XP to Windows 7

[bobster]

I have a Dell Inspiron 530, Intel dual 2.2 CPU computer running XP/Sp3/IE8
with all updates. It has 3 identical, 320G SATA HDs, all cloned to the same
software, and 2 gigs of memory. The three HDs are located in the two
internal positions and one external enclosure. I have been given a gift of
a legal Windows 7 disk and wish to install W7 on one of the drives. My
questions:

If I install W7 on one of the HDs, I realize that the XP (and everything
else) on that HD is gone and I have no problem with that as I will still
have two fully operational XP systems and all my apps on the two other HDs.
But will I still be able to boot up to these XP drives or will the
installation of W7 change my BIOS settings or some other change that will
prevent me from doing this. What I really want to accomplish is to get W7
up and running on one of my HDs but still be able to re-boot into one of my
2 remaining XP drives. In other words, a triple boot, one W7 system and two
XP systems.

Why would I want to do this? Well, my XP/IE8 works beautifully and I don't
want to do anything to screw it up but I realize I'll have to switch to W7
eventually. The ideal situation for me would be to retain the XP capability
on one HD, with another HD containing the clone of the first one for a back
up, and the third HD with W7 as a learning tool to get comfortable with W7.

Any problem with doing this?

 

[peter]

lets see if I got this right...
on your 2 internal HD you have an XP installation on each HD and therefore
you are dualbooting????and both are exactly the same?
Plus you have a "cloned" external drive which is an exact copy of HD #1 and
#2???

If you disconnect the external drive and boot from the W7 disk during the
process pick
one of the internal HD to install to..W7 will create the dual boot and change
the MBR on the
other drive to reflect this dual boot. Be aware that the MBR will be on the XP
HD and as such
if you remove this drive your system will not boot without a W7 repair.
Look at
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html


The other way is if your mobo BIOS supports the F12 boot menu option.
By disconnecting all drives except the drive where you will install W7 onto
there is no MBR change on the XP drive and you just do a normal installation.
Then when W7 is up and running you reconnect the XP drive. During the boot
process you should see a quick message to push F12 and a small window pops up
where you can pick the HD to boot from.

peter

 

[bobster]

Peter, you said,

"lets see if I got this right...
on your 2 internal HD you have an XP installation on each HD and therefore
you are dualbooting????and both are exactly the same?
Plus you have a "cloned" external drive which is an exact copy of HD #1 and
#2???"

Yes, that is correct. It sounds kinda crazy but I wanted a "hot spare" on
the 2nd internal drive and an external spare in the event the of a computer
failure. With HD prices at <$50 a pop it's a fairly cheap way to ensure an
always ready backup.

I really have no need to have a true dual boot W7/XP system. What I really
want is 3 independent bootable systems on 3 different HDs, selectable by the
F-12 boot menu option which my Dell computer has. Your suggestion of
disconnecting the #2 internal and the external HDs and loading W7 on the #1
internal HD, then re-connecting the XP HDs sounds like it would give me what
I'm looking for. And BTW, that's exactly what I do now -- use F-12 during
the boot sequence to select which of the 3 HDs to which I want to boot. You
have given me the courage to give W7 a low risk try.

Thanks

=============================================================
lets see if I got this right...
on your 2 internal HD you have an XP installation on each HD and therefore
you are dualbooting????and both are exactly the same?
Plus you have a "cloned" external drive which is an exact copy of HD #1 and
#2???

If you disconnect the external drive and boot from the W7 disk during the
process pick
one of the internal HD to install to..W7 will create the dual boot and
change
the MBR on the
other drive to reflect this dual boot. Be aware that the MBR will be on the
XP
HD and as such
if you remove this drive your system will not boot without a W7 repair.
Look at
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html


The other way is if your mobo BIOS supports the F12 boot menu option.
By disconnecting all drives except the drive where you will install W7 onto
there is no MBR change on the XP drive and you just do a normal
installation.
Then when W7 is up and running you reconnect the XP drive. During the boot
process you should see a quick message to push F12 and a small window pops
up
where you can pick the HD to boot from.

peter

 

[Anna]

Peter, you said,

"lets see if I got this right...
on your 2 internal HD you have an XP installation on each HD and therefore
you are dualbooting????and both are exactly the same?
Plus you have a "cloned" external drive which is an exact copy of HD #1
and
#2???"

Yes, that is correct. It sounds kinda crazy but I wanted a "hot spare" on
the 2nd internal drive and an external spare in the event the of a
computer
failure. With HD prices at <$50 a pop it's a fairly cheap way to ensure
an
always ready backup.

I really have no need to have a true dual boot W7/XP system. What I
really
want is 3 independent bootable systems on 3 different HDs, selectable by
the
F-12 boot menu option which my Dell computer has. Your suggestion of
disconnecting the #2 internal and the external HDs and loading W7 on the
#1
internal HD, then re-connecting the XP HDs sounds like it would give me
what
I'm looking for. And BTW, that's exactly what I do now -- use F-12 during
the boot sequence to select which of the 3 HDs to which I want to boot.
You
have given me the courage to give W7 a low risk try.

Thanks

bobster:
In addition to the suggestion offered you by Peter, here's another option
you might want to consider...

If I recall correctly from a number of your prior posts you use the Casper
disk-cloning program. I'm assuming you've upgraded to the recently released
Casper 6 program so you probably know that the program now has the happy
capability of booting the cloned contents from a USB external HDD assuming,
of course, that your motherboard's BIOS supports that capability as well.
(I'm virtually (but not absolutely!) certain your Dell has that capability.)

So why not use the USBEHD as your "destination" drive, even to the extent
(should you desire) of dividing its disk space into two partitions so that
the device can contain the cloned contents of both your XP & Win7 systems?
Naturally I'm assuming your USBEHD would have sufficient disk space to
contain the contents of both OSs.

One of your internal HDDs would contain the XP OS and the other internal HDD
would contain the Win7 OS. Presumably you would set the BIOS boot priority
order to whichever drive you usually boot to but it would be a simple matter
to change the boot priority order as the need arises.

Thus your USBEHD would serve as comprehensive backups of both operating
systems and should the need arise where you need to boot to either OS
contained on the USBEHD it would be a simple matter to do so.
Anna

 

[bobster]

Anna,

Thanks for the sage advice. Yes, I have upgraded to Casper 6.0 but since my
external HD enclosure is connected via a SATA port, the new USB boot
capability didn't provide much usable new capability. Not a problem for me
as both 5.0, and now 6.0 are super reliable, and I have always been able to
boot from the external enclosure-mounted HD as it is connected to a SATA
port via an eSATA cable. And yes, you are correct, my Dell Inspiron 530
supports USB2 and has the F12 capability to select the boot drive. I also
know how to change the boot order in the BIOS via the F2 button.

What I have never done is to format a drive into multiple partitions , each
with a new drive letter. The procedure in the XP Help and Support section
sounds pretty straightforward so I'll probably give it a try.

Thanks again for your help.

Peter, you said,

"lets see if I got this right...
on your 2 internal HD you have an XP installation on each HD and therefore
you are dualbooting????and both are exactly the same?
Plus you have a "cloned" external drive which is an exact copy of HD #1
and
#2???"

