moving partition breaks XP installation

[Guest]

Hi,

In the past, I have done the following using System Commander / Partition
Commander by v-com:

1. Installed Windows XP on primary partition #1 at the beginning of my hard
drive
2. Installed another instance of XP on primary partition #2
3. Deleted parition #1
4. Moved partition #2 to the beginning of the hard drive

Anytime I have attempted this, it has left the windows installation that was
originally on partition #2 (and then moved to the beginning of the hard
drive) unbootable.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am guessing that this is because XP somehow
relies on the hard drive partition # that it was originally installed on. By
deleting the original partion #1 and moving partition #2 to the beginning of
the hard drive, I am in effect changing parition #2 to partition #1. The XP
installation, thinking it is still installed on partition #2, no longer
works. Am I right?

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has done this sort of thing and gotten it
to work. I don't mind using different partion management software if there
is something that would make this easier.

Thank you,
Paul

 

[Gordon]

Hi,

In the past, I have done the following using System Commander / Partition
Commander by v-com:

1. Installed Windows XP on primary partition #1 at the beginning of my
hard drive
2. Installed another instance of XP on primary partition #2
3. Deleted parition #1
4. Moved partition #2 to the beginning of the hard drive

Anytime I have attempted this, it has left the windows installation that
was originally on partition #2 (and then moved to the beginning of the
hard drive) unbootable.

May I ask why on EARTH you would want to do this in the first place?

 

[Guest]

I sometimes try to fix computers for friends, usually by doing a clean
install of windows. Rather than depending on my friends to tell me what they
want to back up and then reformatting the entire hard drive, I prefer to use
partitioning software to shrink the active partition, create a new partition,
and install a new instance of windows on this new partition.

This way, I can configure the new instance of windows while still being able
to access the old instance. This is useful in case:

1. There was some data on the old partition that they need but they didn't
originally think of.
2. They use software for which they had downloaded the installation files
to the old partition and they did not copy these files to removeable media.
3. I am not sure how to configure some of the software they use and I want
to look back at the old installation.

I keep the old installation around until I am totally done setting up the
new installation, my friend has used it for a while and tells me she is able
to do everything she used to be able to do. At this point, I'd like to
delete the old partition, move the new partition to the beginning of the
drive, and resize it to take advantage of the full size of the drive.

Maybe I'm not making sense, but I think this would be useful.


Paul Kraemer

 

[Leythos]

I sometimes try to fix computers for friends, usually by doing a clean
install of windows. Rather than depending on my friends to tell me what they
want to back up and then reformatting the entire hard drive, I prefer to use
partitioning software to shrink the active partition, create a new partition,
and install a new instance of windows on this new partition.

This way, I can configure the new instance of windows while still being able
to access the old instance. This is useful in case:

1. There was some data on the old partition that they need but they didn't
originally think of.
2. They use software for which they had downloaded the installation files
to the old partition and they did not copy these files to removeable media.
3. I am not sure how to configure some of the software they use and I want
to look back at the old installation.

I keep the old installation around until I am totally done setting up the
new installation, my friend has used it for a while and tells me she is able
to do everything she used to be able to do. At this point, I'd like to
delete the old partition, move the new partition to the beginning of the
drive, and resize it to take advantage of the full size of the drive.

Maybe I'm not making sense, but I think this would be useful.

Get a external portable drive and clone the defective installation to
that device. Wipe the computer, install the OS and their apps, use the
image viewer application to restore the files they need. If that's not
enough, just drag/drop the files to the external drive and then drag
them back to the rebuilt computer.

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

I've been booting 2 XPs 4 3 yrs so I think I can answer alot
of ur questions BUT I'm being treated at hospital most of
this week.

Any response to this message I'll interpret as a sign u
still need an answer & I'll reply to u next wk in THIS
thread.

Larry

Hi,

In the past, I have done the following using System Commander / Partition
Commander by v-com:

1. Installed Windows XP on primary partition #1 at the beginning of my hard
drive
2. Installed another instance of XP on primary partition #2
3. Deleted parition #1
4. Moved partition #2 to the beginning of the hard drive

Anytime I have attempted this, it has left the windows installation that was
originally on partition #2 (and then moved to the beginning of the hard
drive) unbootable.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am guessing that this is because XP somehow
relies on the hard drive partition # that it was originally installed on. By
deleting the original partion #1 and moving partition #2 to the beginning of
the hard drive, I am in effect changing parition #2 to partition #1. The XP
installation, thinking it is still installed on partition #2, no longer
works. Am I right?

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has done this sort of thing and gotten it
to work. I don't mind using different partion management software if there
is something that would make this easier.

Thank you,
Paul

Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes