Multiple Operating Systems

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I have a new Dell XPS with 2-250 GB hard drives. I have partitioned each hard drive, using Partition Magic, into three volumes (correct term?). The first hard drive has C:, D:, E: volumes. Win XP is installed on C: and is using NTFS formatting. The other two volumes (D: and E:) on hard drive one are not bootable and are NTFS formatted. The second hard drive also has three volumes.....F:, G:, and H:..........with F: being bootable and formatted FAT 32. The other volumes (G: and H:) are NTFS formatted and are not bootable. I would like to install Win 98 2nd edition on volume F:, which is FAT 32 formatted, and then use Partition Magic's "Boot Magic" product to select the operating system to boot to. I have read a lot of the Microsoft literature on installing the operating systems in the proper order....they advise Win 98 first and then Win XP. Too bad for me because XP is already installed on C:. It seems that an easy solution might be to open the computer and disconnect hard drive one, which has XP installed on C:. Then reboot using my Win 98 Startup floppy and then installing Win 98 on my second hard drive as I normally would install Win 98 on a hard drive. It should install on the bootable volume on the second hard drive. After installing Windows 98 in this fashion, I could install "Boot Magic" and then shutdown. Then I would open the computer and reconnect the first hard drive. Then, when I power up with both hard drives connected, Boot Magic should detect both operating systems and lead me to a selection of which operating system to boot to. Anyone know if this approach would work and save me the time of uninstalling XP and then installing Win 98 first and then installing Win XP?
 
This isn't going to work. If you want Windows 98 to be involved in a dual
boot system, the boot partition (C) must be formatted as FAT16 or FAT32 (not
NTFS)

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Eddie K said:
I have a new Dell XPS with 2-250 GB hard drives. I have partitioned each
Click to expand...
hard drive, using Partition Magic, into three volumes (correct term?). The
first hard drive has C:, D:, E: volumes. Win XP is installed on C: and is
using NTFS formatting. The other two volumes (D: and E:) on hard drive one
are not bootable and are NTFS formatted. The second hard drive also has
three volumes.....F:, G:, and H:..........with F: being bootable and
formatted FAT 32. The other volumes (G: and H:) are NTFS formatted and are
not bootable. I would like to install Win 98 2nd edition on volume F:, which
is FAT 32 formatted, and then use Partition Magic's "Boot Magic" product to
select the operating system to boot to. I have read a lot of the Microsoft
literature on installing the operating systems in the proper order....they
advise Win 98 first and then Win XP. Too bad for me because XP is already
installed on C:. It seems that an easy solution might be to open the
computer and disconnect hard drive one, which has XP installed on C:. Then
reboot using my Win 98 Startup floppy and then installing Win 98 on my
second hard drive as I normally would install Win 98 on a hard drive. It
should install on the bootable volume on the second hard drive. After
installing Windows 98 in this fashion, I could install "Boot Magic" and then
shutdown. Then I would open the computer and reconnect the first hard drive.
Then, when I power up with both hard drives connected, Boot Magic should
detect both operating systems and lead me to a selection of which operating
system to boot to. Anyone know if this approach would work and save me the
time of uninstalling XP and then installing Win 98 first and then installing
Win XP?
 
Del

Thanks for the feedback. There is probably something wrong with my logic but I thought that when I removed the hard drive with XP installed on C:, the remaining hard drive Volume F: would become Volume C:. It is FAT 32 formatted and bootable and I thought that I could install Win 98 on this Volume (the old F: and the new C:). Then, when I reconnect the original hard drive #1, with XP installed, the old Volume C: would become the new Volume F:. You are saying that the computer (BIOS ??) will not accept this and I must install Win 98 on a bootable partition first and then with Win 98 already installed, I must go through an install for Win XP.

Thanks again for your feedback.........Ed
 
Even if you partition each HD to three..that's still 83 GB for each..Fat32
weakness is at 16 GB.
 