Yes, that is correct. It sounds kinda crazy but I wanted a "hot spare" on
the 2nd internal drive and an external spare in the event the of a
computer
failure. With HD prices at <$50 a pop it's a fairly cheap way to ensure
an
always ready backup.

I really have no need to have a true dual boot W7/XP system. What I
really
want is 3 independent bootable systems on 3 different HDs, selectable by
the
F-12 boot menu option which my Dell computer has. Your suggestion of
disconnecting the #2 internal and the external HDs and loading W7 on the
#1
internal HD, then re-connecting the XP HDs sounds like it would give me
what
I'm looking for. And BTW, that's exactly what I do now -- use F-12 during
the boot sequence to select which of the 3 HDs to which I want to boot.
You
have given me the courage to give W7 a low risk try.

Thanks

bobster:
In addition to the suggestion offered you by Peter, here's another option
you might want to consider...

If I recall correctly from a number of your prior posts you use the Casper
disk-cloning program. I'm assuming you've upgraded to the recently released
Casper 6 program so you probably know that the program now has the happy
capability of booting the cloned contents from a USB external HDD assuming,
of course, that your motherboard's BIOS supports that capability as well.
(I'm virtually (but not absolutely!) certain your Dell has that capability.)

So why not use the USBEHD as your "destination" drive, even to the extent
(should you desire) of dividing its disk space into two partitions so that
the device can contain the cloned contents of both your XP & Win7 systems?
Naturally I'm assuming your USBEHD would have sufficient disk space to
contain the contents of both OSs.

One of your internal HDDs would contain the XP OS and the other internal HDD
would contain the Win7 OS. Presumably you would set the BIOS boot priority
order to whichever drive you usually boot to but it would be a simple matter
to change the boot priority order as the need arises.

Thus your USBEHD would serve as comprehensive backups of both operating
systems and should the need arise where you need to boot to either OS
contained on the USBEHD it would be a simple matter to do so.
Anna

 

[Anna]

bobster:
In addition to the suggestion offered you by Peter, here's another option
you might want to consider...

If I recall correctly from a number of your prior posts you use the Casper
disk-cloning program. I'm assuming you've upgraded to the recently
released
Casper 6 program so you probably know that the program now has the happy
capability of booting the cloned contents from a USB external HDD
assuming,
of course, that your motherboard's BIOS supports that capability as well.
(I'm virtually (but not absolutely!) certain your Dell has that
capability.)

So why not use the USBEHD as your "destination" drive, even to the extent
(should you desire) of dividing its disk space into two partitions so that
the device can contain the cloned contents of both your XP & Win7 systems?
Naturally I'm assuming your USBEHD would have sufficient disk space to
contain the contents of both OSs.

One of your internal HDDs would contain the XP OS and the other internal
HDD
would contain the Win7 OS. Presumably you would set the BIOS boot priority
order to whichever drive you usually boot to but it would be a simple
matter
to change the boot priority order as the need arises.

Thus your USBEHD would serve as comprehensive backups of both operating
systems and should the need arise where you need to boot to either OS
contained on the USBEHD it would be a simple matter to do so.
Anna

Anna,

Thanks for the sage advice. Yes, I have upgraded to Casper 6.0 but since
my
external HD enclosure is connected via a SATA port, the new USB boot
capability didn't provide much usable new capability. Not a problem for
me
as both 5.0, and now 6.0 are super reliable, and I have always been able
to
boot from the external enclosure-mounted HD as it is connected to a SATA
port via an eSATA cable. And yes, you are correct, my Dell Inspiron 530
supports USB2 and has the F12 capability to select the boot drive. I also
know how to change the boot order in the BIOS via the F2 button.

What I have never done is to format a drive into multiple partitions ,
each
with a new drive letter. The procedure in the XP Help and Support section
sounds pretty straightforward so I'll probably give it a try.

Thanks again for your help.

bobster:
Your having an external enclosure that has SATA-to-SATA connectivity
(presumably in addition to USB-connectivity) is really an ideal situation.
Since (AFAIK) your Dell Inspiron 530 is not equipped with an eSATA port it
didn't occur to me that you were working with that type of external device.
I would guess that you've either installed a eSATA (or SATA) adapter in the
desktop machine to achieve that capability or directly connect your external
device to an available SATA connector on the motherboard.

In any event the fact that you can directly boot from the external device is
certainly an advantage. And (usually) a SATA-connected HDD considerably
outperforms a USB-connected HDD assuming USB 2.0 capability. (Things may
dramatically change when we move to USB 3.0).

It's really a simple & straightforward matter using the XP Disk Management
snap-in to multi-partition the external HDD. You should have no difficulty
doing so. Since (I assume) you will be using the external HDD as your
"destination" drive you can start "fresh" so to speak and delete the current
partition on that drive and then multi-partition the drive and finally clone
the contents of the two OSs to the appropriate partition.

If & when the time comes when you need to directly boot to one of the two
cloned systems on the external HDD you would ordinarily use Disk Management
to "Mark Partition as Active" (assuming that partition is not already shown
as the "active" partition). All that's involved is a simple right-click on
the drive's listing and selecting the preceding command from the sub-menu.
And, of course, change the boot priority order in the BIOS upon bootup so
that the system will boot to the external disk.
Anna

 

[Bill in Co.]

bobster:
Your having an external enclosure that has SATA-to-SATA connectivity
(presumably in addition to USB-connectivity) is really an ideal situation.
Since (AFAIK) your Dell Inspiron 530 is not equipped with an eSATA port it
didn't occur to me that you were working with that type of external
device.
I would guess that you've either installed a eSATA (or SATA) adapter in
the
desktop machine to achieve that capability or directly connect your
external
device to an available SATA connector on the motherboard.

I think it does have an eSATA port already, Anna, unless I'm losing my
memory.

I also have a Dell Inspiron 530 Desktop, and have in the past used a Vantec
eSATA/USB2 external HD enclosure for backup, although now I'm using a second
*internal* SATA drive for that purpose, since its simpler and presumably
faster (and I've been using it a fair amount just to get a clean restore
after various software tests - otherwise I'd use an external backup).

 

[Anna]

Anna wrote:

I think it does have an eSATA port already, Anna, unless I'm losing my
memory.

I also have a Dell Inspiron 530 Desktop, and have in the past used a
Vantec eSATA/USB2 external HD enclosure for backup, although now I'm using
a second *internal* SATA drive for that purpose, since its simpler and
presumably faster (and I've been using it a fair amount just to get a
clean restore after various software tests - otherwise I'd use an external
backup).

Bill:
Thanks for the correction. I recall working on one of those Dell Inspiron
530s some time ago and I didn't recall that it was equipped with an eSATA
port. So I just assumed the OP had either installed an eSATA adapter in one
of the PCI slots or made a direct connection from his/her SATA external
enclosure to one of the motherboard's SATA connectors.
Anna

 

[Bill in Co.]

Bill:
Thanks for the correction. I recall working on one of those Dell Inspiron
530s some time ago and I didn't recall that it was equipped with an eSATA
port. So I just assumed the OP had either installed an eSATA adapter in
one
of the PCI slots or made a direct connection from his/her SATA external
enclosure to one of the motherboard's SATA connectors.
Anna

Well, in retrospect, my memory might be off, and maybe I put in a bracket
(with the connector) that came with the Vantec enclosure kit - now I'm not
so sure. Old age may be setting in. Maybe bobster can clarify it.
Since I'm only now using the second internal SATA drive as a backup, I can't
recall for sure.

