Restoring Back-Up Image To Different HD (long post)

Greetings,
I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
locations & be confused?

Current Configuration:

Disk 1 3G (motherboard IDE) Drive G
Disk 2 40G (Promise Controller) Drive C (Windows 2000) 20G partition
Drive H (Windows XP) 20G partition
Disk 3 8G (Promise Controller) Drive E (Applications)
Disk 4 10G (Promise Controller) Drive D (Data)
Disk 5 3G (Promise Controller) Drive F

Disk 2 Master / Disk 3 Slave
Disk 4 Master / Disk 5 Slave

Proposed New Configuration:


Disk 1 3G (motherboard IDE) Drive G
Disk 2 40G (Promise Controller) Drive D (Data)

Disk 3 8G (Promise Controller) Drive E (Applications)
Disk 4 10G (Promise Controller) Drive C (Windows 2000) 5G partition
Drive H (Windows XP) 5G partition
Disk 5 3G (Promise Controller) Drive F

Change:
1) Eliminate partitions on Disk 2 to make one 40G drive

2) Partition Disk 4 into two 5G partitions

3) Restore Ghost image of Drive C(formerly 1st 20G partition/Disk 2) to
new 1st 5G partition of Disk 4

4) Restore Ghost image of Drive H(formerly 2nd 20G partition/Disk 2) to
new 2nd 5G partition of Disk 4

5) Restore Ghost image of Drive D(formerly from 10G Disk 4) to 40G Disk 2.

Is this feasible or would I need to physically re-cable & reconnect the
drives to the motherboard to reproduce the original physical
configuration of the drives to match the drive letter assignments? I
realized that using the 40G drive for the two operating systems was a
waste of space & that the 10G drive was perfect (both operating system
partitions consume 6G combined) & my data will have room to grow on the
40G which is also where I keep the page file.
Sorry for the long, complicated post & thanks in advance for any advice
in advance.

Rich

"Rich" <> wrote in message news:H0Ckj.1011$...
> Greetings,
> I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
> to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
> transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
> things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
> of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
> back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
> Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
> retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
> new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
> properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
> restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
> do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
> locations & be confused?

All that Win XP prevents you from doing within disk management
is changing the assignation of the boot or system partition.
You can change the assignations of other partitions and
discs as you wish. Assuming at least one of your OS partitions
is already C, which it is, the 2000 Partition, when copied to a
new disc this will remain as C and you can reassign letters of all others
partitions as necessary.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

To implement changes as described you would need to change the boot
order in the CMOS set-up at boot-up F2. Although its probably more
usual to have the primary OS connected to the first available
connector as there seems no good reason not to. Which would
again be be disk 1 as it is now. (Assuming your propsed changes
would actualy work. )


michael adams



>
> Current Configuration:
>
> Disk 1 3G (motherboard IDE) Drive G
> Disk 2 40G (Promise Controller) Drive C (Windows 2000) 20G partition
> Drive H (Windows XP) 20G partition
> Disk 3 8G (Promise Controller) Drive E (Applications)
> Disk 4 10G (Promise Controller) Drive D (Data)
> Disk 5 3G (Promise Controller) Drive F
>
> Disk 2 Master / Disk 3 Slave
> Disk 4 Master / Disk 5 Slave
>
> Proposed New Configuration:
>
>
> Disk 1 3G (motherboard IDE) Drive G
> Disk 2 40G (Promise Controller) Drive D (Data)
>
> Disk 3 8G (Promise Controller) Drive E (Applications)
> Disk 4 10G (Promise Controller) Drive C (Windows 2000) 5G partition
> Drive H (Windows XP) 5G partition
> Disk 5 3G (Promise Controller) Drive F
>
> Change:
> 1) Eliminate partitions on Disk 2 to make one 40G drive
>
> 2) Partition Disk 4 into two 5G partitions
>
> 3) Restore Ghost image of Drive C(formerly 1st 20G partition/Disk 2) to
> new 1st 5G partition of Disk 4
>
> 4) Restore Ghost image of Drive H(formerly 2nd 20G partition/Disk 2) to
> new 2nd 5G partition of Disk 4
>
> 5) Restore Ghost image of Drive D(formerly from 10G Disk 4) to 40G Disk 2.
>
> Is this feasible or would I need to physically re-cable & reconnect the
> drives to the motherboard to reproduce the original physical
> configuration of the drives to match the drive letter assignments? I
> realized that using the 40G drive for the two operating systems was a
> waste of space & that the 10G drive was perfect (both operating system
> partitions consume 6G combined) & my data will have room to grow on the
> 40G which is also where I keep the page file.
> Sorry for the long, complicated post & thanks in advance for any advice
> in advance.
>
> Rich

Disc 2 substitututed for disc 1 in "which would again be be disk 2 as it is now.


