Triple Boot

[Guest]

Hi, yes another multiboot question. I currently have 2 XP install on 2
hardrives with 8 partitions, I want to add Vista so I cleared out a few
partitions on the first drive formatted and went to install Vista from an OEM
disk from Newegg.
All was well, I pointed it to the partition I wanted to use and it slid in,
when at the end of the installation program it rebooted that was all folks!
The computer went past the bootup stuff and all I got was hardrive read error
or something close to that, I tried repair within Vista, and also within XP
repair console..fixboot...,nothing.
I forgot to tell you that after building many computers I am a religous
believer in external hardrive backup, I use Acronis. First I went into Disk
Management and found that C drive had corrupted files, next went to the Image
program and reimaged C, now the computer boots and works normally again. I
would like to install Vista, but someone must have encountered this and maybe
could point out what I am doing wrong.

 

[Don]

Hi, yes another multiboot question. I currently have 2 XP install on 2
hardrives with 8 partitions, I want to add Vista so I cleared out a few
partitions on the first drive formatted and went to install Vista from an OEM
disk from Newegg.
All was well, I pointed it to the partition I wanted to use and it slid in,
when at the end of the installation program it rebooted that was all folks!
The computer went past the bootup stuff and all I got was hardrive read error
or something close to that, I tried repair within Vista, and also within XP
repair console..fixboot...,nothing.
I forgot to tell you that after building many computers I am a religous
believer in external hardrive backup, I use Acronis. First I went into Disk
Management and found that C drive had corrupted files, next went to the Image
program and reimaged C, now the computer boots and works normally again. I
would like to install Vista, but someone must have encountered this and maybe
could point out what I am doing wrong.

 

[John Barnes]

Personally, I would set the partition you are installing Vista on as your
system partition (first HD in boot priority and the active partition).
This should have the added safety measure of being able to just reset your
current system boot priority and active partition if something goes wrong,
and you don't have to be concerned with restoring. Nice that you are wise
enough to have your backup. Acronis works well

 

[Guest]

Thx for the replies, from what I know the last operating system in controls
boot priority, so my disk 1 has right now the boot system { c }, and 2
partitions away the spot I made room for Vista (34 gigs), wouldn't that,
Vista become the boot prioity when installed? I have made it a Primary
Partition, but when I am going through the Vista install and it asks where to
install it shows it as logical. By the way I have 2 harddisks, each a 300 gig
Maxtor 7200rpm, Sata.
So, maybe my question is, how do I set it as system partition when there is
no system on it yet?
Thanks in advance.

 

[John Barnes]

You set Boot Priority in your BIOS. The system drive is the first HD in your
boot priority and is the ACTIVE partition on that drive. If the partition
is not a primary partition, you cannot set it active and therefore you cant
make that your system partition. Vista also has its own version of NTFS and
you should format the partition with Vista. If you are familiar with it,
you can do these functions using the diskpart command in the command
prompt on the Vista install DVD.
The last operating system installs its boot process on the system drive.
You control what is the system drive as per the above. If you want to keep
your current system available just by changing the boot priority in the
BIOS, then make some other partition, any other partition, the system
partition before you install Vista. Then if you have problems, just change
the BIOS and active drive back to how they are now.

 

[Guest]

Ok, herre's another update, before original install, I used Acronis Disk
Management to set the partition I wanted Vista to be on to active, it showed
me good. This time I went to windows Disk Management and it shows the drive
for Vista but as within an extended partition, can I make this active and use
it as a primary?

 

[John Barnes]

No. Extended partitions cannot be set active. Use another primary
partition, which is not your current system partition, to avoid overwriting
your current boot process.

 

[Guest]

I do know how to set disk 1 as the the first sata master in my bios, I'm
there now, but I don't know how to set a particular partition active within
that except back in windows. According to the bios I have 4 Sata masters, the
first one is where vista is , on the 3rd partition, but if i set it primary
within windows, it makes all 3 within that extended partition active. But you
were right John, having set that extended partition active, I reloaded Vista,
now at restart, no disk read error, it just sits at a blinking white line.
Does this go back to the old primary must be within 1066 cylinders of the
start of the HD thing?
I did not have to do a backup this time, went into Acronis from boot disk
and reset Vista partition to logical, alls well, will try again and format
like you said.

 

[Guest]

Ok, thanks for the info, I am right now within Acronis Disk Director moving
all the extended partitions over and making room on my primary active, I'll
make another partition there and set it active and try this again, again
thankyou John.

 

[Guest]

Vista operational, thanks John!
--
Dakkota

I do know how to set disk 1 as the the first sata master in my bios, I'm
there now, but I don't know how to set a particular partition active within
that except back in windows. According to the bios I have 4 Sata masters, the
first one is where vista is , on the 3rd partition, but if i set it primary
within windows, it makes all 3 within that extended partition active. But you
were right John, having set that extended partition active, I reloaded Vista,
now at restart, no disk read error, it just sits at a blinking white line.
Does this go back to the old primary must be within 1066 cylinders of the
start of the HD thing?
I did not have to do a backup this time, went into Acronis from boot disk
and reset Vista partition to logical, alls well, will try again and format
like you said.

 

[John Barnes]

Glad it works. You can add your other systems to the Vista Boot using
EasyBCD or VistaBootPro. Personally I prefer EasyBCD. Add legacy drives as
necessary.