Question

Transferring OS to different partition

Asked by: ketan_kunde

I had a dual boot setup with win98 (c:) and win2k (e:). I deleted all the files in c: except ntdlr, ntdetect and boot.ini ao that i could continue using win2k. i now want to have win2k on c:. is there any way to transfer the OS or rename the two partitions (win2k partition as c:) without uspetting my OS settings or having to reformat my entire HD?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2004-02-03 at 01:46:25ID20871388
Tags

partition

,

different

Topic

Operating Systems Miscellaneous

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
9

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. BOOT.INI for Win98 on partition 2
    Hi, I would like to add a boot option to boot.ini for win98, which was installed after NT, with the following configuration: The systems has 1 IDE Disk 1st Partition is NTFS with NT40 2nd Partition is FAT with Win 98 3rd Partition is NTFS for NT The section for operating s...
  2. win2k boot.ini
    Hey Everyone, i did something pretty stupid and i need some help. Ok, i had win2k and win98 both installed about 2 weeks ago, i deteled win2k cause it didn't support my sound card..and after that.......i still had the option of choosing my OS when i booted my computer. So i w...
  3. boot.ini
    i have a dell inspiron 3500 series notebook with a factory installed win98. I wanted to run Oracle 8i, so i installed win2k rc2 with dual booting with win98. Now in nt i know that there was a boot.ini file, but i couldn't find this kind of a file on my notebook. I searched ev...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: CrazyOnePosted on 2004-02-03 at 01:48:36ID: 10259680

PartitionMagic
http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/
PartitionMagic® allows you to create, resize, merge and convert partitions on your hard drive without destroying

data. Award-winning PartitionMagic is the world's leading hard-drive partitioning software for PC enthusiasts.

Partition Manager
http://www.partition-manager.com/n_pm_main.htm

Partition Manager from Paragon provides easy and safe partitioning functions to even non-professional users.

With Partition Manager you can reclaim wasted disk space, organize your data, add new operating systems, speed

up file system performance.

In the past, partition modification was risky and time-consuming task. Users had to backup all files, create new

partitions, format them, may be reinstall operating system, and restore data. With Partition Manager you just select

what partition modification should be done. All will be done automatically without  data loss.

System Commander
http://www.v-com.com/product/sc7_ind.html

System Commander 7 provides the ultimate OS management and full partitioning in one integrated package!

 Supports every PC-compatible OS!
 Automatic preparation for adding OSes
 New - user selectable graphics
 New - installs from any Windows, including Windows XP NTFS.
 Free! Partition Commander 6 - Safe resize, create, move & copy for Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP, Linux and

DOS partitions.
 Undo partitioning with exclusive BackStep technology.

Partition Commander
http://www.v-com.com/product/pc8_ind.html

Partition Commander lets you reclaim hard disk space, organize your files, add new operating systems (OSes), and

in many cases speed up hard drive access speeds. Best of all, you don't have to be an expert. Partition Commander

automates the process - guiding you through step-by-step. Where you have a choice, helpful suggestions are made

available - the rest is handled automatically!

BootIT Next Generation
http://www.bootitng.com/bootitng.html

BootIt NG is a partition and multi boot manager with a powerful and simple to use set of tools for partitioning,

imaging, and multi-booting your computer.  It combines the features of several standalone products costing

hundreds of dollars more.

Here's a list of some of the features you'll find in BootIt NG:

Windows XP/2003 Compatible!
IEEE1394/USB 2.0 high speed support for imaging/partitioning.
support for large hard drives (2 TB) and partitions (1-2 TB).
non-destructive resizing and conversion for FAT/FAT32.
non-destructive resizing for NTFS.
creation and (secure) deletion of partitions/volumes.
undelete partitions/volumes.
FAT/FAT32 formatting
copying and moving of partitions/volumes.
support for Linux Ext2/Ext3 and ReiserFS file systems.
Imaging (including directly to CD-R/RW or DVD+R+RW-R-RW)
booting any partition on any hard drive  
booting from the CD ROM drive
booting multiple operating systems from a single partition.
create over 200 primary partitions (if desired).
user id and password protection.
free upgrades (1.00-1.99) (registration-key versions only)  
and lots more....

zBoot Manager
http://www.zbmsoft.com/

zBoot Manager is an effective boot manager and partition manager, which allows you to easily install and use

multiple operating systems on a single hard drive.