"Rich" <> wrote in message news:H0Ckj.1011$...
> Greetings,
> I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
> to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
> transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
> things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
> of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
> back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
> Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
> retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
> new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
> properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
> restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
> do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
> locations & be confused?

All that Win XP prevents you from doing within disk management
is changing the assignation of the boot or system partition.
You can change the assignations of other partitions and
discs as you wish. Assuming at least one of your OS partitions
is already C, which it is, the 2000 Partition, when copied to a
new disc this will remain as C and you can reassign letters of all others
partitions as necessary.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

To implement changes as described you would need to change the boot
order in the CMOS set-up at boot-up F2. Although its probably more
usual to have the primary OS connected to the first available
connector as there seems no good reason not to. Which would
again be be disk 2 as it is now. (Assuming your propsed changes
would actualy work. )


michael adams



>
> Current Configuration:
>
> Disk 1 3G (motherboard IDE) Drive G
> Disk 2 40G (Promise Controller) Drive C (Windows 2000) 20G partition
> Drive H (Windows XP) 20G partition
> Disk 3 8G (Promise Controller) Drive E (Applications)
> Disk 4 10G (Promise Controller) Drive D (Data)
> Disk 5 3G (Promise Controller) Drive F
>
> Disk 2 Master / Disk 3 Slave
> Disk 4 Master / Disk 5 Slave
>
> Proposed New Configuration:
>
>
> Disk 1 3G (motherboard IDE) Drive G
> Disk 2 40G (Promise Controller) Drive D (Data)
>
> Disk 3 8G (Promise Controller) Drive E (Applications)
> Disk 4 10G (Promise Controller) Drive C (Windows 2000) 5G partition
> Drive H (Windows XP) 5G partition
> Disk 5 3G (Promise Controller) Drive F
>
> Change:
> 1) Eliminate partitions on Disk 2 to make one 40G drive
>
> 2) Partition Disk 4 into two 5G partitions
>
> 3) Restore Ghost image of Drive C(formerly 1st 20G partition/Disk 2) to
> new 1st 5G partition of Disk 4
>
> 4) Restore Ghost image of Drive H(formerly 2nd 20G partition/Disk 2) to
> new 2nd 5G partition of Disk 4
>
> 5) Restore Ghost image of Drive D(formerly from 10G Disk 4) to 40G Disk 2.
>
> Is this feasible or would I need to physically re-cable & reconnect the
> drives to the motherboard to reproduce the original physical
> configuration of the drives to match the drive letter assignments? I
> realized that using the 40G drive for the two operating systems was a
> waste of space & that the 10G drive was perfect (both operating system
> partitions consume 6G combined) & my data will have room to grow on the
> 40G which is also where I keep the page file.
> Sorry for the long, complicated post & thanks in advance for any advice
> in advance.
>
> Rich

"michael adams" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> "Rich" <> wrote in message
> news:H0Ckj.1011$...
>> Greetings,
>> I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
>> to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
>> transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
>> things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
>> of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
>> back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
>> Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
>> retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
>> new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
>> properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
>> restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
>> do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
>> locations & be confused?
>
> All that Win XP prevents you from doing within disk management
> is changing the assignation of the boot or system partition.
> You can change the assignations of other partitions and
> discs as you wish. Assuming at least one of your OS partitions
> is already C, which it is, the 2000 Partition, when copied to a
> new disc this will remain as C and you can reassign letters of all others
> partitions as necessary.
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844
>
> To implement changes as described you would need to change the boot
> order in the CMOS set-up at boot-up F2. Although its probably more
> usual to have the primary OS connected to the first available
> connector as there seems no good reason not to. Which would
> again be be disk 1 as it is now. (Assuming your propsed changes
> would actualy work. )
>
>
> michael adams


I'll give it a try & post back:

1) Change 1st boot disk in CMOS to Disk 4 (10G with 5G "C:\" partition
containing Windows 2000
2) Use Partition Magic to erase partitions & format 40G Disk 2 to 1 drive
3) Use Partition Magic to partition Disk 4 into 2 partitions, 5G each
4) Restore Ghost image of "C:\" from Disk 2 to 1st partition on Disk 4
5) Restore Ghost image of "H:\" from Disk 2 to 2nd partition on Disk 4
6) Restore Ghost image of "D:\" from Disk 4 to Disk 2

Thanks for answering, Michael.

