From: Bob Taylor on
bobster wrote:
> Bob,
>
> Maybe I'm missing something here but it looks like you are making a fairly
> simple problem way too difficult. You definitely can boot from an
> externally mounted HD.
What you are missing is that I was told this and have actually tried
it, but perhaps you know a way around. If you plug a usb hard drive
in and reboot, it does not see the drive until XP has loaded. Too
late to boot it.

Love to know how to get around that.

I don't see how it is me making things difficult. What I want to do
seems very simple.


Regards, Bob Taylor
From: Bob Taylor on
Paul wrote:
> Bob Taylor wrote:
>> Paul wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> OK, let's try this again.
>>>
>>> Does the Easeus tool copy a partition ?
>> Well, as I mentioned in my original message, it does, but the
>> technical person assures me that they cannot guarantee it will be
>> bootable.
>>
>> I think Partition Magic might do the job, but Norton assures me that
>> they no longer sell it. I suppose one possibility would be to find a
>> copy of partition magic on amazon or ebay. This I would do, if I were
>> reasonably sure it would work. Of course there would be no support
>> for it.
>>
>>
>> Thanks again for your comments,
>> Bob Taylor
>
> Looking at this:
>
> http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/comparison.html
>
> it says "Create bootable CD to manage partitions" is not offered
> in the Free edition.
>
> But that isn't the same thing as copying your bootable C: WinXP partition,
> to some other disk. I think that will work, and you have nothing to worry
> about. No "bolting" needed :-)

The tech guy said no, they couldn't guarantee it. Otherwise I would
be doing it instead of reading your emails.


>
> If there was already a bootable partition on the other
> disk, that would be trouble. It would be the same issue if
> Partition Magic was involved. Only one partition can have
> the active flag set. So if the second disk is currently a
> "data" disk, and no partition is currently active (boot flag 0x80),
> then you should be able to copy the partition from the other disk.
>
> Other restrictions, are the number of partitions. You can have
> up to four primary partitions, or three primary and an extended.
> Within the extended, you can have a whole bunch of logical partitions.
> Primary partitions are the ones valued for their ability to be
> bootable, but only one at a time can have the flag set. I assume,
> but have never tried, to host two bootable partitions, and
> try flipping the boot flag back and forth between them.
>
> So give the Easeus thing a try. I couldn't see a reason for
> that restriction, because they'd have to go out of their way
> to break it. I mean, if they didn't want you to have it,
> it would be easier to simply not offer a free version.
>
> Paul
From: Daave on
Inline.

Bob Taylor wrote:
> bobster wrote:
>> Bob,
>>
>> Maybe I'm missing something here but it looks like you are making a
>> fairly simple problem way too difficult. You definitely can boot
>> from an externally mounted HD.

bobster, often this is not the case!!!

> What you are missing is that I was told this and have actually tried
> it, but perhaps you know a way around. If you plug a usb hard drive
> in and reboot, it does not see the drive until XP has loaded. Too
> late to boot it.
>
> Love to know how to get around that.

Bob:

People have had mixed success with making ordinary USB external hard
drives bootable (it's rarely recommended). The motherboard and BIOS must
support the method and you would need to configure the BIOS correctly.

The easiest way to do this is to use an eSATA hard drive (of course the
motherboard must support eSATA).

How about telling us about your hardware?


From: dadiOH on
Bob Taylor wrote:
> dadiOH wrote:
>>
>> The simplest thing is to just install another (minimal) XP to the
>> partition.
>
> Ok.
>> Doing so will create a boot menu from which you can boot should the
>> need/desire arise. To avoid confusion, you could rename the new XP
>> install Ok. to something like "XP - Basic" in the boot menu.
> OK
>
> But what about copying my existing OS? Do I just copy on top of this
> minimal partition? Not clear how this solves my problem.

Why copy it? Make an image and stash it on a drive. If you need to restore
the image you can do so easily with the program that made it.

The extra XP install is only handy if the main XP is fubared, you don't have
an image and need to get at stuff on the main XP drive.

>> You might also want to check out Paragon Hard Drive Manager, it will
>> clone one HD or partition to another. The same is true of the
>> programs
> Yes, but will it clone a bootable partition without completely
> formating the target disk?

No idea, try it and see

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico



From: Don Phillipson on
"Bob Taylor" <nospam(a)nospam.com> wrote in message
news:%23FYACzgELHA.4824(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> I have two hard drives, each partitioned. The first drive has the XP
> partition (C) and a partition (E) with all my data. One partition on
> my second drive (D) has backup and archive files. The others are unused.
>
> I want to make a bootable copy of my c drive onto the first (unused)
> partition of the second drive without destroying the archive and
> backup partition (D).
>
> What program can do this?
>
> Acronis cannot do this and I have been assured that EASEUS Data
> Backup & Recovery cannot do it either. (Both of these want to destroy
> the whole drive)

The Western Digital "Data Lifeguard" for copying drives does this OK for
Win98SE, so probably for WinXP as well.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)