Acronis PartitionExpert
http://www.acronis.com/products/partitionexpert/

Resize, copy, and move partitions without losing data*
Create and delete partitions of any type
Format partitions*
Automatically optimize hard disk space usage
Convert FAT16 <=> FAT32, Linux Ext2 <=> Ext3 partitions without losing data
Change cluster size, automatically or manually**
Browse through the detailed information about all hard disks, partitions and file systems
Hide or make visible partitions of any type
Previewing changes made in partition layout before applying them to disk
Supports large disks over 180 Gb
----------------------

Free

Ranish Partition Manager
http://www.ranish.com/part/
Partition Manager is a freeware program that partitions hard disks. It will help you to install and dualboot Linux and

multiple copies of Windows. For example, it will let you to run Win ME, Win 2k, and Linux on a single box. Also, using

Partition Manager you can copy, move, and resize disk partitions.

http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/

 

by: CrazyOnePosted on 2004-02-03 at 01:50:29ID: 10259686

use one of these to move the os over to C

* denotes PC magazines pick as the best in its class
==================================

      Drive Imaging
Reviews By PC Magazine June 17, 2003
At some point, you may need to preserve your entire hard drive exactly as it is—byte for byte. Drive-imaging software does exactly that: It saves a snapshot of every bit of information on a drive or partition so you can restore the system to an identical state. But beware: The product you choose may not work well with your CD-RW drive. We ran into some compatibility problems during testing. Fortunately, each of the programs in this roundup has a money-back guarantee. So be sure to give the software a test run as soon as you buy it.

Drive Image
http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/
PowerQuest has clearly put a lot of effort into making Drive Image 2002 easy to use. When you launch the program, a straightforward wizard walks you through the process of either creating a backup of your hard drive or restoring it, detailing each step of the process.

Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/
The most impressive aspects of Norton Ghost 2003 are its advanced features and versatile functions in a business setting, where you might need to set up hundreds of systems using the same hard drive image.

*Acronis TrueImage
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/
Acronis TrueImage 6.0 has an interface that makes it an ideal solution for users with basic drive-imaging needs and a desire for simplicity. The wizard for backing up a hard drive is extremely intuitive; it lets you back up partitions of a hard drive to another partition on the same drive or to optical media. Unlike Drive Image and Ghost, TrueImage does not require exclusive access to the file system to make a copy of all files. And whereas other programs require you to reboot into DOS mode to complete most operations, TrueImage needs to leave Windows only to restore a hard drive.

not reviewed by PC Magazine

Casper XP
is the next generation of Drive2Drive, designed exclusively for Windows XP and Windows 2000 systems.
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/

Drive2Drive (Win 95, 98, ME)
makes upgrading to a new hard disk faster and easier than ever.
http://www.fssdev.com/products/drive2drive/
==================================

      Traditional Backup
Reviews By PC Magazine June 17, 2003
The programs in this section can back up data, files, and even your entire system—applications and all—to CD-Rs or other types of media. Backups can be performed on demand or scheduled to occur at any convenient time. Between full backups, you can copy additional files using differential or incremental backups. This is the most comprehensive tactic, but because it requires the most discipline, you should also consider the approaches in the other sections.

BackUp MyPC
www.stompinc.com
Stomp's BackUp MyPC 4.85 ($69, or $79 on CD)—formerly Veritas Backup Exec Desktop—is a full-featured solution with multiple methods for backing up and restoring files. The fastest and easiest method is the One-Button Backup, which handles all your hard drives and critical system files such as the Registry. For a more hands-on approach, use BackUp MyPC's detailed wizards.

NTI Backup NOW! Deluxe  
http://www.ntibackupnow.com/default.asp
NTI Backup NOW! Deluxe 3.0 is easy to use and powerful. To back up or restore your data, you follow a simple wizard. The program's scheduling options are the most thorough in the group, even letting you choose specific days of the week or month for backups.

