7tools Partition Manager 2005 problem

[John Doe]

Besides some obvious and difficult bugs in 7tools Partition
Manager 2005, there is one which puzzles me.

In Windows XP:

.... make a hidden backup copy of the C drive Windows partition,
making the copy partition 2

.... install some programs in partition 1

.... hide partition 1 and switch to partition 2

.... registry information from partition 1 shows up in partition
2, the newly installed programs from partition 1 show up in
partition 2's Add or Remove Programs and in MSconfig Startup
tab

Anybody know why that is happening? Apparently Windows XP puts
registry information somewhere on the disk that disk managers
cannot correctly copy? That information is sharred throughout
the drive? Could it have something to do with the system
folders labeled "System Volume Information"?

I was using PartitionMagic, now trying 7tools Partition Manager
2005, I guess Ghost is next?

Should I make the Windows partition backup copies to another
physical disk? Only one per disk?

Copying Windows partitions used to be easy.

 

[John Doe]

In Windows XP:
... make a hidden backup copy of the C drive Windows partition,
making the copy partition 2
... install some programs in partition 1
... hide partition 1 and switch to partition 2
... registry information from partition 1 shows up in partition
2, the newly installed programs from partition 1 show up in
partition 2's Add or Remove Programs and in MSconfig Startup
tab

Reading the article referenced in someone elses earlier thread.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.mspx

Could my problems be resolved by switching away from NTFS and back
to FAT32?

Maybe I will try Ghost first, then try changing the file system.
A solution is necessary.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Anybody know why that is happening? Apparently Windows XP puts
registry information somewhere on the disk that disk managers
cannot correctly copy? That information is sharred throughout
the drive? Could it have something to do with the system
folders labeled "System Volume Information"?

....

 

[Peter]

Besides some obvious and difficult bugs in 7tools Partition

Manager 2005, there is one which puzzles me.

In Windows XP:

... make a hidden backup copy of the C drive Windows partition,
making the copy partition 2

... install some programs in partition 1

... hide partition 1 and switch to partition 2

... registry information from partition 1 shows up in partition
2, the newly installed programs from partition 1 show up in
partition 2's Add or Remove Programs and in MSconfig Startup
tab

Anybody know why that is happening? Apparently Windows XP puts
registry information somewhere on the disk that disk managers
cannot correctly copy? That information is sharred throughout
the drive? Could it have something to do with the system
folders labeled "System Volume Information"?

I was using PartitionMagic, now trying 7tools Partition Manager
2005, I guess Ghost is next?

Should I make the Windows partition backup copies to another
physical disk? Only one per disk?

Copying Windows partitions used to be easy.

But what is your objective? What are you trying to achieve?

 

[John Doe]

But what is your objective? What are you trying to achieve?

What?

 

[Rod Speed]

What?

Why are you making a copy of the XP system partition ?

 

[Rod Speed]

Besides some obvious and difficult bugs in 7tools
Partition Manager 2005, there is one which puzzles me.

In Windows XP:

... make a hidden backup copy of the C drive
Windows partition, making the copy partition 2

... install some programs in partition 1

... hide partition 1 and switch to partition 2

... registry information from partition 1 shows up in partition 2,
the newly installed programs from partition 1 show up in partition
2's Add or Remove Programs and in MSconfig Startup tab

Anybody know why that is happening?

Presumably the usual problem with cloning an XP system
partition and allowing the clone and original to be visible
to XP on the first boot after the clone has been made.

You'll find that while it appears that you have
booted the clone, in practice you havent and
are still using the original most of the time.

Apparently Windows XP puts registry information somewhere
on the disk that disk managers cannot correctly copy?
That information is sharred throughout the drive?

Nope, and the evidence that that isnt the case
is that if you ensure that XP cant see both the
original and the clone on the first boot after the
clone has been made, you dont get that effect.

Could it have something to do with the system
folders labeled "System Volume Information"?

Nope, just the visibility of both copys to XP on
the first boot after the clone has been made.

I was using PartitionMagic, now trying 7tools
Partition Manager 2005, I guess Ghost is next?

Should I make the Windows partition
backup copies to another physical disk?

Doesnt help, in fact that situatioin is even worse,
if the original and the clone are visible to XP
during the first boot of the clone after the clone
has been made, you'll find that if you physically
unplug the original drive, you cant even boot the
other drive, even tho you could with them both
plugged in. Thats because the boot of the clone
uses files from both copys for the boot if you
allow both to be visible to XP on the first boot
after the clone has been made.

Only one per disk?
Ditto.

Copying Windows partitions used to be easy.

It still is, just ensure that XP cant see the original and the
clone during the first boot after the clone has been made.
You can then boot either copy and not get any interaction
effect with changes made to either copy.

 

[Rod Speed]

I wrote

Reading the article referenced in someone elses earlier thread.

Could my problems be resolved by switching
away from NTFS and back to FAT32?

Nope. FAT32 is only relevant for OSs which
dont support NTFS like Win98 and ME.

Maybe I will try Ghost first, then try changing the file system.

Wont help.

A solution is necessary.

Just ensure that XP cant see both the original and the clone
on the first boot after creating the clone. If they are on separate
physical disks, just unplug the drive which has the original copy
of XP on it for the first boot of the clone and if they are on the
same physical drive in separate partitions, just hide the first
partition that has the original install of XP on it for the first
boot of the cloned XP install, using a partition manager.

 

[John Doe]

Why are you making a copy of the XP system partition ?

Because doing so is extremely useful, for incremental installation
backups and troubleshooting. It's the main function of my disk
manager (PartitionMagic, Partition Manager, whatever). Can't live
without them.