 

[bobster]

Anna,

Yes, my Inspiron 530 did not have an eSATA port as delivered but when I
bought the full up WD 320 gig HD kit, it came with an eSATA cable and a
rear mounted port connector assembly for an external HD. The other end
connected to one of the unused SATA ports on my mother board. I've never
had any problem in booting from this HD which is mounted in an eSATA/USB
capable Vantec external enclosure.

I still have a few concerns about proceeding with the changes we have been
discussing. As I mentioned, I have 3 identical HDs, mounted in internal
position 1, internal position 2, and the Vantec mounted one. They each have
been assigned a single drive letter (C, E, and F) although they each have 3
partitions. One of my concerns is if I use the external mounted one as my
destination drive, and re-partition it into 2 or more partitions, with 2 or
more new drive letters, each of those partitions will be smaller than the
size of the drive letter partitions on the two internal drives. Casper will
probably tell me that there isn't enough free space to clone either internal
drive to a partition on the external drive. If that happens I would
probably junk the whole process, especially if it meant I would have to
re-partition my internal drive to mirror my external destination drive.

I know the above sounds like the rantings of a novice in drive formatting,
but having a trouble-free XP/IE-8 system, I am reluctant to try and
re-format it's HD in order to accommodate a single HD backup system for XP
and Windows 7. Maybe I should just leave things as they are currently
configured, download Windows 7 onto my first internal HD, clone that to the
Vantec external drive, then replace the HD in the Vantec with another 320 g
WD (which I already have) and clone the second internal drive (with XP/IE-8
on it) to this HD. This sounds complicated but I can change a drive in the
Vantec in about 5 minutes.

I'm going to "cool it" for a few days while I decide how to proceed as there
is no hurry to do anything.

Any additional comments will be appreciated.

bobster:
In addition to the suggestion offered you by Peter, here's another option
you might want to consider...

If I recall correctly from a number of your prior posts you use the Casper
disk-cloning program. I'm assuming you've upgraded to the recently
released
Casper 6 program so you probably know that the program now has the happy
capability of booting the cloned contents from a USB external HDD
assuming,
of course, that your motherboard's BIOS supports that capability as well.
(I'm virtually (but not absolutely!) certain your Dell has that
capability.)

So why not use the USBEHD as your "destination" drive, even to the extent
(should you desire) of dividing its disk space into two partitions so that
the device can contain the cloned contents of both your XP & Win7 systems?
Naturally I'm assuming your USBEHD would have sufficient disk space to
contain the contents of both OSs.

One of your internal HDDs would contain the XP OS and the other internal
HDD
would contain the Win7 OS. Presumably you would set the BIOS boot priority
order to whichever drive you usually boot to but it would be a simple
matter
to change the boot priority order as the need arises.

Thus your USBEHD would serve as comprehensive backups of both operating
systems and should the need arise where you need to boot to either OS
contained on the USBEHD it would be a simple matter to do so.
Anna

Anna,

Thanks for the sage advice. Yes, I have upgraded to Casper 6.0 but since
my
external HD enclosure is connected via a SATA port, the new USB boot
capability didn't provide much usable new capability. Not a problem for
me
as both 5.0, and now 6.0 are super reliable, and I have always been able
to
boot from the external enclosure-mounted HD as it is connected to a SATA
port via an eSATA cable. And yes, you are correct, my Dell Inspiron 530
supports USB2 and has the F12 capability to select the boot drive. I also
know how to change the boot order in the BIOS via the F2 button.

What I have never done is to format a drive into multiple partitions ,
each
with a new drive letter. The procedure in the XP Help and Support section
sounds pretty straightforward so I'll probably give it a try.

Thanks again for your help.

bobster:
Your having an external enclosure that has SATA-to-SATA connectivity
(presumably in addition to USB-connectivity) is really an ideal situation.
Since (AFAIK) your Dell Inspiron 530 is not equipped with an eSATA port it
didn't occur to me that you were working with that type of external device.
I would guess that you've either installed a eSATA (or SATA) adapter in the
desktop machine to achieve that capability or directly connect your external
device to an available SATA connector on the motherboard.

In any event the fact that you can directly boot from the external device is
certainly an advantage. And (usually) a SATA-connected HDD considerably
outperforms a USB-connected HDD assuming USB 2.0 capability. (Things may
dramatically change when we move to USB 3.0).

It's really a simple & straightforward matter using the XP Disk Management
snap-in to multi-partition the external HDD. You should have no difficulty
doing so. Since (I assume) you will be using the external HDD as your
"destination" drive you can start "fresh" so to speak and delete the current
partition on that drive and then multi-partition the drive and finally clone
the contents of the two OSs to the appropriate partition.

If & when the time comes when you need to directly boot to one of the two
cloned systems on the external HDD you would ordinarily use Disk Management
to "Mark Partition as Active" (assuming that partition is not already shown
as the "active" partition). All that's involved is a simple right-click on
the drive's listing and selecting the preceding command from the sub-menu.
And, of course, change the boot priority order in the BIOS upon bootup so
that the system will boot to the external disk.
Anna

 

[20100205]

Well, in retrospect, my memory might be off, and maybe I put in a bracket
(with the connector) that came with the Vantec enclosure kit - now I'm not
so sure. Old age may be setting in. Maybe bobster can clarify it.
Since I'm only now using the second internal SATA drive as a backup, I can't
recall for sure.

Perhaps it is time to join the Geriatric Society of United States where
you can meet fellow geriatric Pig-Bear.

 

[bobster]

Bill,

See my last post to Anna regarding my "as delivered" Inspiron 530
configuration. The first WD 320g HD I bought was the full kit and contained
the eSATA cable and rear adapter/connector. The other identical HDs were
bought as "bare drives" which go for as little as $40 and come with nothing
but the drive.

And, BTW, thanks for your comments as well as those from Peter.

===========================================

Bill:
Thanks for the correction. I recall working on one of those Dell Inspiron
530s some time ago and I didn't recall that it was equipped with an eSATA
port. So I just assumed the OP had either installed an eSATA adapter in
one
of the PCI slots or made a direct connection from his/her SATA external
enclosure to one of the motherboard's SATA connectors.
Anna

Well, in retrospect, my memory might be off, and maybe I put in a bracket
(with the connector) that came with the Vantec enclosure kit - now I'm not
so sure. Old age may be setting in. Maybe bobster can clarify it.
Since I'm only now using the second internal SATA drive as a backup, I can't
recall for sure.

 

[Anna]

news:[email protected]...

bobster:
Your having an external enclosure that has SATA-to-SATA connectivity
(presumably in addition to USB-connectivity) is really an ideal situation.
Since (AFAIK) your Dell Inspiron 530 is not equipped with an eSATA port it
didn't occur to me that you were working with that type of external
device.
I would guess that you've either installed a eSATA (or SATA) adapter in
the
desktop machine to achieve that capability or directly connect your
external
device to an available SATA connector on the motherboard.

In any event the fact that you can directly boot from the external device
is
certainly an advantage. And (usually) a SATA-connected HDD considerably
outperforms a USB-connected HDD assuming USB 2.0 capability. (Things may
dramatically change when we move to USB 3.0).

