Moving WinXP from Drive 2 to Drive 1

[dch222]

I originally installed WinXP on Drive 2, leaving Win98 on Drive 1 in a dual boot configuration. The Win98 installation has since been corrupted and I would like to move my WinXP installation to Drive 1 and overwrite Win98. I have Partition Magic 7.0 but am a novice at using it. Is there any easy way to accomplish this move? Do I simply copy the primary partition from Drive 2 to Drive 1 and make it active? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DarkSiege]

Format drive 1 and copy the second onto it or reinstall?

 

[dch222]

Not a Reinstall

Thanks for the quick response, DarkSiege. I do not want to reinstall WinXP. If I reformat Drive 1, won't I lose my boot.ini file and therefore lose my ability to start WinXP to use Partition Magic to accomplish the move?

 

[Lonman]

Yeah, don't format drive 1, you're correct... you'll lose the ability to boot XP. Disconnect drive one and run 'fixboot' from the recovery console of the CD. Then you can image drive 2 and put the image on drive one, or just switch the configuration... 2 to 1.

 

[DarkSiege]

Oops! Sorry for giving the wrong info dude! I'll make sure I don't do it again next time. Sorry! 🙁

 

[dch222]

Thanks, Lonman (in the great state of WA). Will copying the primary partition from Drive 2 to 1 achieve the same end since imaging is not an option for me (at least as far as I can see)? If so, the primary partition on Drive 2 is currently listed as not bootable and its status is listed as "none" instead of "active," according to Partition Magic. And yes, I do want to move the WinXP installation to Drive 1.

 

[dch222]

No problem, DarkSiege.

 

[Lonman]

I don't think you can successfully copy things over... the copy process won't allow you to copy files that are in use and you'll want to copy from an active XP, leaving vital system files on drive 2... that's why I suggested imaging. The only other option I can really think of is format drive 1 and install XP from scratch.

 

[Ritchie]

I did this myself not long ago and all i can say is:

BUY NORTON GHOST!

you can purchase and download from symantec without having to move, plus it turns the move process into a no-brainer - connect both drives and do a disk -> disk copy.

 

[dch222]

Thanks for the suggestion, Ritchie.