XP and 98 dual OS w/o reformating

[Surfmnky]

Here's the deal. I have been using 98 2ndEd OS on my
system for many moons. I recently purchased a new Dell
with XP pro. What I am now finding that some 98 apps do
not run on XP even with the MS Compat utility. So here's
the question.

Can I take my original 98 boot drive out of my old PC and
add it to the new XP system as the second drive and have a
dual boot OS? If so what do I need to dobedoo?

Surfmnky

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

You need more help than that to do it easily. However, if you can rearrange
the BIOS boot order, you should be able to set the system to boot either
drive, but it requires that you change the boot order each time you wish to
change.

The problem is, Win98 will see itself as "C", as that is how it is
installed, and it needs to boot from a FAT32 partition. As a slave drive, it
will not see itself as "C", and the system will be booting from the master
drive (WinXP, which is probably using NTFS). The workaround is to use a boot
manager that has an option to "swap" or reverse the drive order, and will be
able to allow the Win98 system to boot.

One that can do this: BootIT NG from www.terabyteunlimited.com

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[radio848]

Surfmnky
I don't know much about a Dell, but, it should have a bios utility that will
allow you to boot from either drive. And yes, you can run both drives. Read
your documentation on your machine and it should give you the proper key
sequence to press when you first turn on your machine. On my computer, (a
clone, that i built) I press f8 and it gives me a boot option of ide drive,
or cd-rom or zip or floppy. Hope that helps.

 

[SUrf]

Howdy Rick:
Thanks for the rapid response.
I will take a look at the site you recommended.
Cheers
Surf

 

[Surf]

Hi Wayne:
Thanks for the support and needed info.
Read the manual huh? RTFM
Good advice but always done after causing the problem.
Again thanks
Surf