It's really a simple & straightforward matter using the XP Disk Management
snap-in to multi-partition the external HDD. You should have no difficulty
doing so. Since (I assume) you will be using the external HDD as your
"destination" drive you can start "fresh" so to speak and delete the
current
partition on that drive and then multi-partition the drive and finally
clone
the contents of the two OSs to the appropriate partition.

If & when the time comes when you need to directly boot to one of the two
cloned systems on the external HDD you would ordinarily use Disk
Management
to "Mark Partition as Active" (assuming that partition is not already
shown
as the "active" partition). All that's involved is a simple right-click on
the drive's listing and selecting the preceding command from the sub-menu.
And, of course, change the boot priority order in the BIOS upon bootup so
that the system will boot to the external disk.
Anna

Anna,

Yes, my Inspiron 530 did not have an eSATA port as delivered but when I
bought the full up WD 320 gig HD kit, it came with an eSATA cable and a
rear mounted port connector assembly for an external HD. The other end
connected to one of the unused SATA ports on my mother board. I've never
had any problem in booting from this HD which is mounted in an eSATA/USB
capable Vantec external enclosure.

I still have a few concerns about proceeding with the changes we have been
discussing. As I mentioned, I have 3 identical HDs, mounted in internal
position 1, internal position 2, and the Vantec mounted one. They each
have
been assigned a single drive letter (C, E, and F) although they each have
3
partitions. One of my concerns is if I use the external mounted one as my
destination drive, and re-partition it into 2 or more partitions, with 2
or
more new drive letters, each of those partitions will be smaller than the
size of the drive letter partitions on the two internal drives. Casper
will
probably tell me that there isn't enough free space to clone either
internal
drive to a partition on the external drive. If that happens I would
probably junk the whole process, especially if it meant I would have to
re-partition my internal drive to mirror my external destination drive.

I know the above sounds like the rantings of a novice in drive formatting,
but having a trouble-free XP/IE-8 system, I am reluctant to try and
re-format it's HD in order to accommodate a single HD backup system for XP
and Windows 7. Maybe I should just leave things as they are currently
configured, download Windows 7 onto my first internal HD, clone that to
the
Vantec external drive, then replace the HD in the Vantec with another 320
g
WD (which I already have) and clone the second internal drive (with
XP/IE-8
on it) to this HD. This sounds complicated but I can change a drive in
the
Vantec in about 5 minutes.

I'm going to "cool it" for a few days while I decide how to proceed as
there
is no hurry to do anything.

Any additional comments will be appreciated.

bobster:
It seems to me that the most straightforward & efficient configuration in
your situation based upon your objective of working with two different
operating systems and having at your disposal two internal HDDs plus an
external HDD is to...
1. Install the XP system on one internal HDD.
2. Install the Win7 system on the other internal HDD.
3. Utilize your external HDD as the "destination" HDD, and use your Casper
disk-cloning program as the vehicle to contain the cloned contents of each
of the two internal HDDs. As I previously indicated you would
multi-partition the external HDD into two partitions to accommodate the
cloned contents of each OS.

Naturally this assumes that the 320 GB external HDD you're working with
contains sufficient disk space to contain those cloned contents. You haven't
indicated the total amount of data you're working with in each of those two
systems but I'm assuming each of the external drive's partitions you create
would be sufficient in size to accommodate the cloned contents of that
particular OS. Is that a reasonable assumption?

I'm also assuming each of your two internal HDDs will be single-partitioned.
Given the configuration I'm suggesting I see no reason to multi-partition
these drives.

Forget about drive letter assignments re the external HDD. They are of *no*
relevance in this situation. The same is true of your internal HDDs. As an
example...

Let's say your XP OS is installed on internal HDD #1 and your Win7 OS is
installed on internal HDD #2. Now you decide to boot to your XP OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to HDD #1 the system
will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive letter
assignment.

Since your second internal HDD containing the Win7 is also connected as a
secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C: drive letter
assignment. Again the drive letter assigned to that drive during this
operation is of no consequence based upon what we are discussing.

Let's say at another time you now desire to boot to your Win7 OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your HDD #2, the
system will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive
letter assignment. Since your first internal HDD containing the XP OS is
also connected as a secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C:
drive letter assignment. Again, the drive letter assigned to that drive,
i.e., "HDD #1" during this operation is of no consequence based upon what we
are discussing.

And so on & so on...

Now let's say that while you've booted to your XP OS ("HDD #1"), you decide
to clone the contents of that drive to one of the two partitions you
previously created on your external HDD. Understand that when you originally
multi-partitioned that external HDD into two partitions the drive letters
assigned to each of those partitions is of no consequence in terms of our
present discussion except in "telling" Casper which partition should act as
the destination drive for the purposes of receiving the cloned contents of
your HDD #1. Let's say, as an example, you will be cloning the contents of
that drive to the F: partition on the external HDD, the other partition
having been assigned the G: drive letter assignment.

You will use the same basic process to clone the contents of your Win7 OS
contained on internal HDD #2, but this time using the "G:" partition as the
recipient of those cloned contents.

So now you have your external HDD containing the cloned contents of your XP
& Win7 systems. The fact that the two partitions on the external HDD have
been designated F: & G: are really of no relevance here. Since your external
HDD is a bootable device you will be able to boot to either of the OSs
contained on the external HDD. Let's say you desire to boot to the cloned XP
OS contained on partition F:. (As I previously indicated you will have to
first ensure that the selected partition is marked "Active"; I previously
explained that simple process using Disk Management) . Then ensure that the
BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.
The system will then boot to the cloned XP OS on your external HDD and
receive a C: drive letter assignment. The partition containing the cloned
Win7 OS will receive a non-C: letter assignment, possibly retaining the G:
drive letter assignment. In any event the drive letter assigned to the
latter partition is of no relevance re our discussion.

Once again, you would follow the same basic process should you desire to
boot to the cloned Win7 OS on the external HDD. Again ensuring that the
partition containing that OS is marked "Active" and the BIOS boot priority
order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.

Obviously there are different approaches one can take to meet your
objectives but as I stated I believe the approach I'm suggesting is a
sensible one under your circumstances.
Anna

 

[bobster]

Anna,

Thanks again for clarifying several things that were bothering me regarding
the use of the external drive in a multi partition mode. Since I haven't
downloaded the Windows 7 OS yet, I don't know its footprint size. The XP
installation is about 40 gigs including all of my apps so I would guess that
the W7 installation sans apps would be less than that. I would think that 3
80 gig partitions on the external drive would be about right. I will let
you know how it works out when I finally decide to tackle it.

================================================================

news:[email protected]...

bobster:
Your having an external enclosure that has SATA-to-SATA connectivity
(presumably in addition to USB-connectivity) is really an ideal situation.
Since (AFAIK) your Dell Inspiron 530 is not equipped with an eSATA port it
didn't occur to me that you were working with that type of external
device.
I would guess that you've either installed a eSATA (or SATA) adapter in
the
desktop machine to achieve that capability or directly connect your
external
device to an available SATA connector on the motherboard.

In any event the fact that you can directly boot from the external device
is
certainly an advantage. And (usually) a SATA-connected HDD considerably
outperforms a USB-connected HDD assuming USB 2.0 capability. (Things may
dramatically change when we move to USB 3.0).

