Dual Boot / Partition Magic type freeware?

J

Joe The Know?

Hello all, well those who are reading this.

I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition Magic.
I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on the one hard drive
and was wondering if there was something not requiring a degree in rocket
science to utilize.

Thanking you in advance.

JOE
 
R

REM

"Joe The Know?" <[email protected]> wrote:
Click to expand...
Hello all, well those who are reading this.
Click to expand...
I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition Magic.
I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on the one hard drive
and was wondering if there was something not requiring a degree in rocket
science to utilize.
Click to expand...

Ranish Partition manager can partition your drive into multiple
primary partitions. XOSL is a nice boot manager that will allow you to
boot from various partitions, as well as to hide partitions from each
other.

It took some playing around for me to get everything as I wanted and
to learn exactly what I was doing with Ranish. It is no problem,
simply run it again, delete partitions, and create new ones until you
have it right.

The ability to create multiple primary partitions is powerful. You can
create two 3 gig partitions for 98 and a two larger ones for XP.
Create the same sized partitions for XP in order to clone or create an
image.

Once you get your first 98 partition all setup, use xxcopy to copy a
bootable copy to the second 98 partition, then hide these from each
other. Once XP is installed and setup use DrvImagerXP to copy an
image, or clone to the other XP partition.

In XOSL setup the first 98 partition, Work, the second as Backup. If
your Work partition becomes infected, or the registry bloated, boot to
the backup, format Work, and xxcopy the backup partition back to c:.

A bootable XP CD will allow you format your XP partition and reinstall
the image saved.

It's not rocket science, but it will require some time to learn the
various utilities and to create the XP bootable CD. The result is, you
might never install these again. Well, if the drive fails you're back
to square one, but you have a plan and the experience.

xxcopy: cloning 9x:

http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy10.htm

Ranish Partition Manager & XOSL Boot Manager: v2.40 or v2.43

http://www.ranish.com/

DrvImagerXP:

http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/13/2/13-2-39.shtml

XP bootable CD:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ (Bart's: necessary)

http://www.windowsubcd.com/ (additions to Bart's, very good!)

Note: The Win boot CD boots up into a slim graphical XP, not a text
mode! You can read or write to NTFS volumes with this CD.
 
A

Adam Leinss

Hello all, well those who are reading this.

I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition
Magic. I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on
the one hard drive and was wondering if there was something not
requiring a degree in rocket science to utilize.
Click to expand...

A couple of months ago, the magazine PC Utilites had Paragon Partition
Manager 5.6 full version on their cover disc.

Adam
 
C

Conor

Joe The said:
Hello all, well those who are reading this.

I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition Magic.
I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on the one hard drive
and was wondering if there was something not requiring a degree in rocket
science to utilize.
Click to expand...
Use Bootit.

If you want a dual boot machine, you can do this without needing any
boot manager software.

1) Create two partitions and format one of them for Win98.
2) Install Win98
3) Install XP and stick it on the second partition.

XP install will put a bootmenu in.
 
B

BarryTone

REM said:
http://www.windowsubcd.com/ (additions to Bart's, very good!)

Note: The Win boot CD boots up into a slim graphical XP, not a text
mode! You can read or write to NTFS volumes with this CD.
Click to expand...

Lots of good info in your post REM. You could probably teach a class on
the subject! ;)

You've convinced me to download the bits from windowsubcd.com and see
what's, what. Thanks!

BT
 
J

Joe The Know?

Thanks heaps guys for your responses, much appreciated.
Now time to take the plunge!
 
J

jmatt

More info that may help .

Multibooting with Windows XP
http://www.aiscl.co.uk/dual_boot_system.htm
http://www.ultratech-llc.com/KB/?File=BootMgr.TXT
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gettingstarted/multiboot.asp
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/dualboot.html
http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/default.htm
http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/Install/dualboot.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306559
http://www.vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/dualboot.htm

==================================

Selecting Operating System dual booting XP
To specify the default operating system for startup.
Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
Under System startup, in the Default operating system list, click the
operating system you want
to start when you turn on or restart your computer.
Select the Display list of operating systems for check box, and then
type the number of seconds
you want the list displayed before the default operating system starts
automatically.

=============================

Slipstreaming Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Create Bootable CD
http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp
http://www.neowin.net/articles.php?action=more&id=94
http://www.petri.co.il/windows_2000_xp_sp_slipstreaming.htm
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1626

* Posted via http://www.sixfiles.com/forum
 
M

Mark Carter

Joe said:
Hello all, well those who are reading this.

I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition Magic.
I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on the one hard drive
Click to expand...

I'm a bit OT here, but GAG is looks reasonable for multiple OSs.

GAG, THE GRAPHICAL BOOT MANAGER
http://gag.sourceforge.net/

Very simple to use. You can create a floppy for it, and add partitions
for it on the fly. You can save it back to the floppy, so that you can
remember the partitions. Alternatively, you can save it to the MBR of
your hard drive. I haven't tested to see if it mangles up anything using
the second method.

The catch is that each partition containing an OS that you want to boot
must have it's own boot record.