*Retrospect Professional
www.dantz.com
Retrospect Professional is the most expensive product in this group. But for the extra money, you get advanced options such as disk cloning, scripting, and open file backup, plus the best interface and scheduling tools here. Although this wealth of options makes Retrospect the best choice for advanced users, novices are likely to find it overwhelming.

WinBackup
http://www.liutilities.com/products/winbackup/
At first glance, WinBackup appears to be well designed, with useful options and a simple interface. Unfortunately, the program was too slow when backing up, writing to our CD-RW drive at a much slower rate than the drive supports.
==================================

      Online Backup Services
Reviews By PC Magazine June 17, 2003
When you think of backing up data, CD-RWs and tape drives probably come to mind. But online backup services have become a reliable alternative. In choosing a service, you do have to consider such criteria as speeds and scheduling capabilities, since you'll be transferring large amounts of data over your Internet connection.

@Backup
www.backup.com
Although the interface looks a bit primitive, @Backup is very easy to use. You simply right-click on a folder or a file—say, a Word document on your desktop—and add it to your backup schedule.

IBackup
www.ibackup.com
If you're thirsting for a feature-rich backup service, try IBackup. This service is set apart by an extensive set of tools and wizards, which guide novices easily through backing up data, restoring files, and scheduling backups.

*Connected TLM
www.connected.com
Like @Backup, Connected TLM was one of the first online backup services. And the experience shows. Our initial backup took only 1 minute 40 seconds, and the restore time was a blazing 56 seconds. Connected also has excellent scheduling options.

OnlineBackupCenter
OnlineBackupCenter.com
OnlineBackupCenter is loaded with features; it offers scheduling, filters, wizards, and three types of encryption. But we were disappointed by its speeds. Backing up and restoring files took over an hour, compared with about a minute using @Backup or Connected.
==================================

      Real-Time Backup
Reviews By PC Magazine June 17, 2003
Most backup tools work on a schedule or on demand. What if something happens to the files you are currently working on? Imagine you've spent hours editing an important document and suddenly there's a power outage. That won't be a problem if you're using a real-time backup solution. Such products back up your files as they are being modified—and take very little in the way of system resources to run seamlessly in the background.

*Iomega Automatic Backup
http://www.iomega.com/na/landing.jsp
Iomega Automatic Backup is well designed, simple and flexible. The most reliable approach is to set it so that it manages backups without any user input, backing up files as you edit them. Data can be saved to another system, a network drive, or even a folder on the same computer. (Backing up to the same system is not the best idea, since you'll lose your data and the backups if the computer or hard drive fails.)

AutoSave
http://www.v-com.com/product/as_ind.html
Although AutoSave doesn't have quite as polished an interface, the program is still quite easy to use. By default, it automatically backs up files every time they are modified. A host of options let you exclude specific file extensions, enable backing up files that are currently opened, and perform extensive validity checks on the consistency of the backup database, among other things.
==================================

      Other Backup Tools
Reviews By PC Magazine June 17, 2003
The needs of computer users vary greatly, even when it comes to backup. Fortunately, companies that create backup solutions offer a variety of approaches, from letting you back up to a remote online server to backing up your data in real time. Here are a few backup tools that don't fit into the standard

Argentum Backup
www.argentuma.com
Argentum Backup is a good choice if you're looking for a very basic, hassle-free way to back up while using only a minimum of system resources. This very tiny utility saves backups in ZIP format to minimize file size. Argentum Backup includes templates that help you back up your e-mail messages and contacts database. The program also backs up important system information, such as the Registry and shell settings. To back up data, you define data sets and schedule each set to be backed up on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis. You can also opt to back up these sets manually. Unlike the traditional backup programs, Argentum Backup can't back up directly to CD and DVD burners.

Second Copy
http://www.centered.com/
Second Copy can back up your data to any local or network hard drive for safekeeping, but like Argentum Backup, it doesn't natively back up to removable storage media. The interface is somewhat primitive, although the wizard simplifies the process of backing up information. The wizard helps you create a profile for each backup session so that when you need to view or revert back to old files, you can quickly find and access the appropriate data by clicking on the profiles.

