New partition for dual boot. Primary or logical

[GTT]

I am going to install XP as a dual boot with 98se my present OS.
My hard drive was set up as C: primary and D: logical. I have created
a new partition splitting C: using Partition Magic. I set it up as a
primary partition as my understanding was each OS has to be on a
primary partition. Partition Magic set it up as a hidden partition and
no drive letter is assigned. Reading the help file it indicates to use
caution as un hiding the partion can cause data problems between the 2
primaries.

Can someone tell me if XP can be loaded to a logical partition? Will
it just automatically make the partition it is on a primary?

 

[davexnet02]

I am going to install XP as a dual boot with 98se my present OS.
My hard drive was set up as C: primary and D: logical. I have created
a new partition splitting C: using Partition Magic. I set it up as a
primary partition as my understanding was each OS has to be on a
primary partition. Partition Magic set it up as a hidden partition and
no drive letter is assigned. Reading the help file it indicates to use
caution as un hiding the partion can cause data problems between the 2
primaries.

Can someone tell me if XP can be loaded to a logical partition? Will
it just automatically make the partition it is on a primary?

Do not make the mistake of installing xp to a hidden primary
partition. It should be logical.

I think you'll find that if you delete your new hidden partition
(leaving empty space) and install XP into the empty space,
XP itself will create a logical partiton there.
It works good, and it's generally the scenrio to get the
dual boot menu, so you'll have a choice of 98 and XP.

Dave

 

[davexnet02]

Do not make the mistake of installing xp to a hidden primary
partition. It should be logical.

I think you'll find that if you delete your new hidden partition
(leaving empty space) and install XP into the empty space,
XP itself will create a logical partiton there.
It works good, and it's generally the scenrio to get the
dual boot menu, so you'll have a choice of 98 and XP.

Dave

I just reread your message. You can't create a second logical drive.
Here is what to do using partition magic.
Delete the hidden partition.
Expand the logical partition into this space.
Push the current "d" drive to the end of the logical drive,
create a new logical space at the beginning of the logical drive.
Install xp in there.

Dave

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

You can install the system files on a primary or a logical partition. The
boot files will be installed to the active partition (volume) regardless of
the location of the system files.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Richard Urban]

Load each O/S into a primary partition for complete system isolation. What
happens on one will not affect the other. If you load the 2nd system on a
logical partition, the other O/S will be able to see it and access the
files. A virus that affects say, all .exe files, would kill both O/S's at
the same time.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[davexnet02]

Hi,

You can install the system files on a primary or a logical partition. The
boot files will be installed to the active partition (volume) regardless of
the location of the system files.

There was a very strange side effect when I once installed
win2k into a hidden primary partition.
In normal operation, everything worked fine, dual boot, win2k and 98
working as normal. However, when I need to access win2k thru the
recovery console for some reason, the recovery console could not
"see" the win2k installation at all.

The reason - the partition was hidden. I had to use Partition Magic
to temporarily unhide it, and then recovery console was fine.

In the end I recreated the win2k partition as logical and it's
been OK ever since.

Dave

 

[GTT]

My server didn't pick up your first reply. Heres what I have done.
I went into Partition Magic and used options to change it to logical
from Primary. It assigned letter D: and then I rebooted and using
Drivemapper converted all reference so that they pointed to the
correct drives.

I will probably just let XP create its own boot manager and not bother
with Partition Magics as I read a comment from someone which indicated
XP screwed up the Partition Magic boot file.

 

[davexnet02]

Load each O/S into a primary partition for complete system isolation. What
happens on one will not affect the other. If you load the 2nd system on a
logical partition, the other O/S will be able to see it and access the
files. A virus that affects say, all .exe files, would kill both O/S's at
the same time.

Not necessarily. For this scenario, you would have to assume
that every time a particular system is active in it's primary
partition, the other partition would be hidden.
This is certainly not enforced by XP's boot loader/menu - you'd
have to use a third party menu to switch the hidden bits.
Dave

 

[Richard Urban]

That's right! (-:

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am going to install XP as a dual boot with 98se my present OS.
My hard drive was set up as C: primary and D: logical. I have created
a new partition splitting C: using Partition Magic. I set it up as a
primary partition as my understanding was each OS has to be on a
primary partition. Partition Magic set it up as a hidden partition and
no drive letter is assigned. Reading the help file it indicates to use
caution as un hiding the partion can cause data problems between the 2
primaries.

Can someone tell me if XP can be loaded to a logical partition? Will
it just automatically make the partition it is on a primary?

Initial boot must always be to a primary. While (I think) you could
have the XP dual boot files in with your 98 in a primary and then point
to a logical to find the windows folder, I would *not* recommend it,
because if you ever want to boot it directly you would not be able to

 

[CZ]

I am going to install XP as a dual boot with 98se my present OS.
My hard drive was set up as C: primary and D: logical. I have created
a new partition splitting C: using Partition Magic. I set it up as a
primary partition as my understanding was each OS has to be on a
primary partition. Partition Magic set it up as a hidden partition and
no drive letter is assigned. Reading the help file it indicates to use
caution as un hiding the partion can cause data problems between the 2
primaries.

Can someone tell me if XP can be loaded to a logical partition? Will
it just automatically make the partition it is on a primary?

GTT:

I run nine op systems on two hard disks
The only primary partition is FAT16, all other vols are in the extended
partition on Disk0 or in the extended partition on Disk1. Note that Disk 1
does not have a primary partition.

C: FAT16 (primary partition)
D: data files
Other op systems are at drive letters E:+

Generally, I recommend using MS's NT based boot loader files that are
included with all NT based op systems (including XP, Win2k3 server), and not
using third party s/w unless you have specific need for their features.
My nine op system setup is using the MS NT based system. I have been using
the NT based system for years without any problems.

 

[GTT]

Are you saying the OS are on logical partitions?

My hard drive was set up as C: primary and D: logical. I have created
a new partition splitting C: using Partition Magic. I set it up as a
primary partition as my understanding was each OS has to be on a
primary partition. Partition Magic set it up as a hidden partition and
no drive letter is assigned. Reading the help file it indicates to use
caution as un hiding the partion can cause data problems between the 2
primaries.

Can someone tell me if XP can be loaded to a logical partition? Will
it just automatically make the partition it is on a primary?

GTT:

I run nine op systems on two hard disks
The only primary partition is FAT16, all other vols are in the extended
partition on Disk0 or in the extended partition on Disk1. Note that Disk 1
does not have a primary partition.

C: FAT16 (primary partition)
D: data files
Other op systems are at drive letters E:+

Generally, I recommend using MS's NT based boot loader files that are
included with all NT based op systems (including XP, Win2k3 server), and not
using third party s/w unless you have specific need for their features.
My nine op system setup is using the MS NT based system. I have been using
the NT based system for years without any problems.

 

[davexnet01]

Initial boot must always be to a primary. While (I think) you could
have the XP dual boot files in with your 98 in a primary and then point
to a logical to find the windows folder, I would *not* recommend it,
because if you ever want to boot it directly you would not be able to

Hi Alex - Assuming Windows 98 is in a small primary partition
and the rest is free space, when you install xp, telling it to install
into the unformatted space, XP itself will create it's own partition
as logical.

If you no longer need windows 98, just delete c:\windows (from within
XP of course) and just use c: as extra space for XP. With third party
tools you
could do more; probably delete the primary; enlarge the logical to
fill the
space; convert logical to primary; run the recovery console, etc,etc,
but why bother with that?

Dave