Is it possible to have two copies of XP on the one computer?

[News]

Hello

I have created four partitions on my computer. I would like to know if it is
a good option or if it is possible to upload two different installations of
XP on one computer? So that if one becomes corrupt or has a problem then I
can automatically use my computer on the "reserver" windows rather than
having to wipe everything and start again?

Is this possible?

Kind Regards

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

Multibooting with Windows XP: Introduction
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.mspx

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I have created four partitions on my computer. I would like to
know
if it is a good option or if it is possible to upload two
different
installations of XP on one computer?

First, a word on the terminology. You don't "upload" (or
download, either) the operating system, you *install* it.

So that if one becomes corrupt
or has a problem then I can automatically use my computer on
the
"reserver" windows rather than having to wipe everything and
start
again?
Is this possible?

Is it possible? Yes. Whether it's permitted by the EULA without
buying a second license is a different matter, and that point is
frequently argued.

I don't think it's a good idea at all. As you use your primary
version, install software, etc., the two installations will drift
farther and farther apart. Then if you ever decide to revert to
the second, it will be different enough from the original that
you will probably want to reinstall it anyway. Moreover it leaves
you vulnerable to the most likely dangers to your computer: hard
drive crashes, severe power glitches like nearby lightning
strikes, virus attacks, and theft of the computer.

A far better way to accomplish something sinilar is simply to
clone your drive to a second removable backup drive not kept in
the computer, and repeat that cloning periodically. That will
keep the second version in synch, and also protect you against
disasters like those I mentioned above.

Moreover the thought that Windows is likely to have a problem
that would require you to "wipe everything and start again" isn't
correct. Such situations are rare.

 

[t.cruise]

Yes, if you have more than one partition on your hard drive, or if you have more than one
hard drive. But, the easier way to go is get a second hard drive, either internal or
external, and a drive imaging/ghosting/cloning utility. Clone your hard drive, and then
if something happens to your C:\ drive, (or whatever drive letter you have Windows XP
install on), you can quickly be up and running with the cloned drive.

 

[News]

Yes, if you have more than one partition on your hard drive, or if you
have more than one
hard drive. But, the easier way to go is get a second hard drive, either
internal or
external, and a drive imaging/ghosting/cloning utility. Clone your hard
drive, and then
if something happens to your C:\ drive, (or whatever drive letter you
have Windows XP
install on), you can quickly be up and running with the cloned drive.

You hit the nail on the head, thats exactly what I want to do. But
unfortunately I only have one drive. Is it just as good to have a
partitioned single drive?

--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

Hello

I have created four partitions on my computer. I would like to know if it
is
a good option or if it is possible to upload two different installations
of
XP on one computer? So that if one becomes corrupt or has a problem then
I
can automatically use my computer on the "reserver" windows rather than
having to wipe everything and start again?

Is this possible?

Kind Regards

 

[Rock]

Yes, if you have more than one partition on your hard drive, or if you
have more than one
hard drive. But, the easier way to go is get a second hard drive, either
internal or
external, and a drive imaging/ghosting/cloning utility. Clone your hard
drive, and then
if something happens to your C:\ drive, (or whatever drive letter you
have Windows XP
install on), you can quickly be up and running with the cloned drive.

You hit the nail on the head, thats exactly what I want to do. But
unfortunately I only have one drive. Is it just as good to have a
partitioned single drive?

--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

Hello

I have created four partitions on my computer. I would like to know if it
is
a good option or if it is possible to upload two different installations
of
XP on one computer? So that if one becomes corrupt or has a problem then
I
can automatically use my computer on the "reserver" windows rather than
having to wipe everything and start again?

Is this possible?

Kind Regards

It's not a good solution to store a backup image on the same drive, even
though in a different partition. If something causes the drive to fail
you've lost your backup too. Creating the backup image on another
partition then burning to DVD is an acceptable alternative, or better
yet get a USB external hard drive and create the images on there.

Programs that do this are Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image and BootIT NG.

 

[B J W]

As for having multiple partitions on a single drive: there is an argument in
favor of having a data partition separate from your system partition. You
should set the system to create swapfiles on both partitions. And, manually

move< (don't copy) the My Documents folder, Desktop and Favorites folder

from C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\ Microsoft's TweakUI can help
designate "special" folders on the second partition.

The system partition is marginally more vulnerable than the data partition
to catastrophic failure, although obviously, if they are on the same
physical drive, there are a number of hardware scenarios, which would
nevertheless bring down both. On computers with USB2, external drives,
which cost as little as $100, make a lot of sense for backing up data on a
daily basis. LaCie has 40 Gig drives, which perform very well, and require
no external power (they draw all their power from the USB port) and they are
very sleek and cute, being based on 2.5 inch notebook drives. Combine a
couple of those with a simple backup program, like ZipBackup, and you are in
good shape. Or use a more sophisticated backup program of your choice to
backup the system.

As for having enhanced options for recovery, some people install the
recovery console.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216417/
The recovery console gives you some options for recovering from some of the
more common glitches, which might prevent you from booting to the OS. For
example, you can run chkdsk to clean up file system errors. And you can do
a manual recovery of the registry, if your system's registry becomes
corrupted.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545
You can use the recovery console from the OS CD-ROM, but having it installed
is handy. I believe HP installs the recovery console as a matter of course
on PCs it manufactures. The recovery console is installed to the same
partition as the OS.