<rant>
I might be underknowledged here, but my experiences make me want to
avoid GRUB like a bad case of the pox. I tried to install Debian
(pre-rc2) the other day, and whenever I installed GRUB to the MBR, it
mucked up the NTLDR of my XP partition. I had the same experience when I
tried installing Suse 9.1 - which also installed GRUB to the MBR. I
don't know how many other people have experienced this problem, but I
doubt I can be the only one.

It's almost as if GRUB is mounting a dirty tactics counter-offensive
against Microsoft. Aha, non-free operating system, see how I mangle your
partition with a but twist of my blade.

Never had that problem with LILO.
</rant>
 
R

Roger Hunt

Hello all, well those who are reading this.

I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition Magic.
I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on the one hard drive
Click to expand...

I'm a bit OT here, but GAG is looks reasonable for multiple OSs.

GAG, THE GRAPHICAL BOOT MANAGER
http://gag.sourceforge.net/

Very simple to use. (snip ... but ..)
The catch is that each partition containing an OS that you want to boot
must have it's own boot record.

<rant>
I might be underknowledged here, but my experiences make me want to
avoid GRUB like a bad case of the pox. (snip rest of rant)
</rant>[/QUOTE]

A recent copy of Linux Format mag, here in the UK, came with Smart Boot
Manager which I rather like. Can be run from floppy or installed.
The various readmes did not contain a download URL, but it's freeware
and will be out there somewhere.
All I can provide is the author's details :
"My address is: (e-mail address removed) <mailto:[email protected]>
Alternative : (e-mail address removed) <mailto:[email protected]>"
 
M

Mark Carter

Roger said:
A recent copy of Linux Format mag, here in the UK, came with Smart Boot
Manager which I rather like. Can be run from floppy or installed.
The various readmes did not contain a download URL, but it's freeware
and will be out there somewhere.
All I can provide is the author's details :
"My address is: (e-mail address removed) <mailto:[email protected]>
Alternative : (e-mail address removed) <mailto:[email protected]>"
Click to expand...

Could be:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/
The authors addresses look similar, so I'm thinking that I've got it right.

The page lists the latest version as being 3.7-1, out 26 Feb 2001. This
might put a lot of people off. The activity percentage is 79%, which
seems inconsistent with its latest release date. I quick shufty at the
CVS repository did not reveal any file that was younger than 3 years
old. So the little bug logo by the activity percentage is well-deserved.

Earlier versions are available at:
http://btmgr.webframe.org/index.php3?body=changelog.html
 
R

Roger Hunt

A recent copy of Linux Format mag, here in the UK, came with Smart Boot
Manager which I rather like. Can be run from floppy or installed.
The various readmes did not contain a download URL, but it's freeware
and will be out there somewhere.
All I can provide is the author's details :
"My address is: (e-mail address removed) <mailto:[email protected]>
Alternative : (e-mail address removed) <mailto:[email protected]>"
Click to expand...

Could be:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/
The authors addresses look similar, so I'm thinking that I've got it right.

The page lists the latest version as being 3.7-1, out 26 Feb 2001. This
might put a lot of people off. The activity percentage is 79%, which
seems inconsistent with its latest release date. I quick shufty at the
CVS repository did not reveal any file that was younger than 3 years
old. So the little bug logo by the activity percentage is well-deserved.

Earlier versions are available at:
http://btmgr.webframe.org/index.php3?body=changelog.html[/QUOTE]

Thank you folks, that's the one.
It's also good for booting from a CDROM which otherwise won't co-operate
with BIOS settings.
I think this should be on the next PW CD.

Regards
 
B

Bjorn Simonsen

Thank you folks, that's the one.
It's also good for booting from a CDROM which otherwise won't co-operate
with BIOS settings.
I think this should be on the next PW CD.
Click to expand...

But only if someone (you?) nominate it, and it gets
voted Pricelessware in the final vote this year.
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2005/2005PL-Procedures.php>

The only bootmanager on the current list is XOSL (except for the one
included with Ranish)
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2004/PL2004SYSTEMUTILITIES.php#BootManager>

I have nominated GAG this year (not seconded by anyone yet), see
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2005/2005PL-Nominations.php>, and
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2005/PL2005SYSTEMUTILITIES.php#1748>
And in so doing I have committed a cardinal sin I guess, by nominating
a freeware app I have never actually used my self,
only read about it ;).

All the best,
Bjorn Simonsen
 
R

Roger Hunt

Bjorn Simonsen said:
But only if someone (you?) nominate it, and it gets
voted Pricelessware in the final vote this year.
<http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2005/2005PL-Procedures.php>
Click to expand...
(snip)

I see there is not much time to give this prog a good workout, and
since I have not been following any nomination threads at all, and also
because this is a bit of a niche utility I don't think I am yet
justified in putting a suggestion forward.

Thanks for the link though, good reading.

Regards
 
G

Gnome de Plume

Joe said:
Hello all, well those who are reading this.

I'm searching for a reliable partioning prog simiilar to Partition Magic.
I'm hoping to have a dual boot machine with 98 and Xp on the one hard drive
and was wondering if there was something not requiring a degree in rocket
science to utilize.

