Clone easily Windows 98 and XP in the same computer.

[cannie]

In other words, FDISK changes the MBR, FORMAT changes the PBR.

jaclaz

OK.

The text has been corrected in the first post.

Thank you!

[cannie]

no solution using just one HDD protects one against hardware (read HDD) failures, while the two HDDs solution does

Applying this idea to the XP cloning procedure described at paragraph C of the first post, it would be excellent if your hardware allows you to create the XP2 clone into a primary partition of a second HD in order to switch to it in case of failure of the first HD.

Edited September 16, 2009 by cannie

[cannie]

Being very interesting for any user who has two HD units, I've included the precedent suggestion of yours into the paragraph C4 of the first post.

Thank you once more, dencorso!

[dencorso]

You're most welcome, cannie!

BTW, perhaps you might add a note in post #1 regarding the fact that XXCOPY FREEWARE v.2.96.5 is the very last version of XXCOPY that works OK with Win 9x/ME (I originally posted this info here).

[cannie]

Hi, dencorso!

A very helpful program for any Windows user.

I've included your suggestion in the C4 paragraph of the first post, just under the precedent one.

Cheers.

Edited September 18, 2009 by cannie

[cannie]

Modified paragraph G.- WHAT TO DO IF EVERYTHING FAILS, to beware against the possibility of omitting the hidden boot files when rebuilding the primary partitions.

It may happen very easily because the hidden files are not shown by the XP explorer unless you configure it properly, and if you don't see you can't copy them.

HTH

[cannie]

Paragraph C4 has been rewritten into C7 and C8 to include the use of Deltree.exe under Windows XP and in order to a better understanding.

HTH

[cannie]

Modified paragraph A to include the option of cloning Windows 98 not only into a different unit into the extended partition but also to another primary partition by simply using XXCOPY.EXE, introducing also several improvements in the redaction of the text for a better understanding of it.

HTH

Edited September 27, 2009 by cannie

[cannie]

Taking into consideration that the boot CD is only used when the OS fails, the F3 option of building a boot CD using the doubleboot screen has been removed because F1 and F2 options are considerably more secure.

Paragraph A has been rebuilt for better results, and also the redaction of the initial paragraph has been corrected and improved.

HTH

Edited October 1, 2009 by cannie

[cannie]

Rebuilt the last paragraph "What to do if everything fails" to correct some detected omissions which could mean problems for newbies.

Also improved the text in several other points for a better help to users.

HTH

Edited October 4, 2009 by cannie

[EyesOfARaven]

I've been experimenting with using archiving utilities for backing up and Does anyone know of a utility that can save and restore a copy of the MBR, preferably one that works in DOS or Windows? On one PC, I'm using the 2K bootloader. The one I'm working on will use Grub when I get it finished.

Rick

Why backup and restore the MBR when the MBR is the same on all Windows 98 installations (or for that matter, all DOS-based Windows). Run "fdisk /mbr" to write a new MBR, and you could omit the DOS boot files from the image to save a bit of space, and make your boot media, whatever it may be, DOS 7.10, and thusly doing a sys C: or what-have-you will put 98-compatible DOS on the disk. You probably would want to still backup autoexec.bat and config.sys, but this would save you from putting command.com, msdos.sys, and io.sys into your archive (not much space saved, but it's something).

Edit: I didn't read that you were using non-DOS MBRs, but this process will work for anyone who isn't.

Edited October 5, 2009 by EyesOfARaven

[dencorso]

I've been experimenting with using archiving utilities for backing up and Does anyone know of a utility that can save and restore a copy of the MBR, preferably one that works in DOS or Windows? On one PC, I'm using the 2K bootloader. The one I'm working on will use Grub when I get it finished.

Sorry, Rick, I somehow missed that post of yours.

I use DIY DataRecovery's MBRTool. It does what you want, but does not use a raw format, so you cannot use the saved archives to manually put the MBR back, should you ever want to do so. But it can also save the whole of the 1st track of every HDD (up to four), which is handy.

However, there is more to save, so I also save raw images of the MBR and of each MBR-like structures in the Extended Partition chain. I do that with WinHex, but your favorite hexeditor should do it as well.

As for the boot manager, don't go over to Grub, go to Grub4DOS instead, it's much more poweful and versatile. Please do read the Grub4DOS Guide to learn more about it.

@EyesOfARaven: Because fdisk/MBR restores the MBR's boot code, not the actual Partition Table, which contains the addresses of every partition in an HDD, and are unique to each installation, nor the Windows Disk Signature, which is unique to each HDD, and used by the NT-family OSes to assignthe drive letters, and thus of interest for those of us who multiboot with XP or 2k.

[jaclaz]

There are N programs capable of backing up/restoring a RAW bootsector or MBR.

Under DOS DEBUG is as good as any other. (there are scripts for it).

One of the "forgotten" pages with some useful things for DOS lovers:

http://web.archive.org/web/20021016205201/...wnloads/rec.htm

If you know what you are doing:

http://www.partitionsupport.com/utilities.htm

Under windows, MBRFIX, or MBRWIZ (dos version also available) or HDHACKER or dsfo/dsfi of the DSFOK toolkit among tens of other ones do it allright.

jaclaz

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

http://web.archive.org/web/20021016205201/...wnloads/rec.htm

Nice work as usual. I just updated Post#28 with that page you found. It has working downloads directly from the web.archive.org archives of the old dos.li5.org site. Anyone who still needs it can grab SrcTools and some other stuff as of this writing.

[jaclaz]

I just updated Post#28 with that page you found.

There are some issues with the Forum software, that kind of link does not work right now.

See here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/broken-links-for...19.html&hl=

http://www.msfn.org/board/broken-links-for...19-page-15.html

These kinds of links appear to be the only ones working:

http://www.msfn.org/board/create-easily-second-win98-xp-same-computer-t118623.html&st=27
http://www.msfn.org/board/create-easily-second-win98-xp-same-computer-t118623-page-27.html
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=118623&st=27

http://www.msfn.org/board/create-easily-se....html&st=27

http://www.msfn.org/board/create-easily-se...23-page-27.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...18623&st=27

jaclaz