It's really a simple & straightforward matter using the XP Disk Management
snap-in to multi-partition the external HDD. You should have no difficulty
doing so. Since (I assume) you will be using the external HDD as your
"destination" drive you can start "fresh" so to speak and delete the
current
partition on that drive and then multi-partition the drive and finally
clone
the contents of the two OSs to the appropriate partition.

If & when the time comes when you need to directly boot to one of the two
cloned systems on the external HDD you would ordinarily use Disk
Management
to "Mark Partition as Active" (assuming that partition is not already
shown
as the "active" partition). All that's involved is a simple right-click on
the drive's listing and selecting the preceding command from the sub-menu.
And, of course, change the boot priority order in the BIOS upon bootup so
that the system will boot to the external disk.
Anna

Anna,

Yes, my Inspiron 530 did not have an eSATA port as delivered but when I
bought the full up WD 320 gig HD kit, it came with an eSATA cable and a
rear mounted port connector assembly for an external HD. The other end
connected to one of the unused SATA ports on my mother board. I've never
had any problem in booting from this HD which is mounted in an eSATA/USB
capable Vantec external enclosure.

I still have a few concerns about proceeding with the changes we have been
discussing. As I mentioned, I have 3 identical HDs, mounted in internal
position 1, internal position 2, and the Vantec mounted one. They each
have
been assigned a single drive letter (C, E, and F) although they each have
3
partitions. One of my concerns is if I use the external mounted one as my
destination drive, and re-partition it into 2 or more partitions, with 2
or
more new drive letters, each of those partitions will be smaller than the
size of the drive letter partitions on the two internal drives. Casper
will
probably tell me that there isn't enough free space to clone either
internal
drive to a partition on the external drive. If that happens I would
probably junk the whole process, especially if it meant I would have to
re-partition my internal drive to mirror my external destination drive.

I know the above sounds like the rantings of a novice in drive formatting,
but having a trouble-free XP/IE-8 system, I am reluctant to try and
re-format it's HD in order to accommodate a single HD backup system for XP
and Windows 7. Maybe I should just leave things as they are currently
configured, download Windows 7 onto my first internal HD, clone that to
the
Vantec external drive, then replace the HD in the Vantec with another 320
g
WD (which I already have) and clone the second internal drive (with
XP/IE-8
on it) to this HD. This sounds complicated but I can change a drive in
the
Vantec in about 5 minutes.

I'm going to "cool it" for a few days while I decide how to proceed as
there
is no hurry to do anything.

Any additional comments will be appreciated.

bobster:
It seems to me that the most straightforward & efficient configuration in
your situation based upon your objective of working with two different
operating systems and having at your disposal two internal HDDs plus an
external HDD is to...
1. Install the XP system on one internal HDD.
2. Install the Win7 system on the other internal HDD.
3. Utilize your external HDD as the "destination" HDD, and use your Casper
disk-cloning program as the vehicle to contain the cloned contents of each
of the two internal HDDs. As I previously indicated you would
multi-partition the external HDD into two partitions to accommodate the
cloned contents of each OS.

Naturally this assumes that the 320 GB external HDD you're working with
contains sufficient disk space to contain those cloned contents. You haven't
indicated the total amount of data you're working with in each of those two
systems but I'm assuming each of the external drive's partitions you create
would be sufficient in size to accommodate the cloned contents of that
particular OS. Is that a reasonable assumption?

I'm also assuming each of your two internal HDDs will be single-partitioned.
Given the configuration I'm suggesting I see no reason to multi-partition
these drives.

Forget about drive letter assignments re the external HDD. They are of *no*
relevance in this situation. The same is true of your internal HDDs. As an
example...

Let's say your XP OS is installed on internal HDD #1 and your Win7 OS is
installed on internal HDD #2. Now you decide to boot to your XP OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to HDD #1 the system
will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive letter
assignment.

Since your second internal HDD containing the Win7 is also connected as a
secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C: drive letter
assignment. Again the drive letter assigned to that drive during this
operation is of no consequence based upon what we are discussing.

Let's say at another time you now desire to boot to your Win7 OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your HDD #2, the
system will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive
letter assignment. Since your first internal HDD containing the XP OS is
also connected as a secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C:
drive letter assignment. Again, the drive letter assigned to that drive,
i.e., "HDD #1" during this operation is of no consequence based upon what we
are discussing.

And so on & so on...

Now let's say that while you've booted to your XP OS ("HDD #1"), you decide
to clone the contents of that drive to one of the two partitions you
previously created on your external HDD. Understand that when you originally
multi-partitioned that external HDD into two partitions the drive letters
assigned to each of those partitions is of no consequence in terms of our
present discussion except in "telling" Casper which partition should act as
the destination drive for the purposes of receiving the cloned contents of
your HDD #1. Let's say, as an example, you will be cloning the contents of
that drive to the F: partition on the external HDD, the other partition
having been assigned the G: drive letter assignment.

You will use the same basic process to clone the contents of your Win7 OS
contained on internal HDD #2, but this time using the "G:" partition as the
recipient of those cloned contents.

So now you have your external HDD containing the cloned contents of your XP
& Win7 systems. The fact that the two partitions on the external HDD have
been designated F: & G: are really of no relevance here. Since your external
HDD is a bootable device you will be able to boot to either of the OSs
contained on the external HDD. Let's say you desire to boot to the cloned XP
OS contained on partition F:. (As I previously indicated you will have to
first ensure that the selected partition is marked "Active"; I previously
explained that simple process using Disk Management) . Then ensure that the
BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.
The system will then boot to the cloned XP OS on your external HDD and
receive a C: drive letter assignment. The partition containing the cloned
Win7 OS will receive a non-C: letter assignment, possibly retaining the G:
drive letter assignment. In any event the drive letter assigned to the
latter partition is of no relevance re our discussion.

Once again, you would follow the same basic process should you desire to
boot to the cloned Win7 OS on the external HDD. Again ensuring that the
partition containing that OS is marked "Active" and the BIOS boot priority
order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.

Obviously there are different approaches one can take to meet your
objectives but as I stated I believe the approach I'm suggesting is a
sensible one under your circumstances.
Anna

 

[Anna]

bobster:
It seems to me that the most straightforward & efficient configuration in
your situation based upon your objective of working with two different
operating systems and having at your disposal two internal HDDs plus an
external HDD is to...
1. Install the XP system on one internal HDD.
2. Install the Win7 system on the other internal HDD.
3. Utilize your external HDD as the "destination" HDD, and use your Casper
disk-cloning program as the vehicle to contain the cloned contents of each
of the two internal HDDs. As I previously indicated you would
multi-partition the external HDD into two partitions to accommodate the
cloned contents of each OS.

Naturally this assumes that the 320 GB external HDD you're working with
contains sufficient disk space to contain those cloned contents. You
haven't
indicated the total amount of data you're working with in each of those
two
systems but I'm assuming each of the external drive's partitions you
create
would be sufficient in size to accommodate the cloned contents of that
particular OS. Is that a reasonable assumption?

I'm also assuming each of your two internal HDDs will be
single-partitioned.
Given the configuration I'm suggesting I see no reason to multi-partition
these drives.

Forget about drive letter assignments re the external HDD. They are of
*no*
relevance in this situation. The same is true of your internal HDDs. As an
example...