 

[da_test]

Besides some obvious and difficult bugs in 7tools Partition
Manager 2005, there is one which puzzles me.

In Windows XP:

... make a hidden backup copy of the C drive Windows partition,
making the copy partition 2

... install some programs in partition 1

... hide partition 1 and switch to partition 2

... registry information from partition 1 shows up in partition
2, the newly installed programs from partition 1 show up in
partition 2's Add or Remove Programs and in MSconfig Startup
tab

Anybody know why that is happening? Apparently Windows XP puts
registry information somewhere on the disk that disk managers
cannot correctly copy? That information is sharred throughout
the drive? Could it have something to do with the system
folders labeled "System Volume Information"?

I was using PartitionMagic, now trying 7tools Partition Manager
2005, I guess Ghost is next?

Should I make the Windows partition backup copies to another
physical disk? Only one per disk?

Copying Windows partitions used to be easy.

It doesn't sound right. The registry is just a bunch of files,
they're treated the same by partition managers.
Verify that you actually are booting the second partition.
Use diskmgmt.msc from the run box to view
the partition info.

Dave

 

[Rod Speed]

Because doing so is extremely useful, for
incremental installation backups and troubleshooting.

Its better to use images for that, not copying the partition.

That allows you to keep more than one image file
because the image is quite a bit smaller than a copy
which copys the free space as well as the used space.

It's the main function of my disk manager (PartitionMagic,
Partition Manager, whatever). Can't live without them.

You can, actually, use an imager instead.

 

[John Doe]

Its better to use images for that, not copying the partition.
That allows you to keep more than one image file
because the image is quite a bit smaller than a copy
which copys the free space as well as the used space.

Saving disk space might help, but (at least here) troubleshooting
would be easier being able to boot to a backup copy.

You can, actually, use an imager instead.

I guess you mean like Ghost.

 

[Rod Speed]

Saving disk space might help, but (at least here) troubleshooting
would be easier being able to boot to a backup copy.

Maybe, if you need to swap between the two installs. I dont
find that I do that much at all, basically I image the OS and
apps partition before installing anything except trivial stuff,
so I can just restore the image if the install goes pear
shaped and thats usually obvious quite soon into the install.

I guess you mean like Ghost.

Yep.

 

[John Doe]

Nope. FAT32 is only relevant for OSs which
dont support NTFS like Win98 and ME.

Is that code for "NTFS is better than FAT32"? It sounds
oversimple.

 

[Rod Speed]

Is that code for "NTFS is better than FAT32"?

Nope, just recognising the basics, that Win9x and ME cant see
the contents of NTFS formatted partitons and so if you setting
up a dual boot system, thats an important consideration.

It sounds oversimple.

It might if that was what was being said. It isnt.

 

[John Doe]

Could my problems be resolved by switching away from NTFS and back
to FAT32?

Switching back to FAT32 appears to solve the PartitionMagic
"cannot lock drive" problem when operating in pre-Windows XP mode.

 

[John Doe]

Presumably the usual problem with cloning an XP system partition
and allowing the clone and original to be visible to XP on the
first boot after the clone has been made.

Tried that, didn't last. Here, apparently the problem has to do
with deleting the contents of BOOT.INI.

Using FAT32, after deleting the contents of BOOT.INI, the system
didn't hang when switching from the original to the copy of
Windows XP (just an observation, not promoting FAT32), but
registry information started to leak again.

I delete the contents of BOOT.INI so the Windows XP startup menu
doesn't show.

Anybody know how to get Windows XP to automatically follow the
boot manager choice?

 

[John Doe]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.m
spx


Nope, just recognising the basics, that Win9x and ME cant see
the contents of NTFS formatted partitons and so if you setting
up a dual boot system, thats an important consideration.

I thought your reply had something to do with my problem, which
doesn't have anything to do with Win9x and ME.

 

[Rod Speed]

I thought your reply had something to do with my problem,
which doesn't have anything to do with Win9x and ME.

Nope, I was commenting on why that
article you cited mentions FAT32 format.

 

[Rod Speed]

I wrote:

Switching back to FAT32 appears to solve the PartitionMagic
"cannot lock drive" problem when operating in pre-Windows XP mode.

What exactly is 'pre-Windows XP mode' ?

And this is the first mention of any "cannot lock drive"
problem in this thread, you previously only mentioned a
problem with changes to one copy of XP affecting the other.

 

[Rod Speed]

Tried that, didn't last. Here, apparently the problem
has to do with deleting the contents of BOOT.INI.

Thats the problem I was talking about, allowing XP to see
both copys of XP on the first boot of the clone after the
clone has been made sees XP stuff up the contents of
BOOT.INI and you can fix that by manually editing BOOT.INI

Using FAT32, after deleting the contents of BOOT.INI, the
system didn't hang when switching from the original to the
copy of Windows XP (just an observation, not promoting
FAT32), but registry information started to leak again.

Yes, more than just BOOT.INI is affected by
allowing XP to see both copys of XP on the first
boot of the clone after the clone has been made.

I delete the contents of BOOT.INI so the
Windows XP startup menu doesn't show.

Anybody know how to get Windows XP to
automatically follow the boot manager choice?

Just edit boot.ini so you get the same detail in there
as you have in the boot manager choice. The format
is a tad cryptic, but its not as bad as it looks.

Thats not going to help with the alleged 'registry info leak' tho,
the fix for that is to clone the copy of XP again and then ensure
that XP cant see both copys during the first boot of the clone
of XP. Best by hiding the original XP partition with a boot
manager if they are both on one drive. Best by unplugging
the original drive if they are on different drives.

Still nothing to do with the format of the drive, FAT32 or NTFS.