True Dual-Booting

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Guest

I am trying to install Windows XP on two hard drives (on the same computer,
of course,) so in case one of them fails the other disk will boot instead.
However, when I do so, only one of them is bootable. Even if I detach one
hard drive when I install it on the other, and vice versa, as soon as I plug
them both in at the same time, one of them starts relying on the other to
boot, and ceases to be bootable by itself. How do I make each drive stay
independently bootable?
 
darthmarth37 said:
I am trying to install Windows XP on two hard drives (on the same computer,
of course,) so in case one of them fails the other disk will boot instead.
However, when I do so, only one of them is bootable. Even if I detach one
hard drive when I install it on the other, and vice versa, as soon as I plug
them both in at the same time, one of them starts relying on the other to
boot, and ceases to be bootable by itself. How do I make each drive stay
independently bootable?
Click to expand...

I think your basic idea is good but your implementation
is a little wasteful. The usual approach is to create an
image of the working partition which could be used in
case the main installation fails. The image would not
need a dedicated disk or drive - it could be stored
anywhere.

There are several ways to create an image. Acronis
TrueImage, PQMagic DriveImage and Ghost come
to the mind. You can even do it with a Bart PE boot
CD.

Post again if you need further details.
 
Can I do this without using images, though?

Pegasus (MVP) said:
I think your basic idea is good but your implementation
is a little wasteful. The usual approach is to create an
image of the working partition which could be used in
case the main installation fails. The image would not
need a dedicated disk or drive - it could be stored
anywhere.

There are several ways to create an image. Acronis
TrueImage, PQMagic DriveImage and Ghost come
to the mind. You can even do it with a Bart PE boot
CD.

Post again if you need further details.
Click to expand...
 
darthmarth37 said:
I am trying to install Windows XP on two hard drives (on
the same computer, of course,) so in case one of them
fails the other disk will boot instead. However, when I
do so, only one of them is bootable. Even if I detach one
hard drive when I install it on the other, and vice versa,
as soon as I plug them both in at the same time, one of
them starts relying on the other to boot, and ceases to
be bootable by itself. How do I make each drive stay
independently bootable?
Click to expand...

You don't say whether the 1st installed OS is seen
by the 2nd OS when it is installed. That would make a
difference in what the 2nd OS's partition is named.

The easiest way to accomplish your goal is to make
a clone of the 1st installation on the 2nd hard drive. You
can do this easily and free with a 30-day free trial copy
of Casper XP from www.FSSdev.com/products/casperxp/ .
When the copy is completed, remove the 1st HD and then
(and ONLY then) boot the 2nd HD (which can remain
where it is and jumpered how it is, since the removal of
the 1st HD will automatically move the 2nd HD to the
head of the BIOS's hard drive boot order). The new OS
clone will boot up. Then shut it down, and re-connect the
1st HD. If the 1st HD should fail, the 2nd HD and its OS
will load at boot time since it will think that it's the 1st OS.

The 2nd HD's file structure will be seen by the 1st OS
as just another accessible file structure on what WinXP
calls a "Local Disk" (i.e. a partition). The 1st OS will
probably name the 2nd OS's partition "Locak Disk D:".
But when the clone OS runs, if it sees the 1st OS's
partition, it will name the 1st OS's partition "D:" and
its own partition "C:".

If you want from time to time to boot the clone to
perhaps update it Windows OS or to update its anti-virus
software, you can do that by adjusting the hard drive
boot order in the BIOS so that the 2nd HD is at the head
of the BIOS's hard drive boot order. Then the 2nd HD
will get control and its boot loader will load the clone OS.

