Booting to a cloned OS

[Terry Pinnell]

I replied earlier today to a post in which

As long as the clone cannot see its "parent" partition when it is
booted up for the 1st time, it can be booted up in subsequent times
with the "parent" partition visible to it, and the clone will view the
"parent" as just another Local Disk (Disk Management's term for
"partition"), that is, as just another file structure, and files can be
dragged 'n dropped between the two partitions as if they were on
the same hard drive. The requirement that the clone be booted up
*for the 1st time* without its "parent" visible to it, though, is critical.

*TimDaniels*

But I've just realised the original thread was 4 months old. So I'm
now reposting below:

---------

How do you ensure 100% that that can't happen please?

I don't like hijacking Browny's thread, but he seems to have his
solution, so I hope I'll be excused. It's is an area that still
confuses the heck out of me! I have two current threads on the subject
in microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain and
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:
Subject: Application 'settings' - where recorded?
Subject: Why this configuration not working?
but perhaps I can also summarise it briefly here, as I need all the
input I can get!

I originally had no problems at all with my simple dual boot system.
That was a 2 disk PC I set up about 3 years ago, after adding a 2nd
HD, with:
Disk 0: C (Original XP Home OS), and D (Data)
Disk 1: E (Copy of OS), and F (Backup

I never had to use the copy on E much, and of course it became
progressively outdated as I wasn't rigorous about re-copying it (it's
about 12GB so takes ages.)

But recently Disk 0 (a 4 year-old Maxtor 60GB) developed bad blocks.
So I'm now trying to replace both of those 60GB disks with 200GB. So
far I've failed. From help in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage, it's
pretty clear that this time I've somehow transgressed - broken the
rules about copying - despite thinking I was merely following the same
procedure as those 3 years ago. Basically I just use PowerQuest Drive
Image > Copy Drive. But I'm pretty sure that boots up *automatically*
when it's finished its stuff in 'Caldera DOS'? So doesn't that risk
breaking 'The Rule'?

I'd have to ramble on even longer to give a full description of where
I am, but this screenshot from Disk Mgmt summarises it hopefully
clearly:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/CurrentStatus2.gif
Note that (although it wasn't obvious to me), E does NOT yet contain a
copy of my OS. I thought I'd copied it with DI, as I did H, but looks
like I just made a partition, as Explorer just shows it containing
Favorites
RECYCLER
System Volume Information
- total size 292 bytes.

Bottom line: I want to get back to the relative simplicity of:
Disk 0: C (OS, based on what is presently in H), D (Data)
Disk 1: E (Copy of that OS, or any recent one), F (Backup)

Any help I can get on achieving this safely would be much appreciated
please. Today I was simply going to try copying H to E, powering down,
removing C, and rebooting. But I'm nervous about it now, particularly
after getting messages on my last attempt like this:
"A problem is preventing Windows accurately checking the licence for
this computer. Error code 0x80090006"

 

[Steve N.]

I replied earlier today to a post in which




But I've just realised the original thread was 4 months old. So I'm
now reposting below:

---------

How do you ensure 100% that that can't happen please?

I don't like hijacking Browny's thread, but he seems to have his
solution, so I hope I'll be excused. It's is an area that still
confuses the heck out of me! I have two current threads on the subject
in microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain and
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage:
Subject: Application 'settings' - where recorded?
Subject: Why this configuration not working?
but perhaps I can also summarise it briefly here, as I need all the
input I can get!

I originally had no problems at all with my simple dual boot system.
That was a 2 disk PC I set up about 3 years ago, after adding a 2nd
HD, with:
Disk 0: C (Original XP Home OS), and D (Data)
Disk 1: E (Copy of OS), and F (Backup

I never had to use the copy on E much, and of course it became
progressively outdated as I wasn't rigorous about re-copying it (it's
about 12GB so takes ages.)

But recently Disk 0 (a 4 year-old Maxtor 60GB) developed bad blocks.
So I'm now trying to replace both of those 60GB disks with 200GB. So
far I've failed. From help in comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage, it's
pretty clear that this time I've somehow transgressed - broken the
rules about copying - despite thinking I was merely following the same
procedure as those 3 years ago. Basically I just use PowerQuest Drive
Image > Copy Drive. But I'm pretty sure that boots up *automatically*
when it's finished its stuff in 'Caldera DOS'? So doesn't that risk
breaking 'The Rule'?

I'd have to ramble on even longer to give a full description of where
I am, but this screenshot from Disk Mgmt summarises it hopefully
clearly:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/CurrentStatus2.gif
Note that (although it wasn't obvious to me), E does NOT yet contain a
copy of my OS. I thought I'd copied it with DI, as I did H, but looks
like I just made a partition, as Explorer just shows it containing
Favorites
RECYCLER
System Volume Information
- total size 292 bytes.

Bottom line: I want to get back to the relative simplicity of:
Disk 0: C (OS, based on what is presently in H), D (Data)
Disk 1: E (Copy of that OS, or any recent one), F (Backup)

Any help I can get on achieving this safely would be much appreciated
please. Today I was simply going to try copying H to E, powering down,
removing C, and rebooting. But I'm nervous about it now, particularly
after getting messages on my last attempt like this:
"A problem is preventing Windows accurately checking the licence for
this computer. Error code 0x80090006"

From what I've read you may be able to correct this condition using
BootItNG:

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

You can download a fully funtional 30-day trial. I've used it for other
things and it is very, very good. Read the docs.

Steve