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Thread: Boot Devices

  1. #1

    Boot Devices

    My questions are these:
    If you install a new OS Windows for now...what type would you use for the HD (FAT32, FAT16, NTFS)??
    The other one is...is it possible to set two hard disks as the boot device?
    peace

  2. #2
    It depends on what OS type you plan to install.. if it's win98 (or below) you can't use NTFS.
    second.. don't confuse separate partitons as being another hard drive from the perspective of your bios.. If you set the boot order in your bios (and not through a bootloader) then the second IDE device is ACTUALLY a second physical hard drive.

  3. #3
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hi,

    1. I would use NTFS for XP or Win2K
    2. AFAIK that will depend on your BIOS? I have certainly seen machines that will boot NT and WIN98 from different drives. That is the OS boot of course, not the post cycle. I have also had two bootable drives and set which one I wanted via setup.

    Not sure if that helps as you don't say what you are trying to do


    Cheers

  4. #4
    Well there is a thread in OS forum from me...i got win xp now on one HD and i want to install the longhorn beta version on a small partition just to check how it is...after that i would delete the partition again...but i dunno how to set it....
    Curently Win Xp is on FAT32 on C...and my D disk has 2 partitions...1st is of 70 GB and the 2nd of only 10 GB which i would install the Longhorn beta on...Here I'll hive all info on everything i just hope somone can help me...

    Disk C(FAT32): curently my boot device (40GB)
    Partition 1: 37GB (windowsXP, etc...)
    Partition 2: 3GB (system files)

    Disk D(NTFS): not my boot device yet (80GB)

    as you can see I merged the 2 partitions on my D disk...so if somone knows what type it has to be etc...so i can do it right away.....the D disk should have 2 partitions...one would be 70GB of just space and the other like 10 or even less just so i could try out Longhorn beta....can somone reply about what size i should make them, the type (FAT32, FAT or NTFS), and how i could set both my disks as boot devices...thanks in advance

  5. #5
    well you can't set both disks as boot devices unless you used a bootloader.
    And if you're going to try installing longhorn on your second hard drive, I'd unplug your first hard drive and set up your 80gig as your master.. then later on you could put it back to slave and modfiy your bootloader to give you the choice of which to boot up with.. and use ntfs for your longhorn drive and install it to the primary partiton of that drive.. I hope that was clear.. I confuse myself at times.. lol

  6. #6
    well you can't set both disks as boot devices unless you used a bootloader.
    And if you're going to try installing longhorn on your second hard drive, I'd unplug your first hard drive and set up your 80gig as your master.. then later on you could put it back to slave and modfiy your bootloader to give you the choice of which to boot up with..
    Wait why unplug it first? cant i just use the boot loader to set it?

    edit: how do i get to the boot loader

  7. #7
    Senior Member
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    My solution for dual booting windows may not be the most elegant way, but it worked.


    I took my primary master drive, changed the jumper settings, and made it a slave. Then I installed windows on the new master drive. So that left me with 2 sets of windows on 2 HD's, and I could only boot into the master drive.

    I searched google for a freeware boot loader (I don't remember which one I used)....I installed it, and it automatically detected both OS's, so then when I booted, it gave me the option of which OS to use.

  8. #8
    Antionline Herpetologist
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    Here's a little tutorial I wrote quite a while back. You might want to take a look at it if you're dual booting Windows 2000/XP and Linux. http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=241021
    Buy the Snakes of India book, support research and education (sorry the website has been discontinued)
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