Let's say your XP OS is installed on internal HDD #1 and your Win7 OS is
installed on internal HDD #2. Now you decide to boot to your XP OS.
Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to HDD #1 the
system
will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive letter
assignment.

Since your second internal HDD containing the Win7 is also connected as a
secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C: drive letter
assignment. Again the drive letter assigned to that drive during this
operation is of no consequence based upon what we are discussing.

Let's say at another time you now desire to boot to your Win7 OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your HDD #2,
the
system will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive
letter assignment. Since your first internal HDD containing the XP OS is
also connected as a secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C:
drive letter assignment. Again, the drive letter assigned to that drive,
i.e., "HDD #1" during this operation is of no consequence based upon what
we
are discussing.

And so on & so on...

Now let's say that while you've booted to your XP OS ("HDD #1"), you
decide
to clone the contents of that drive to one of the two partitions you
previously created on your external HDD. Understand that when you
originally
multi-partitioned that external HDD into two partitions the drive letters
assigned to each of those partitions is of no consequence in terms of our
present discussion except in "telling" Casper which partition should act
as
the destination drive for the purposes of receiving the cloned contents of
your HDD #1. Let's say, as an example, you will be cloning the contents of
that drive to the F: partition on the external HDD, the other partition
having been assigned the G: drive letter assignment.

You will use the same basic process to clone the contents of your Win7 OS
contained on internal HDD #2, but this time using the "G:" partition as
the
recipient of those cloned contents.

So now you have your external HDD containing the cloned contents of your
XP
& Win7 systems. The fact that the two partitions on the external HDD have
been designated F: & G: are really of no relevance here. Since your
external
HDD is a bootable device you will be able to boot to either of the OSs
contained on the external HDD. Let's say you desire to boot to the cloned
XP
OS contained on partition F:. (As I previously indicated you will have to
first ensure that the selected partition is marked "Active"; I previously
explained that simple process using Disk Management) . Then ensure that
the
BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.
The system will then boot to the cloned XP OS on your external HDD and
receive a C: drive letter assignment. The partition containing the cloned
Win7 OS will receive a non-C: letter assignment, possibly retaining the G:
drive letter assignment. In any event the drive letter assigned to the
latter partition is of no relevance re our discussion.

Once again, you would follow the same basic process should you desire to
boot to the cloned Win7 OS on the external HDD. Again ensuring that the
partition containing that OS is marked "Active" and the BIOS boot priority
order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.

Obviously there are different approaches one can take to meet your
objectives but as I stated I believe the approach I'm suggesting is a
sensible one under your circumstances.
Anna

Anna,

Thanks again for clarifying several things that were bothering me
regarding
the use of the external drive in a multi partition mode. Since I haven't
downloaded the Windows 7 OS yet, I don't know its footprint size. The XP
installation is about 40 gigs including all of my apps so I would guess
that
the W7 installation sans apps would be less than that. I would think that
3
80 gig partitions on the external drive would be about right. I will let
you know how it works out when I finally decide to tackle it.

bobster:
Well give the configuration I've suggested a try and see how it works out
for you. If after working with it you're dissatisfied with that approach,
then simply try another configuration possibly along the lines you
previously contemplated. Nearly needless to say you will be sure of course
to maintain comprehensive backups of your system(s) when making any
significant changes.

I'm not clear on why you would want to create *three* partitions on your
external HDD rather than two. Certainly there would be no problem or harm in
doing so since you've indicated you're working with total data roughly
approximating 40 GB in each of the two OSs so since you'll be working with a
320 GB HDD it would seem there's plenty of disk space to accommodate both of
the OSs. I suppose you're contemplating using the third partition to contain
other data of one sort or another.

But whatever you decide it would be interesting to later hear from you as to
how things worked out.
Anna

 

[bobster]

Anna,

Last night I was able to successfully partition my Vantec mounted HD into 3
volumes of approximately 80g each with the remaining space left un-
partitioned. These 3 new partitions each have a new drive letter assigned.
I used Casper to clone the "C" drive volume of my active drive to one of the
"new" partitions on the external Vantec mounted drive. I then was able to
successfully boot my XP system from that drive. As you guessed, It is my
intent to use the three partitions as XP and Win7 backups and the third
partition for general storage such as pictures, etc.


BTW, I used a free partitioning utility, EASUS Partition Master 5.0.1, to
partition the external drive. It was easy to use and did the job with a
minimum of fuss.

My next task will be to install Win 7 on my second internal HD. I'll
probably tackle that in the next few days. I'll let you know the result. I
have run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor from MS and with a few minor
exceptions, it looks like I am good to go.

===========================================================

bobster:
It seems to me that the most straightforward & efficient configuration in
your situation based upon your objective of working with two different
operating systems and having at your disposal two internal HDDs plus an
external HDD is to...
1. Install the XP system on one internal HDD.
2. Install the Win7 system on the other internal HDD.
3. Utilize your external HDD as the "destination" HDD, and use your Casper
disk-cloning program as the vehicle to contain the cloned contents of each
of the two internal HDDs. As I previously indicated you would
multi-partition the external HDD into two partitions to accommodate the
cloned contents of each OS.

Naturally this assumes that the 320 GB external HDD you're working with
contains sufficient disk space to contain those cloned contents. You
haven't
indicated the total amount of data you're working with in each of those
two
systems but I'm assuming each of the external drive's partitions you
create
would be sufficient in size to accommodate the cloned contents of that
particular OS. Is that a reasonable assumption?

I'm also assuming each of your two internal HDDs will be
single-partitioned.
Given the configuration I'm suggesting I see no reason to multi-partition
these drives.

Forget about drive letter assignments re the external HDD. They are of
*no*
relevance in this situation. The same is true of your internal HDDs. As an
example...

Let's say your XP OS is installed on internal HDD #1 and your Win7 OS is
installed on internal HDD #2. Now you decide to boot to your XP OS.
Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to HDD #1 the
system
will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive letter
assignment.

Since your second internal HDD containing the Win7 is also connected as a
secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C: drive letter
assignment. Again the drive letter assigned to that drive during this
operation is of no consequence based upon what we are discussing.

Let's say at another time you now desire to boot to your Win7 OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your HDD #2,
the
system will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive
letter assignment. Since your first internal HDD containing the XP OS is
also connected as a secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C:
drive letter assignment. Again, the drive letter assigned to that drive,
i.e., "HDD #1" during this operation is of no consequence based upon what
we
are discussing.

And so on & so on...

Now let's say that while you've booted to your XP OS ("HDD #1"), you
decide
to clone the contents of that drive to one of the two partitions you
previously created on your external HDD. Understand that when you
originally
multi-partitioned that external HDD into two partitions the drive letters
assigned to each of those partitions is of no consequence in terms of our
present discussion except in "telling" Casper which partition should act
as
the destination drive for the purposes of receiving the cloned contents of
your HDD #1. Let's say, as an example, you will be cloning the contents of
that drive to the F: partition on the external HDD, the other partition
having been assigned the G: drive letter assignment.

You will use the same basic process to clone the contents of your Win7 OS
contained on internal HDD #2, but this time using the "G:" partition as
the
recipient of those cloned contents.

