kiwi_wombat
07-28-2006, 08:43 PM
I have an issue with boot loaders. I have tried three and each of them has their own problems. I know they work for some people so I suspect there is something different about my system or setup. Basically I want to be able to boot into a test OS to test new software or games.
I have an 80GB SATA hard drive partitioned into two separate partitions of equal size.
Partition 1 contains XP Home SP2 with all windows updates installed. This is regularly backed up using Acronis True Image.
Partition 2 is an exact duplicate created by restoring the Acronis backup onto this partition. Partition 2 has no drive letter and is hidden
I have 2 additional 200GB drives ( D: & E: ) which are data drives
Norton Partition Magic
The program PQBoot hides the Partition 1, unhides Partition 2 and makes Partition 2 the C: drive and vice versa. While in Partition 2 I can install the new program and test it etc. The problem occurs when I re-boot to Partition 1.
In Partition 1, if I look at START / ALL PROGRAMS, the program I installed on Partition 2 appears as a new program. If I try to run it, I get an error message because the actual software is on Partition 2.
If I look in CONTROL PANEL/ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS it is not listed. If I go back to the program list, someties I can remove it from the program list by doing an uninstall but other time not.
Acronis OS Selector
When I install the OS Selector it correctly identifies the two operating systems. When I boot to Partition 2, it becomes active however it is the C: drive on Partition 1 that is visible. I really don’t understand this.
BootIt NG
This gives me a similar result to Acronis OS Selector
Can anyone offer an explanation or any assistance
My computer specs are
CPU
AMD Athalon 64 3200+ (939 socket)
Mother board
Gigabyte K8NF-9
Ram
1 GB Kingston Kit (2 x 512MB)
Hard Drive (for OS)
Seagate 80GB SATA 8mb cache
Hard Drive (for Data)
2 x Seagate 200GB SATA 8mb cache
Video Card
Winfast PX6600GT Extreme TDH PCI express 128MB
TV Card
Winfast TV2000 Expert
Keyboard/Mouse
MS Wireless Optical – comfort edition
Operating System
Win XP Home
Monitor
Samsung LCD 172X
I have an 80GB SATA hard drive partitioned into two separate partitions of equal size.
Partition 1 contains XP Home SP2 with all windows updates installed. This is regularly backed up using Acronis True Image.
Partition 2 is an exact duplicate created by restoring the Acronis backup onto this partition. Partition 2 has no drive letter and is hidden
I have 2 additional 200GB drives ( D: & E: ) which are data drives
Norton Partition Magic
The program PQBoot hides the Partition 1, unhides Partition 2 and makes Partition 2 the C: drive and vice versa. While in Partition 2 I can install the new program and test it etc. The problem occurs when I re-boot to Partition 1.
In Partition 1, if I look at START / ALL PROGRAMS, the program I installed on Partition 2 appears as a new program. If I try to run it, I get an error message because the actual software is on Partition 2.
If I look in CONTROL PANEL/ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS it is not listed. If I go back to the program list, someties I can remove it from the program list by doing an uninstall but other time not.
Acronis OS Selector
When I install the OS Selector it correctly identifies the two operating systems. When I boot to Partition 2, it becomes active however it is the C: drive on Partition 1 that is visible. I really don’t understand this.
BootIt NG
This gives me a similar result to Acronis OS Selector
Can anyone offer an explanation or any assistance
My computer specs are
CPU
AMD Athalon 64 3200+ (939 socket)
Mother board
Gigabyte K8NF-9
Ram
1 GB Kingston Kit (2 x 512MB)
Hard Drive (for OS)
Seagate 80GB SATA 8mb cache
Hard Drive (for Data)
2 x Seagate 200GB SATA 8mb cache
Video Card
Winfast PX6600GT Extreme TDH PCI express 128MB
TV Card
Winfast TV2000 Expert
Keyboard/Mouse
MS Wireless Optical – comfort edition
Operating System
Win XP Home
Monitor
Samsung LCD 172X