boot manager for XP / Win7 (+ others)
in [Windows XP]
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From: Pegasus [MVP] on 7 Oct 2009 18:40 "Paul Randall" <paulr901(a)cableone.net> wrote in message news:e4og515RKHA.4116(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > > "Pegasus [MVP]" <news(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:OwnaYafRKHA.4004(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... >> >> "John Smith" <someone(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:OIe8veeRKHA.764(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >>> Hi, I was hoping someone could suggest a good boot manager for a dual >>> boot system comprising XP and Win 7 (and possible Solaris / Linux in the >>> future) >>> >>> I previously installed Win 7 whilst in my XP session. This polluted my >>> XP system as it wrote Win 7 boot files to my XP partition. I don't want >>> any of that funny business. So this time I decided to placed each OS on >>> a separate SATA drive. >>> >>> Configuration is as follows: >>> >>> Motherboard: Abit NF7-S 2.0 >>> SATA1: XP Pro SP3 >>> SATA2: Windows 7 (Build 7600) >>> >>> At this stage I have just been physically unplugging/booting the >>> respective HDD's. >>> >>> I think my motherboard/bios is too old for that F12 boot trick I've read >>> on the forums. I also might be interested in installing Solaris (or some >>> flavour of Linux) in the future on another partition I'll create on >>> SATA2. >>> >>> I heard that the preference is a boot manager that sits in the first >>> track of the hard drive. I also want something that executes FAST and is >>> simple to configure. >>> >>> I've heard about Acronis (which I read is somewhat slow) and GAG. Does >>> anyone have any recommendations/config advice? >>> >>> Any help most appreciated. >>> >>> JS >> >> I have used XOSL for several years. It will work with any OS and each OS >> can reside on any disk and on any partition (primary or logical). It's >> free but it requires a 15 MByte partition for itself, which can be on any >> disk. Note that XOSL does *not* modify the boot environment of your >> various OSs in any way. It simply lets you select an OS, then passes >> control to the chosen OS. > > Hi, Pegasus > > I've been meaning to play with XOSL for a while, and have read a lot of > stuff about it; one thing that concerns me is that development stopped in > about 2001. Hard drives back then were tiny compared to today's drives, > and I haven't seen anything that says what, if any, hard drive size limits > there are. I did read something about its being able to exceed an 8-GB > limitation, but I'm wondering if it can handle 1.5 TB drives? I have a > Compaq machine whose BIOS makes SATA drives look like IDE, and I'd like to > know how much success people have had using XOSL with large drives. > > -Paul Randall Sorry, I don't know. If I had a large drive then I would give it a try - it only takes a few minutes. I would do this: - Create a 15 MByte FAT partition at the far end of the large disk. - Install XOSL in that partition. - Add a disk with a pre-existing WinXP installation. - Add this WinXP instance to the XOSL selection menu. - Test it. - Create a 20 GByte logical partition near the far end of the large disk. - Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD. - Use robocopy to copy the WinXP installation from the second disk to the logical partition on the first disk. - Disconnect the second disk. - Add the cloned WinXP instance to the XOSL menu. - Test it. Warning: XOSL does not have many safeguards. It can easily wipe out existing partitions if you make a wrong choice. You should play with it using a throw-away disk until you're fully familiar with its operation.