So now you have your external HDD containing the cloned contents of your
XP
& Win7 systems. The fact that the two partitions on the external HDD have
been designated F: & G: are really of no relevance here. Since your
external
HDD is a bootable device you will be able to boot to either of the OSs
contained on the external HDD. Let's say you desire to boot to the cloned
XP
OS contained on partition F:. (As I previously indicated you will have to
first ensure that the selected partition is marked "Active"; I previously
explained that simple process using Disk Management) . Then ensure that
the
BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.
The system will then boot to the cloned XP OS on your external HDD and
receive a C: drive letter assignment. The partition containing the cloned
Win7 OS will receive a non-C: letter assignment, possibly retaining the G:
drive letter assignment. In any event the drive letter assigned to the
latter partition is of no relevance re our discussion.

Once again, you would follow the same basic process should you desire to
boot to the cloned Win7 OS on the external HDD. Again ensuring that the
partition containing that OS is marked "Active" and the BIOS boot priority
order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.

Obviously there are different approaches one can take to meet your
objectives but as I stated I believe the approach I'm suggesting is a
sensible one under your circumstances.
Anna

Anna,

Thanks again for clarifying several things that were bothering me
regarding
the use of the external drive in a multi partition mode. Since I haven't
downloaded the Windows 7 OS yet, I don't know its footprint size. The XP
installation is about 40 gigs including all of my apps so I would guess
that
the W7 installation sans apps would be less than that. I would think that
3
80 gig partitions on the external drive would be about right. I will let
you know how it works out when I finally decide to tackle it.

bobster:
Well give the configuration I've suggested a try and see how it works out
for you. If after working with it you're dissatisfied with that approach,
then simply try another configuration possibly along the lines you
previously contemplated. Nearly needless to say you will be sure of course
to maintain comprehensive backups of your system(s) when making any
significant changes.

I'm not clear on why you would want to create *three* partitions on your
external HDD rather than two. Certainly there would be no problem or harm in
doing so since you've indicated you're working with total data roughly
approximating 40 GB in each of the two OSs so since you'll be working with a
320 GB HDD it would seem there's plenty of disk space to accommodate both of
the OSs. I suppose you're contemplating using the third partition to contain
other data of one sort or another.

But whatever you decide it would be interesting to later hear from you as to
how things worked out.
Anna

 

[bobster]

Anna,

I have been reading up on the possible pitfalls when downloading Windows 7
to an operating XP computer. One quotation (see below) kinda scared me as
I definitely do not want to affect in any way, or lose my XP capability.

"When installing a computer operating system, you will need to reinstall all
existing hardware (i.e. printers, network cards, etc.)."

My question:

If, when I get Win 7 installed and "all existing hardware (i.e. printers,
network cards, etc.) have been reinstalled (changed to suit Win7, I assume),
and I decide to boot up to one of my HDs that have the XP system on it, will
I still have a completely unmodified operational XP system or will the
hardware interface changes made to accommodate Win 7 screw up my XP
operation?

Sorry if I sound like an old worry wart (I'm 80) but I'm somewhat paranoid
about screwing up or losing my superbly operating XP based system.

TIA for you answer

bobster:
It seems to me that the most straightforward & efficient configuration in
your situation based upon your objective of working with two different
operating systems and having at your disposal two internal HDDs plus an
external HDD is to...
1. Install the XP system on one internal HDD.
2. Install the Win7 system on the other internal HDD.
3. Utilize your external HDD as the "destination" HDD, and use your Casper
disk-cloning program as the vehicle to contain the cloned contents of each
of the two internal HDDs. As I previously indicated you would
multi-partition the external HDD into two partitions to accommodate the
cloned contents of each OS.

Naturally this assumes that the 320 GB external HDD you're working with
contains sufficient disk space to contain those cloned contents. You
haven't
indicated the total amount of data you're working with in each of those
two
systems but I'm assuming each of the external drive's partitions you
create
would be sufficient in size to accommodate the cloned contents of that
particular OS. Is that a reasonable assumption?

I'm also assuming each of your two internal HDDs will be
single-partitioned.
Given the configuration I'm suggesting I see no reason to multi-partition
these drives.

Forget about drive letter assignments re the external HDD. They are of
*no*
relevance in this situation. The same is true of your internal HDDs. As an
example...

Let's say your XP OS is installed on internal HDD #1 and your Win7 OS is
installed on internal HDD #2. Now you decide to boot to your XP OS.
Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to HDD #1 the
system
will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive letter
assignment.

Since your second internal HDD containing the Win7 is also connected as a
secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C: drive letter
assignment. Again the drive letter assigned to that drive during this
operation is of no consequence based upon what we are discussing.

Let's say at another time you now desire to boot to your Win7 OS. Assuming
the BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your HDD #2,
the
system will boot to that drive which of course will receive the C: drive
letter assignment. Since your first internal HDD containing the XP OS is
also connected as a secondary HDD at this point it will receive a non-C:
drive letter assignment. Again, the drive letter assigned to that drive,
i.e., "HDD #1" during this operation is of no consequence based upon what
we
are discussing.

And so on & so on...

Now let's say that while you've booted to your XP OS ("HDD #1"), you
decide
to clone the contents of that drive to one of the two partitions you
previously created on your external HDD. Understand that when you
originally
multi-partitioned that external HDD into two partitions the drive letters
assigned to each of those partitions is of no consequence in terms of our
present discussion except in "telling" Casper which partition should act
as
the destination drive for the purposes of receiving the cloned contents of
your HDD #1. Let's say, as an example, you will be cloning the contents of
that drive to the F: partition on the external HDD, the other partition
having been assigned the G: drive letter assignment.

You will use the same basic process to clone the contents of your Win7 OS
contained on internal HDD #2, but this time using the "G:" partition as
the
recipient of those cloned contents.

So now you have your external HDD containing the cloned contents of your
XP
& Win7 systems. The fact that the two partitions on the external HDD have
been designated F: & G: are really of no relevance here. Since your
external
HDD is a bootable device you will be able to boot to either of the OSs
contained on the external HDD. Let's say you desire to boot to the cloned
XP
OS contained on partition F:. (As I previously indicated you will have to
first ensure that the selected partition is marked "Active"; I previously
explained that simple process using Disk Management) . Then ensure that
the
BIOS boot priority order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.
The system will then boot to the cloned XP OS on your external HDD and
receive a C: drive letter assignment. The partition containing the cloned
Win7 OS will receive a non-C: letter assignment, possibly retaining the G:
drive letter assignment. In any event the drive letter assigned to the
latter partition is of no relevance re our discussion.

Once again, you would follow the same basic process should you desire to
boot to the cloned Win7 OS on the external HDD. Again ensuring that the
partition containing that OS is marked "Active" and the BIOS boot priority
order indicates a first HDD boot to your external HDD.

Obviously there are different approaches one can take to meet your
objectives but as I stated I believe the approach I'm suggesting is a
sensible one under your circumstances.
Anna

Anna,

Thanks again for clarifying several things that were bothering me
regarding
the use of the external drive in a multi partition mode. Since I haven't
downloaded the Windows 7 OS yet, I don't know its footprint size. The XP
installation is about 40 gigs including all of my apps so I would guess
that
the W7 installation sans apps would be less than that. I would think that
3
80 gig partitions on the external drive would be about right. I will let
you know how it works out when I finally decide to tackle it.

bobster:
Well give the configuration I've suggested a try and see how it works out
for you. If after working with it you're dissatisfied with that approach,
then simply try another configuration possibly along the lines you
previously contemplated. Nearly needless to say you will be sure of course
to maintain comprehensive backups of your system(s) when making any
significant changes.