Thanking you in advance.

JOE
Click to expand...

do you need to resize an existing partition? if so, the shareware
BootItNG can resize FAT32 and NTFS. it also has a simple boot manager.

you can also resize FAT32 with fips and NTFS with ntfsresize. however
these are not graphical like BootItNG.

i use BootItNG and fdisk with no problems.

michael
 
J

jo

Bjorn said:
And in so doing I have committed a cardinal sin I guess, by nominating
a freeware app I have never actually used my self,
only read about it ;).
Click to expand...

Isn't that a bit silly?
 
R

Richard Steven Hack

I tried to install Debian
(pre-rc2) the other day, and whenever I installed GRUB to the MBR, it
mucked up the NTLDR of my XP partition. I had the same experience when I
tried installing Suse 9.1 - which also installed GRUB to the MBR. I
don't know how many other people have experienced this problem, but I
doubt I can be the only one.
Click to expand...

It's not GRUB's fault AFAIK- it's the partition manager used in the
installers mixed with a change in the way the 2.6 kernel reports disk
geometry. That is, assuming your problem is the same one that has hit
quite a few people dual booting new Linux systems with the 2.6 kernel.

As it happens, the result is that Windows can't boot. HOWEVER, there
is NO data loss involved! It is merely that the partition table needs
a couple of bytes of data modified so Windows is happy with it.

Go here http://www.fedorafaq.org/#nodualboot for a description of the
problem and the easier solution plus a link to a longer solution.
 
J

Joe The Know?

Gnome de Plume said:
do you need to resize an existing partition? if so, the shareware
BootItNG can resize FAT32 and NTFS. it also has a simple boot manager.

you can also resize FAT32 with fips and NTFS with ntfsresize. however
these are not graphical like BootItNG.

i use BootItNG and fdisk with no problems.

michael
Click to expand...

I probably should have stated in my original post that I was partitioning a
new 80 GB hardrive. I was thinking of perhaps (happy to listen to
suggestions) of creating say :
1x5GB FAT32 for win98 (os, games, and apps)
1x15GB FAT32 (data storage)
2x10GB FAT32 (for audio/video editing and scratch disk)
(I'm reluctant to go larger than 15GB due to defrag condsiderations)
Similar setup for my NTFS partions.

Speaking of data loss, when you say one can resize Fat32 and NTFS partitions
with BooitNG, does this mean *without* data loss? Forgive me if this a
ludicrous question.

JOE

Thanks
 
R

Roger Hunt

Joe The said:
I probably should have stated in my original post that I was partitioning a
new 80 GB hardrive. I was thinking of perhaps (happy to listen to
suggestions) of creating say :
1x5GB FAT32 for win98 (os, games, and apps)
1x15GB FAT32 (data storage)
2x10GB FAT32 (for audio/video editing and scratch disk)
(I'm reluctant to go larger than 15GB due to defrag condsiderations)
Similar setup for my NTFS partions.
Click to expand...
(snip)

I've had some long thoughts about defrag and larger FAT32 partitions and
I think it's right to say that it's not the size of the partition that's
important, but the size of individual files on that partition that need
to be organised.

For instance, I had a 2GB disc image on a FAT32 data partition here that
was always a cause of slowdown while that partition was being defragged,
and I was getting fed up with the occasional delay.
The problem was cured by splitting this image into a hundred or so .rar
(.r01 .r02 etc) files, each of which only takes moments to defrag, even
if it's now necessary at all. Sure one might have very large audio or
image files but they can live together somewhere else where they won't
get in the way of things.
 
L

Libor Striz

Joe The Know? said:
Speaking of data loss, when you say one can resize Fat32 and NTFS partitions
with BooitNG, does this mean *without* data loss? Forgive me if this a
ludicrous question.
Click to expand...
I do not know BootItNG,
neither I am going to say my favorite utilities are better. :)
Just for your info....

I like those free DOS based utilities:

Partition Resizer ( http://zeleps.com/ )

for nondestructive FATXX partition resizing and/or moving.
But it does not change cluster sizes.

And Ranish partition manager for partition managibg (up to 32 primary
ones) and boot managing )
It can do "quick and dirty" FATXX resizing (not moving).
It is done by overwriting partition size info in its boot sector.
There is expected defraged partition before shrinking,
or having free disk next to it for enlarging.
But it keeps FAT tables intact, so there are some limitation about
usable new size values.
E.g.: having cluster size 4k, it cannot be bigger to 8GB.

http://www.ranish.com/part/

--
"Libor the Wanderer" <[email protected]>

Any supposed offense is because of bad english or idea formulation
and was not intended in any way.

ForPrivateResponseRemoveDelAndThisFromAboveAddress.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Norton Partition Magic for dual boot? 5
Remove Dual Boot - Partition and Boot Magic 16
Dual Boot - Adding XP & Partition 1
I cant dual boot after hard drive change 8
Dual Boot + Partition Magic = Nightmare? 5
How to remove OS choices from ex-dual boot system? 18
Boot Magic 2
Dual Boot - Vista with XP 5

Top