat the os partition in FAT32, can I do this without losing the os/data ?

In the absence of any replies from the knowledgeable folk who normally help
in this forum, maybe I can offer some tips to get you on the right road:-

1). When you say you have copied the xp image to HD1, I assume you have
made an image of xp partition of HD0, then used BING to _restore_ it to HD1
(ie I hope you didn't just put the image file(s) on HD1)

2) You can boot this partition (xp on HD1) from your original HD0 without
doing anything difficult.
Just set up a boot item in BING on HD0, defining the xp partition on HD1 as
the desired target. Remember to select the Swap button in BING when setting
up the boot item (this tells the system to treat HD1 as if it were HD0 as I
understand it, so that Windows is allowed to boot from it).

3) Using partition work, select HD1 as the drive (in the list on the left
hand side), and look at its MBR. Make the xp partition there _Active_ so
that it can be booted.

4) You don't have to re-format anything to FAT32 (unless I've misunderstood
something important in your post). You already have BING installed on HD0,
and you can simply use BING to select which partition you want to boot, on
either of the connected drives.

Disclaimer - I'm offering these comments from memory. I don't have a
computer here at home with BING installed. The version of BING I'm
familiar with is V1.87.

I don't have any experience with solid state drives, but I understand there
should be no difficulty in what you wish to do.

Hope these comments might help you to get a little further along the way.

cheers,

John S

[oakeny]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:04:07 PST, Patosan wrote:

> I bought and used BING to setup my single boot XP system 5 years ago and am very happy with it, though I haven't used it for much more than partition management so far. Now I'm ready to use the multi-boot option. So to start with I've fitted a 2nd drive, ssd 60G, this is intended to be my main os drive, keeping the spinner for data and other os.
>
> Now the EMBR is in it's own HHD partition on HD0, I've copied my current xp image to the ssd HD1, but am at aloss of how to continue from here. Really I was up ALL last night. Can I install an EMBR to the ssd and change the BIOS to boot from this prior to the HDD ? If I can't install have multiple EMBR then how do I put it in the ssd HD1 ? In addition I suspect I've limited the primary partitions to 4 or under, and this is for the system not each drive I now learn. How can I change remove the limitation ?
>
> I believe for multiple os bootIng, even from different HD I have to frormat the os partition in FAT32, can I do this without losing the os/data ?

Just to add to my previous post - on reflection my comments may not be all
that helpful if you are starting out with absolutely no idea of what to do.

There is some good information on the Terabyte site, including some videos.

If you go to the site http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/support.html
you can browse through many articles regarding the use of their products.

In particular I suggest you download the file:-
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/videos/bing/bingxpcopy.wmv

It is a video which demonstrates producing a bootable copy of Windows XP,
showing how to do the copy, and to set up the required boot item in the
BING menu.

Although the video is about having two bootable versions of XP on the same
HDD, you can use it to see how to do this on a second HDD - just follow the
same principles.

However, when setting up the boot item for XP on HD1, remember to click the
SWAP button (not the one-time swap), so that HD1 becomes bootable to
Windows.

Cheers,

John S

[Patosan]

Thanks for replying John, I restored an image of C into the ssd HD1 drive, though I guess copying the HD0 xp partition with BING into HD1 would've been much quicker. The video is helpful and we are nearly there. After editing the boot.ini file not only for partition but also for the disk the ssd ver XP is booting ... certainly faster than with HDD.

We have just one last snag on initial power up BING still gives me an alarm "The multi-os partition ssd XP on HD1 could not be checked for changes. Unable to mount the file system." I simply click the OK button and after that all is well. Now we only need to find why it can't go all the way on auto.

[TeraByte Support]

If you want to keep the existing HD0 in place and boot a new copy of XP from
an SSD as HD1 on the same controller, then... 1 - enable the global option
in settings to align 2kib, copy the xp partition to the ssd drive (free
space area - delete the existing partition if needed), choose boot edit and
create a new boot item that boots from HD1, the copied xp partition, enable
the "swap" option (not just the one-time swap, but the main swap option).
Now presuming your original XP setup was the first partition it should boot
the copy. Otherwise, edit boot.ini so the partition(x) references are all
partition(1)


"Patosan" wrote in message news:963@public.bootitng...

Thanks for replying John, I restored an image of C into the ssd HD1 drive,
though I guess copying the HD0 xp partition with BING into HD1 would've been
much quicker. The video is helpful but still not quite there. Initially I
was getting messages " ... HD1 xp wasn't checked" then " was
not in the boot sector" or something, now I don't get a message ... it
simply boots from the old HD0 xp. I have checked the SWAP option and edited
the boot.ini as per video but wonder since my xp is on HD1 should I make
additional ini changes ?

[Patosan]

1 - enable the global option
in settings to align 2kib

I can't see where to find this in settings ... ?

Ideally I'd prefer to have the EMBR in the ssd, since this is to now be my booting & os drive. Does this mean it would be better to make the ssd HD0 and how does one go about that ? Also while I was wondering thru the bios I noticed that while it does read the ssd, it's not given a boot priority at all ... I've got 1 cd/dvd, 2 floppy and 3 HHD 4 is "disabled"

[Brian K]

I can't see where to find this in settings ... ?

It is Align at 2048.

[Bob Coleman]

Early in this thread was mentioned the belief that the limit of 4 primary partitions is for the system rather than for each drive. This is not correct. The limit is per disk.

Ideally I'd prefer to have the EMBR in the ssd, since this is to now be my booting & os drive. Does this mean it would be better to make the ssd HD0 and how does one go about that ? Also while I was wondering thru the bios I noticed that while it does read the ssd, it's not given a boot priority at all ... I've got 1 cd/dvd, 2 floppy and 3 HHD 4 is "disabled"

Not sure what you mean by it does read the ssd. It appears to me that HD0 is being booted, Bing on HD0 runs and boots the OS on the SSD. I don't know if you can improve this if your BIOS doesn't provide for booting the SSD.

[Patosan]

G'day Bob, yes HD0 is booting and loading the HD1 ssd XP. Also "Limit Primaries" is unchecked anyway.
Hi Brian, I don't see "Align at 2048" the only align is "Align on End" which is checked. I'm looking at settings, should I be looking somewhere else, or is there another settings ?

[Brian K]

Patosan,

Are you using the Settings icon on the BootIt desktop? BING or BIBM?