I'm not clear on why you would want to create *three* partitions on your
external HDD rather than two. Certainly there would be no problem or harm in
doing so since you've indicated you're working with total data roughly
approximating 40 GB in each of the two OSs so since you'll be working with a
320 GB HDD it would seem there's plenty of disk space to accommodate both of
the OSs. I suppose you're contemplating using the third partition to contain
other data of one sort or another.

But whatever you decide it would be interesting to later hear from you as to
how things worked out.
Anna

 

[Anna]

bobster:
Well give the configuration I've suggested a try and see how it works out
for you. If after working with it you're dissatisfied with that approach,
then simply try another configuration possibly along the lines you
previously contemplated. Nearly needless to say you will be sure of course
to maintain comprehensive backups of your system(s) when making any
significant changes.

I'm not clear on why you would want to create *three* partitions on your
external HDD rather than two. Certainly there would be no problem or harm
in
doing so since you've indicated you're working with total data roughly
approximating 40 GB in each of the two OSs so since you'll be working with
a
320 GB HDD it would seem there's plenty of disk space to accommodate both
of
the OSs. I suppose you're contemplating using the third partition to
contain
other data of one sort or another.

But whatever you decide it would be interesting to later hear from you as
to
how things worked out.
Anna

Anna,

Last night I was able to successfully partition my Vantec mounted HD into
3
volumes of approximately 80g each with the remaining space left un-
partitioned. These 3 new partitions each have a new drive letter
assigned.
I used Casper to clone the "C" drive volume of my active drive to one of
the
"new" partitions on the external Vantec mounted drive. I then was able to
successfully boot my XP system from that drive. As you guessed, It is my
intent to use the three partitions as XP and Win7 backups and the third
partition for general storage such as pictures, etc.


BTW, I used a free partitioning utility, EASUS Partition Master 5.0.1, to
partition the external drive. It was easy to use and did the job with a
minimum of fuss.

My next task will be to install Win 7 on my second internal HD. I'll
probably tackle that in the next few days. I'll let you know the result.
I
have run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor from MS and with a few minor
exceptions, it looks like I am good to go.

bobster:
As previously discussed there's certainly no harm in creating three
partitions on your external HDD and since you plan to use that third
partition for specialized data backup it makes sense to have
multi-partitioned the drive in the way you did.

But why did you leave "unallocated" disk space on the disk? Are you planning
to utilize that disk space sometime in the future for add'l data storage?
Just curious.

While there's no harm in using the EASEUS Partition Master program to
undertake the disk partitioning scheme - it's a fine program based on the
limited experience I've had with it - there really was no reason why you
couldn't have used Disk Management to carry out the multi-partitioning of
your external HDD.

Are you aware that you could have also used your Casper disk-cloning program
to multi-partition your external HDD as well? It's one of the nice features
of the program. Ordinarily you would do this when you initially clone the
contents of your "source" drive to the external HDD. For example, let's say
you intended to clone the contents of your XP OS on your internal HDD #1 to
the external drive. You could use Casper to create the partition on the
external HDD of whatever size you desired (as long, of course, that it was
sufficient in size to hold the cloned contents). Then undertake the same
process when you cloned the contents of your Win7 OS on your internal HDD #2
to the external HDD. And finally create one or more partitions on the
unallocated disk space of the external HDD should there be any unallocated
disk space remaining.
Anna

 

[Anna]

Anna,

I have been reading up on the possible pitfalls when downloading Windows 7
to an operating XP computer. One quotation (see below) kinda scared me
as
I definitely do not want to affect in any way, or lose my XP capability.

"When installing a computer operating system, you will need to reinstall
all
existing hardware (i.e. printers, network cards, etc.)."

My question:

If, when I get Win 7 installed and "all existing hardware (i.e. printers,
network cards, etc.) have been reinstalled (changed to suit Win7, I
assume),
and I decide to boot up to one of my HDs that have the XP system on it,
will
I still have a completely unmodified operational XP system or will the
hardware interface changes made to accommodate Win 7 screw up my XP
operation?

Sorry if I sound like an old worry wart (I'm 80) but I'm somewhat paranoid
about screwing up or losing my superbly operating XP based system.

TIA for you answer

bobster:
No, there's no problem here that will affect your XP system since your XP OS
will be installed on one HDD and the Win7 OS on another HDD. So when you
boot to your XP OS (as previously discussed) the system will detect only
those drivers, configurations, etc. that have been installed in connection
with your XP OS. And when you boot to your Win7 OS (with the HDD containing
the XP OS now a secondary HDD in the system) there will similarly be no
adverse impact on your XP OS re Win7 drivers, configurations, etc. under
those circumstances.
Anna

 

[bobster]

Anna,

I've hit a snag. When I partition my external HD into 3 partitions, only
one (always the first) partition can contain a bootable volume. The second
and third partitions have unique drive letters assigned but my BIOS
recognizes only the first volume drive letter in its lists of bootable
drives. I have found no way of changing the BIOS to overcome this
limitation.

When I go to XP disk management, the first volume shows up as the "primary
partition" while the second and third volumes show up as "extended partition
logical drives". When I right click on either of these two partitions,
there is no "mark partition as active" option as there is when right
clicking the first partition. I have tried using XP, EASEUS and Casper to
partition the external HD into 3 partitions and all resulted in three
partitions in which only partition one could be used to boot. The
limitation may possibly be in the Casper cloning concept but I have read
their use notes and can't find an answer to the problem.

At this point it appears to me that I cannot have two bootable partitions on
a single hard drive unless I go to a true dual boot configuration for W7 and
XP. At this point I am considering reverting to my "plan" B approach, i.e.
using two separate external HDs in the Vantec enclosure. I have an extra HD
and changing them in the enclosure is a five minute task.

If you have any other thoughts let me know.

TIA
(e-mail address removed)...

Anna,

I have been reading up on the possible pitfalls when downloading Windows 7
to an operating XP computer. One quotation (see below) kinda scared me
as
I definitely do not want to affect in any way, or lose my XP capability.

"When installing a computer operating system, you will need to reinstall
all
existing hardware (i.e. printers, network cards, etc.)."

My question:

If, when I get Win 7 installed and "all existing hardware (i.e. printers,
network cards, etc.) have been reinstalled (changed to suit Win7, I
assume),
and I decide to boot up to one of my HDs that have the XP system on it,
will
I still have a completely unmodified operational XP system or will the
hardware interface changes made to accommodate Win 7 screw up my XP
operation?

Sorry if I sound like an old worry wart (I'm 80) but I'm somewhat paranoid
about screwing up or losing my superbly operating XP based system.

TIA for you answer

bobster:
No, there's no problem here that will affect your XP system since your XP OS
will be installed on one HDD and the Win7 OS on another HDD. So when you
boot to your XP OS (as previously discussed) the system will detect only
those drivers, configurations, etc. that have been installed in connection
with your XP OS. And when you boot to your Win7 OS (with the HDD containing
the XP OS now a secondary HDD in the system) there will similarly be no
adverse impact on your XP OS re Win7 drivers, configurations, etc. under
those circumstances.
Anna