From: Paul Randall on 8 Oct 2009 09:16 "Pegasus [MVP]" <news(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message news:OdUdo85RKHA.3388(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > > "Paul Randall" <paulr901(a)cableone.net> wrote in message > news:e4og515RKHA.4116(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... >> >> "Pegasus [MVP]" <news(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message >> news:OwnaYafRKHA.4004(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... >>> >>> "John Smith" <someone(a)microsoft.com> wrote in message >>> news:OIe8veeRKHA.764(a)TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >>>> Hi, I was hoping someone could suggest a good boot manager for a dual >>>> boot system comprising XP and Win 7 (and possible Solaris / Linux in >>>> the future) >>>> >>>> I previously installed Win 7 whilst in my XP session. This polluted my >>>> XP system as it wrote Win 7 boot files to my XP partition. I don't want >>>> any of that funny business. So this time I decided to placed each OS on >>>> a separate SATA drive. >>>> >>>> Configuration is as follows: >>>> >>>> Motherboard: Abit NF7-S 2.0 >>>> SATA1: XP Pro SP3 >>>> SATA2: Windows 7 (Build 7600) >>>> >>>> At this stage I have just been physically unplugging/booting the >>>> respective HDD's. >>>> >>>> I think my motherboard/bios is too old for that F12 boot trick I've >>>> read on the forums. I also might be interested in installing Solaris >>>> (or some flavour of Linux) in the future on another partition I'll >>>> create on SATA2. >>>> >>>> I heard that the preference is a boot manager that sits in the first >>>> track of the hard drive. I also want something that executes FAST and >>>> is simple to configure. >>>> >>>> I've heard about Acronis (which I read is somewhat slow) and GAG. Does >>>> anyone have any recommendations/config advice? >>>> >>>> Any help most appreciated. >>>> >>>> JS >>> >>> I have used XOSL for several years. It will work with any OS and each OS >>> can reside on any disk and on any partition (primary or logical). It's >>> free but it requires a 15 MByte partition for itself, which can be on >>> any disk. Note that XOSL does *not* modify the boot environment of your >>> various OSs in any way. It simply lets you select an OS, then passes >>> control to the chosen OS. >> >> Hi, Pegasus >> >> I've been meaning to play with XOSL for a while, and have read a lot of >> stuff about it; one thing that concerns me is that development stopped in >> about 2001. Hard drives back then were tiny compared to today's drives, >> and I haven't seen anything that says what, if any, hard drive size >> limits there are. I did read something about its being able to exceed an >> 8-GB limitation, but I'm wondering if it can handle 1.5 TB drives? I >> have a Compaq machine whose BIOS makes SATA drives look like IDE, and I'd >> like to know how much success people have had using XOSL with large >> drives. >> >> -Paul Randall > > Sorry, I don't know. If I had a large drive then I would give it a try - > it only takes a few minutes. I would do this: > - Create a 15 MByte FAT partition at the far end of the large disk. > - Install XOSL in that partition. > - Add a disk with a pre-existing WinXP installation. > - Add this WinXP instance to the XOSL selection menu. > - Test it. > - Create a 20 GByte logical partition near the far end of the large disk. > - Boot the machine with a Bart PE boot CD. > - Use robocopy to copy the WinXP installation from the second disk to the > logical partition on the first disk. > - Disconnect the second disk. > - Add the cloned WinXP instance to the XOSL menu. > - Test it. > Warning: XOSL does not have many safeguards. It can easily wipe out > existing partitions if you make a wrong choice. You should play with it > using a throw-away disk until you're fully familiar with its operation. I'm away from home right now but I do have an unused 120 GB drive with me that I might slip into my laptop and a UBCD4Win boot CD. After reading http://www.buildorbuy.org/bioslimits.html, I'm thinking that it is worth playing with. Thanks for the testing procedure. I think I have all the necessary software tools with me to do this testing. What is the largest hard drive you have used XOSL with? -Paul Randall
From: Pegasus [MVP] on 8 Oct 2009 12:03
"Paul Randall" <paulr901(a)cableone.net> wrote in message news:uBfWMmBSKHA.4408(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > > I'm away from home right now but I do have an unused 120 GB drive with me > that I might slip into my laptop and a UBCD4Win boot CD. After reading > http://www.buildorbuy.org/bioslimits.html, I'm thinking that it is worth > playing with. Thanks for the testing procedure. I think I have all the > necessary software tools with me to do this testing. > > What is the largest hard drive you have used XOSL with? > > -Paul Randall 80 GBytes. |