How to remove 98 from dual-boot with XP (on separate drives!!!)

[Guest]

I'm at a loss. I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find the answer.

I have 98 on my master drive (40G WDC) and XP on my slave drive (20G IBM).
Since the master drive is newer and larger, I want to keep the drives
configured as they are. I want 98 removed and XP moved to that drive.

How can I remove 98 and get XP to the master without losing my settings. I
assume it will require a clean install of XP first, but then what? Should I
do an ASR backup/recovery or a File and Settings Transfer or something else?
Will either of these methods provide a usable MBR?

Would an imaging work? Regardless, I am hoping not to purchase any software
for this move.

Thanks for any guidance here.

And I am an IT student so you can be "technical" with your answers.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'm at a loss. I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find the answer.

I have 98 on my master drive (40G WDC) and XP on my slave drive (20G IBM).
Since the master drive is newer and larger, I want to keep the drives
configured as they are. I want 98 removed and XP moved to that drive.

How can I remove 98 and get XP to the master without losing my settings. I
assume it will require a clean install of XP first, but then what? Should I
do an ASR backup/recovery or a File and Settings Transfer or something else?
Will either of these methods provide a usable MBR?

Would an imaging work? Regardless, I am hoping not to purchase any software
for this move.

Thanks for any guidance here.

And I am an IT student so you can be "technical" with your answers.

It depends.

If you're happy to re-install WinXP, just swap your disks and
go ahead, preferably formatting the system partition on the larger
disk while you go.

If you wish to preserve your current WinXP installation then
you must also preserve its current drive letter. This is the
result of you using the basic Windows boot manager instead
of a proper third party boot manager. The method of
preserving the drive letter depends on your facilities. It's
easiest if the machine is networked. Other methods require
you to temporarily slaving the disk to some other WinXP/2000
PC, or booting the machine with a Bart PE boot CD.

 

[Ted]

1) Kiss your Win 98 settings goodbye, you will be disappointed
if you upgrade Win98 to XP.
2) To keep XP settings, the easy way is purchase Casper XP.
make XP the master,
format the Win98 drive, be sure to get your important data
out of it.
Use Casper XP to copy over Win xp to the newer drive.
Disconnect old drive and boot from the preferred drive.
Casper XP is good to have, you can always make a mirror
to your drive in case it goes out.

 

[Ted]

If you don't want to buy XP
3) Buy a new hard drive, SATA or IDE 80 GB is about $55
Install new XP in the new hard drive, don't activate it yet.
Put back the old XP and Win98 drives, and boot from Win98.
Copy over old XP over new XP, be sure to exclude the Recycle
bin when copying.
Boot from the new hard drive, you need to activate it.

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

I'm at a loss. I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find
the answer.

I have 98 on my master drive (40G WDC) and XP on my slave drive (20G
IBM). Since the master drive is newer and larger, I want to keep the
drives configured as they are. I want 98 removed and XP moved to that
drive.

How can I remove 98 and get XP to the master without losing my
settings. I assume it will require a clean install of XP first, but
then what? Should I
do an ASR backup/recovery or a File and Settings Transfer or
something else? Will either of these methods provide a usable MBR?

Would an imaging work? Regardless, I am hoping not to purchase any
software for this move.

Thanks for any guidance here.

And I am an IT student so you can be "technical" with your answers.

Remove a dual boot.
#19 on the FAQ list
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks Michael. I definitely see the ease of your two methods, but they don't
seem to move my current XP setup to the C: drive. It appears that they only
clear C: of 98 while keeping it bootable. Am I correct?

If so, based on all the suggestions I have seen on this and other sites, it
truly appears that there is no way to move my XP intallation, settings and
all, from D: to C: short of editing the registry (and I ain't that good yet).

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

Thanks Michael. I definitely see the ease of your two methods, but
they don't seem to move my current XP setup to the C: drive. It
appears that they only clear C: of 98 while keeping it bootable. Am I
correct?

If so, based on all the suggestions I have seen on this and other
sites, it truly appears that there is no way to move my XP
intallation, settings and all, from D: to C: short of editing the
registry (and I ain't that good yet).

Your grasp of the situation is good, and yes it is nearly impossible to edit
the registry to fix all the drive references. You can reconfigure your
drives with third party partitioning applications that will allow you to
remove the hard drive with the C drive. But you will still have Windows on D
referenced in the registry.

--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

In

Your grasp of the situation is good, and yes it is nearly impossible to edit
the registry to fix all the drive references. You can reconfigure your
drives with third party partitioning applications that will allow you to
remove the hard drive with the C drive. But you will still have Windows on D
referenced in the registry.

The OP can leave his WinXP installation where it is, provided that
a) It is a primary partition, and
b) He puts the usual WinXP boot files onto this partition, and
c) He ensures that the partition is active, and
d) He creates the required MBR and boot sector, and
e) He changes one single drive letter reference in the registry.

This will result the WinXP system drive being visible as drive D:
even though it is the first (and possibly only) partition on the disk.
We are used to the first partition being drive C: but it could just
as easily be drive D: or drive E:.

The above can be achieved without any third-party tools.
Unfortunately it may require more experience than the OP has,
and more hardware facilities (i.e. another WinXP PC).

 

[Michael Stevens]

In

The OP can leave his WinXP installation where it is, provided that
a) It is a primary partition, and
b) He puts the usual WinXP boot files onto this partition, and
c) He ensures that the partition is active, and
d) He creates the required MBR and boot sector, and
e) He changes one single drive letter reference in the registry.

This will result the WinXP system drive being visible as drive D:
even though it is the first (and possibly only) partition on the disk.
We are used to the first partition being drive C: but it could just
as easily be drive D: or drive E:.

The above can be achieved without any third-party tools.
Unfortunately it may require more experience than the OP has,
and more hardware facilities (i.e. another WinXP PC).

You are right, and thanks for the follow up. I keep forgetting about XP's
preponderance for retaining drive letters.

--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Ron Sommer]

Have enough free space on the 40G so the partition from the 20G will fit.
Copy the XP boot files to a floppy as suggested on Michael Stevens site.

BootIt Next Generation ( http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/ ) is shareware,
not freeware, but it comes with a 30-day free trial, and you can do what
you want within that time.

Download, to its own folder, extract from the zip, run the bootitng to
make a boot floppy.

Boot the floppy, Cancel Install, entering maintenance, then click on
Partition work.

Resize the partition on the 40G so the remaining free space is the same or
greater than the size of the partition on the 20G. (You could reformat the
drive to remove Win98)

Copy the partition on the 20G.
Switch to the 40G.
Paste.

Remove the Win98 line from boot.ini.

 

[Ted]

You might be also use Bart boot CD to copy XP
over to the 40GB drive.
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/