One of the limitations of the Recovery Console is that it cannot, by
default, access the whole drive. So, you cannot use it to recover personal
data files. But, you can change this behavior:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310497

I don't think there's anything terribly wrong with having a second
installation, as long as it is on a different partition. It does give you
the ability to work with the gui, when trying to recover from a nasty
glitch, which prevents you from booting the OS, but I don't think that
option is compelling; the recovery console is good enough for the few times
you need it, and the little you do in it.

If the object is to be able to switch over to a new drive and keep working,
in the event of a catastrophic failure, then the cloned drive, as
recommended by others, is the best bet. Especially, if you have software,
which would be difficult or very time-consuming to install, the cloned
system drive can be a blessing. The cloned system drive constitutes
protection against hard drive failure, certainly, but, with care and a
little luck, it can help you in more catastrophic situations. I helped a
friend a few months ago, whose motherboard went kefluiee, and took his OS
installation with it. Luckily, he had a clone, and we were able to replace
the motherboard, and coax his OS into accepting the change; such a change is
fraught with peril, and would not be possible in all circumstances, but I
have managed to do it, with complete success. (And, no, he did not violate
his particular license in doing so, but that doesn't mean other
circumstances might violate the EULA.) [If you do choose to create a clone,
I recommend that you turn off or temporarily uninstall antivirus software,
on the original, before creating the clone.]

Yes, if you have more than one partition on your hard drive, or if you
have more than one
hard drive. But, the easier way to go is get a second hard drive, either
internal or
external, and a drive imaging/ghosting/cloning utility. Clone your hard
drive, and then
if something happens to your C:\ drive, (or whatever drive letter you
have Windows XP
install on), you can quickly be up and running with the cloned drive.

You hit the nail on the head, thats exactly what I want to do. But
unfortunately I only have one drive. Is it just as good to have a
partitioned single drive?

--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

Hello

I have created four partitions on my computer. I would like to know if
it is
a good option or if it is possible to upload two different installations
of
XP on one computer? So that if one becomes corrupt or has a problem then
I
can automatically use my computer on the "reserver" windows rather than
having to wipe everything and start again?

Is this possible?

Kind Regards

 

[News]

Hi Brian,
Wow! Thanks for the super response. This might seem like I am being
unecessarily concerned
but in fact if you do alot of work on a computer, or if you keep important
information and if your time is valuable this preventative measure is
seemingly well worth it. It takes me a good two/three hours to
reformat/reinstall all my software and get things tweaked and tuned how I
would like them to be.

The problem is I am trying to find a system of doing this without having to
get too deep into windows. I am a power user not a technical user.

As for having multiple partitions on a single drive: there is an argument
in favor of having a data partition separate from your system partition.
You should set the system to create swapfiles on both partitions. And,
manually

move< (don't copy) the My Documents folder, Desktop and Favorites folder

from C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\ Microsoft's TweakUI can help
designate "special" folders on the second partition.

The system partition is marginally more vulnerable than the data partition
to catastrophic failure, although obviously, if they are on the same
physical drive, there are a number of hardware scenarios, which would
nevertheless bring down both. On computers with USB2, external drives,
which cost as little as $100, make a lot of sense for backing up data on a
daily basis.

I guess this would be like a small add on utility that hooks up to your pc?
You just use it like an external drive, for permanent backups. In the same
way
you would use a CD RW except more reliable?

LaCie has 40 Gig drives, which perform very well, and require

no external power (they draw all their power from the USB port) and they
are very sleek and cute, being based on 2.5 inch notebook drives. Combine
a couple of those with a simple backup program, like ZipBackup, and you
are in good shape. Or use a more sophisticated backup program of your
choice to backup the system.

As for having enhanced options for recovery, some people install the
recovery console.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216417/
The recovery console gives you some options for recovering from some of
the more common glitches, which might prevent you from booting to the OS.
For example, you can run chkdsk to clean up file system errors. And you
can do a manual recovery of the registry, if your system's registry
becomes corrupted.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545
You can use the recovery console from the OS CD-ROM, but having it
installed is handy. I believe HP installs the recovery console as a
matter of course on PCs it manufactures. The recovery console is
installed to the same partition as the OS.

I tend to be of the opinion that if something is wrong with your computer
rather than spend six hours worrying about it and hunting around
for whatever the problem, it is simpler and faster to just reinstall many
times. If you fix something quite often it seems never to be quite perfect.

If the object is to be able to switch over to a new drive and keep
working, in the event of a catastrophic failure, then the cloned drive, as
recommended by others, is the best bet.

That is my main aim most definitely. To be able to avoid having to reinstall
everything.

Especially, if you have software, which would be difficult or very
time-consuming to install, the cloned

system drive can be a blessing. The cloned system drive constitutes
protection against hard drive failure, certainly, but, with care and a
little luck, it can help you in more catastrophic situations. I helped a
friend a few months ago, whose motherboard went kefluiee, and took his OS
installation with it. Luckily, he had a clone, and we were able to
replace the motherboard, and coax his OS into accepting the change; such a
change is fraught with peril, and would not be possible in all
circumstances, but I have managed to do it, with complete success. (And,
no, he did not violate his particular license in doing so, but that
doesn't mean other circumstances might violate the EULA.) [If you do
choose to create a clone, I recommend that you turn off or temporarily
uninstall antivirus software, on the original, before creating the clone.]

Thanks again for your input, really valuable information. I think for the
future I will opt for this "clone" although I am not quite sure how it
works.