I really appreciate the response to my situation. Thanks. I may not have been clear as to what I was trying to do. I bought the new Dell XPS with 2-250 hard drives....in RAID configuration. I wasn't really interested in RAID but the pricing that came from the Anentech site (a deal was struck between Anentech and Dell for a special price for the system that Anentech tested) was too good to pass up. The first thing I did was reconfigure to 2-250 GB hard drives sans RAID....with Dell's help. So, I had 2-250 hard drives with XP installed on one of them, and both hard drives NTFS formatted. I then purchased Partition Magic, with the idea to repartition the hard drives into smaller volumes. I also wanted to install Windows 98 on one of the hard drives so that I could utilize a ton of apps that I have that will run on Win 98 but not on Win XP. At the time, I did not realize that Win XP was married to NTFS formatting and Win 98 would only work with FAT formatting. So, I did some reading at the Microsoft site and learned about installing Operating Systems in a specific order........older Windows versions before newer ones. In my case, Win 98 should be installed first and then Win XP. However, it seemed to me that because I had two hard drives, I could circumvent this requirement.....in a way. So, my idea was that I could format the bootable volume on hard drive #2 (nothing resides on this volume at present) in FAT 32 and then install Win 98 on this hard drive. In order to comply with the Microsoft advice to install the Operating Systems in a specific order, I further thought that I could physically disconnect hard drive #1 ( 3 volumes, one bootable volume with XP/NTFS, and two volumes formatted NTFS and not bootable) to get it completely out of the picture. Then I would install Win 98 on the bootable partition on hard drive #2 which I formatted to FAT 32 so that it would work with Win 98. I thought that at this point, only one hard drive would be recognized by my computer and that it would have Win 98 as an Operating System......it seems that this would meet the Microsoft requirement for installing Win 98 first. Then I could shut down and reconnect hard drive #2. I thought the computer would recognize the bootable volume (Win XP/NTFS) as a second Operating System and that Partition Magic's Boot Magic program would support the two Operating Systems in this way. That's a mouthful! The question is....." does it make any sense and could this work?"

Thanks in advance.
 
GOD!!! that's a mouthful is a fact...really I do not know the answer..not
even a suggestion..but I do hope you fine the answer soon..seems your almost
there..just need the ok. From what you just wrote..seems your into it..just
being sure..is a great way of life!

Eddie K said:
I really appreciate the response to my situation. Thanks. I may not have
Click to expand...
been clear as to what I was trying to do. I bought the new Dell XPS with
2-250 hard drives....in RAID configuration. I wasn't really interested in
RAID but the pricing that came from the Anentech site (a deal was struck
between Anentech and Dell for a special price for the system that Anentech
tested) was too good to pass up. The first thing I did was reconfigure to
2-250 GB hard drives sans RAID....with Dell's help. So, I had 2-250 hard
drives with XP installed on one of them, and both hard drives NTFS
formatted. I then purchased Partition Magic, with the idea to repartition
the hard drives into smaller volumes. I also wanted to install Windows 98 on
one of the hard drives so that I could utilize a ton of apps that I have
that will run on Win 98 but not on Win XP. At the time, I did not realize
that Win XP was married to NTFS formatting and Win 98 would only work with
FAT formatting. So, I did some reading at the Microsoft site and learned
about installing Operating Systems in a specific order........older Windows
versions before newer ones. In my case, Win 98 should be installed first and
then Win XP. However, it seemed to me that because I had two hard drives, I
could circumvent this requirement.....in a way. So, my idea was that I could
format the bootable volume on hard drive #2 (nothing resides on this volume
at present) in FAT 32 and then install Win 98 on this hard drive. In order
to comply with the Microsoft advice to install the Operating Systems in a
specific order, I further thought that I could physically disconnect hard
drive #1 ( 3 volumes, one bootable volume with XP/NTFS, and two volumes
formatted NTFS and not bootable) to get it completely out of the picture.
Then I would install Win 98 on the bootable partition on hard drive #2 which
I formatted to FAT 32 so that it would work with Win 98. I thought that at
this point, only one hard drive would be recognized by my computer and that
it would have Win 98 as an Operating System......it seems that this would
meet the Microsoft requirement for installing Win 98 first. Then I could
shut down and reconnect hard drive #2. I thought the computer would
recognize the bootable volume (Win XP/NTFS) as a second Operating System and
that Partition Magic's Boot Magic program would support the two Operating
Systems in this way. That's a mouthful! The question is....." does it make
any sense and could this work?"
 
This is the final chapter re this subject. I did decide to try to load Win 98 2nd Edition on the second hard drive. I first, physically disconnected the hard drive with Win XP installed. I then tried to install Win 98 on the bootable, FAT 32 partition, on the remaining hard drive. The process worked but Win 98 did not want to install properly. I ignored many cryptic messages along the way and finally got Win 98 installed....in a fashion. However, the two CD-RW/DVD+RW drives were not recognized and many drivers were missing......as indicated by Device Manager. I tried installing the Dell chipset driver but it didn't do anything to help.....I suspect it doesn't work with Win 98. I was able to reconnect the primary hard drive (with XP installed) and boot to either OS.....so, like I suspected, the process did work and Win XP was not corrupted in any way by the Win 98 installation. Bottom line......I am giving up on installing Win 98 on this machine. There "may" be drivers out there somewhere that would support Win 98 on this machine but it would probably take forever to find them. I reformatted the volume that had Win 98 installed and I'm back to where I started. End of story. Have a great day......I will too.
 
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