ABSplus
http://www.cmsproducts.com/product_abs_software.htm
ABSplus 5.0 bundles a portable 20GB or larger hard drive and a backup utility. ABS doesn't use any compression technology, so you get a 1:1 ratio. The software supports a host of features, such as scheduling, file filters, and validity checks. You can obtain other features, including synchronizing and versioning, by upgrading to ABS Pro for an additional cost.
==================================

Also vendors of hard disks have disk utilities and part of this package is a cloning utility and they are free.

fujitsu
http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/download/hard-drives/#diagnostic

IBM and Hitachi
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

Maxtor
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products/index.htm

Samsung
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/hdd/support/utilities/utilities_index.html

Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html

Western Digital
http://support.wdc.com/download/
www.westerndigital.com

 

by: CrazyOnePosted on 2004-02-03 at 01:51:46ID: 10259696

Prior ot doing that the do thish

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit
change the value from "C:\Winnt\System32\userinit.exe"  to just "userinit.exe"

HOW TO: Change the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q223188

The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

This article was previously published under Q223188


IN THIS TASK
SUMMARY

Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SUMMARY
This article describes how to change the system or boot drive letter in Windows. For the most part, this is not recommended, especially if the drive letter is the same as when Windows was installed. The only time that you may want to do this is when the drive letters get changed without any user intervention. This may happen when you break a mirror volume or there is a drive configuration change. This should be a rare occurrence and you should change the drive letters back to match the initial installation. NOTE: Please be aware of the following issue related to drive letters:
249321 Unable to Log on if the Boot Partition Drive Letter Has Changed

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To change or swap drive letters on volumes that cannot otherwise be changed using the Disk Management snap-in, use the following steps.

NOTE: In these steps, drive D refers to the (wrong) drive letter assigned to a volume, and drive C refers to the (new) drive letter you want to change to, or to assign to the volume.

This procedure swaps drive letters for drives C and D. If you do not need to swap drive letters, simply name the \DosDevice\letter: value to any new drive letter not in use.

back to the top

Changing the System/Boot Drive Letter
Make a full system backup of the computer and system state.
Log on as an Administrator.
Start Regedt32.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Click MountedDevices.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
Check to make sure Administrators have full control. Change this back when you are finished with these steps.
Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for "\DosDevices\C:".
Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.

NOTE: You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry key.
Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:". (This will free up drive letter C: to be used later.)
Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:".
Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename.
Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:".
Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and then name it back to "\DosDevices\D:".
Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.
Change the permissions back to the previous setting for Administrators (this should probably be Read Only).
Restart the computer.

back to the top
Last Reviewed: 5/14/2003

COPYRIGHT NOTICE. Copyright 2002 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A. All rights reserved.
 
END  ARTICLE

 

by: rigor_mortisPosted on 2004-02-03 at 06:03:12ID: 10261008

CrazyOne, are you SURE you didn't leave anything out?? ;)

 

by: ketan_kundePosted on 2004-02-03 at 08:10:58ID: 10262309

I think I'll use Norton Ghost 2002. I've used it before but in a different situation (cloning my HD when I purchased a new one). How do I go about it this time? I mean, if I clone E: to C: won't it over-write the ntdlr, ntdetect and boot.ini files? Please gimme some simple instructions to do this.

 

 

by: asmodeusnzPosted on 2004-02-03 at 19:51:44ID: 10268006

You will need version 7.5 or greater Ghost.

Run Ghost.exe
Load Partition to Partition (E: to C:)
Make sure you get this right, otherwise Ghost will overwrite your e: to nothing (Same as what's left on c: anyway)
Double check and triple check.
Proceed with the partition load.
Ghost will copy e: and then you'll have a bootable c:
Sometimes it may come up with "Operating system not found"
You will need to run fdisk and make c: "Active"
All done!!

Cheers
Rodger

 

by: D0NPosted on 2004-03-23 at 07:03:33ID: 10658018

Whoa!  I'd be curious if this worked for you.  I'd think the registry would get real screwed.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...