If you want to dual-boot conveniently between the
two OSes, you'll have to add a 2nd entry in the boot.ini
files one or both partitions. This entry will point to the
other hard disk and the partition there that contains the
OS. Assuming that each HD has its OS on the partition
no. 1 (i.e. the 1st partition), just copy the 1st entry in
boot.ini under [operating systems] and substitute
"rdisk(1)" to indicate the 2nd HD after the one that appears
at the head of the BIO's hard drive boot order, and
"partition(1)" to indicate the 1st partition. set the timeout
value to about 10 seconds to give you enough time to
make up your mind which OS to boot. If the boot.ini
file(s) don't have an entry after "[operating systems]",
just copy the default entry and put it after the
"[operating systems]" line with the above 2 substitutions.
Boot.ini resides just below the C: root level, and you can
use Notepad to edit it. The new entry should look
something like:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Clone OS" /fastdetect

where you can substitute whatever description you
want for "Clone OS".

Then when you boot up either HD, you can select
whether the OS on that hard drive loads or the OS
on the other hard drive loads.

*TimDaniels*
 
Timothy Daniels said:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Clone OS" /fastdetect
Click to expand...


Correction: The entry that points to the "other" HD
and its OS should be something like:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Clone OS" /fastdetect

(note that "rdisk(0)" refers to the HD at Relative Position 0
in the BIOS's hard drive boot order, and "rdisk(1)" refers to
the HD at Relative Position 1 in the BIOS's hard drive boot
order - i.e. the Relative Position starts at 0.) If the 1st HD
gets control, it will because is was at Relative Position 0
("rdisk(0)"), and it will know the other HD as the one at
Relative Position 1 ("rdisk(1)"). And if the 2nd HD gets
control, it will be because IT had been PUT at Relative
Position 0 in the BIOS's hard drive boot order, and it will
know the other HD as the one at Relative Position 1
(i.e. "rdisk(1)"). So this means each partition can have
the same boot.ini contents.

*TimDaniels*
 
Dartmouth

Timothy Daniels has set it out well. If you look a few days back in this
news group you will have seen a short summary of how to do it using two
disks and switching the boot priority to change which OS is used.

BTW it helps to have a large bit map on the desktop of the backup disks desk
top and to label each disk with clearly different names. if you just have C
and D Windows swaps them round at boot time and it is easy to not appreciate
which disk you are using.
 
darthmarth37 said:
I am trying to install Windows XP on two hard drives (on the same computer,
of course,) so in case one of them fails the other disk will boot instead.
However, when I do so, only one of them is bootable. Even if I detach one
hard drive when I install it on the other, and vice versa, as soon as I plug
them both in at the same time, one of them starts relying on the other to
boot, and ceases to be bootable by itself. How do I make each drive stay
independently bootable?
Click to expand...
 
I think your problem is simpler than this; you need to go into the BIOS and
change the boot-order to start the OS from the correct disk.

If you still have problems there is a simple bootloader with Ranish
Partition Manager that will determine which disk/partition boots.

As mentioned, the boot.ini entry on each drive must match the disk/partition
that's being booted from. If it does not, then either it wont get past the
NTOSKRNL stage, or else (worse) you will end-up with a tangled mixture of
the two copies, which could result in damage.
 
Ian said:
I think your problem is simpler than this; you need to go
into the BIOS and change the boot-order to start the OS
from the correct disk.
Click to expand...


The truth of this depends on how the 2nd OS was
installed - with or without the 1st OS visible - as it
would determine if the boot.ini files in both partitions
had identical entries. Identical entries would be
necessary for the boot order switcheroo to work.

If you still have problems there is a simple bootloader
with Ranish Partition Manager that will determine which
disk/partition boots.
Click to expand...


WinXP's built-in boot manager/loader should
suffice for this situation.
As mentioned, the boot.ini entry on each drive must match
the disk/partition that's being booted from. If it does not,
then either it wont get past the NTOSKRNL stage, or else
(worse) you will end-up with a tangled mixture of the two
copies, which could result in damage.
Click to expand...


Ouch! You made me laugh.

*TimDaniels*
 
why change boot order?

just use boot.ini to create Dual Boot Menu!!
then boot to whichever drive you want!!
 
Because the original poster may not know how to
(or doesn't want to) modify his boot.ini file. We're
giving him the option. But... he has apparently lost
interest or any desire to provide more information
about his system.

*TimDaniels*
 
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