"Rich" <> wrote in message news:9UNkj.64846$...
>
> "michael adams" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> >
> > "Rich" <> wrote in message
> > news:H0Ckj.1011$...
> >> Greetings,
> >> I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
> >> to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
> >> transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
> >> things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
> >> of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
> >> back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
> >> Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
> >> retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
> >> new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
> >> properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
> >> restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
> >> do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
> >> locations & be confused?
> >
> > All that Win XP prevents you from doing within disk management
> > is changing the assignation of the boot or system partition.
> > You can change the assignations of other partitions and
> > discs as you wish. Assuming at least one of your OS partitions
> > is already C, which it is, the 2000 Partition, when copied to a
> > new disc this will remain as C and you can reassign letters of all others
> > partitions as necessary.
> >
> > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844
> >
> > To implement changes as described you would need to change the boot
> > order in the CMOS set-up at boot-up F2. Although its probably more
> > usual to have the primary OS connected to the first available
> > connector as there seems no good reason not to. Which would
> > again be be disk 1 as it is now. (Assuming your propsed changes
> > would actualy work. )
> >
> >
> > michael adams
>
>
> I'll give it a try & post back:
>
> 1) Change 1st boot disk in CMOS to Disk 4 (10G with 5G "C:\" partition
> containing Windows 2000
> 2) Use Partition Magic to erase partitions & format 40G Disk 2 to 1 drive
> 3) Use Partition Magic to partition Disk 4 into 2 partitions, 5G each
> 4) Restore Ghost image of "C:\" from Disk 2 to 1st partition on Disk 4
> 5) Restore Ghost image of "H:\" from Disk 2 to 2nd partition on Disk 4
> 6) Restore Ghost image of "D:\" from Disk 4 to Disk 2
>
> Thanks for answering, Michael.
>
>

If you're familiar with Partition Magic then go with that. For anyone without
PM, XP (Pro at least) has an up to date partitioning utility - similar in most
respects to the PM interface (although not with on-the-fly re-partitioning) in
the disk management tools.

While anyone hoping to once again lock horns with Fdisk is out of luck. As the
command line replacement is about 50 times more difficult to use. i.e
only the deranged would even try IMHO.


michael adams

....


michael adams

"Rich" <> wrote in message
news:9UNkj.64846$...
>
> "michael adams" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>> "Rich" <> wrote in message
>> news:H0Ckj.1011$...
>>> Greetings,
>>> I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
>>> to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
>>> transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
>>> things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
>>> of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
>>> back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
>>> Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
>>> retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
>>> new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
>>> properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
>>> restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
>>> do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
>>> locations & be confused?
>>
>> All that Win XP prevents you from doing within disk management
>> is changing the assignation of the boot or system partition.
>> You can change the assignations of other partitions and
>> discs as you wish. Assuming at least one of your OS partitions
>> is already C, which it is, the 2000 Partition, when copied to a
>> new disc this will remain as C and you can reassign letters of all others
>> partitions as necessary.
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844
>>
>> To implement changes as described you would need to change the boot
>> order in the CMOS set-up at boot-up F2. Although its probably more
>> usual to have the primary OS connected to the first available
>> connector as there seems no good reason not to. Which would
>> again be be disk 1 as it is now. (Assuming your propsed changes
>> would actualy work. )
>>
>>
>> michael adams
>
>
> I'll give it a try & post back:
>
> 1) Change 1st boot disk in CMOS to Disk 4 (10G with 5G "C:\" partition
> containing Windows 2000
> 2) Use Partition Magic to erase partitions & format 40G Disk 2 to 1 drive
> 3) Use Partition Magic to partition Disk 4 into 2 partitions, 5G each
> 4) Restore Ghost image of "C:\" from Disk 2 to 1st partition on Disk 4
> 5) Restore Ghost image of "H:\" from Disk 2 to 2nd partition on Disk 4
> 6) Restore Ghost image of "D:\" from Disk 4 to Disk 2
>
> Thanks for answering, Michael.
>
>
>

OK, I completed the changes & have one issue to iron out. Originally Windows
2000 was on "C:\"(Primary partition) & Windows XP on "H:\" (Extended
partition) on the same drive. After repartitioning with Partition Magic, the
original OS drive retained "C:\" & the new OS drive shows Windows 2000 on
"D:\" & Windows XP on "H:\". I get the boot menu & can select Windows XP &
it loads & runs normally. If I choose Windows 2000, the OS starts to load,
shows the "loading user settings screen", goes to a black desktop with mouse
cursor & then goes into an endless loop rapidly displaying the "loading user
settings" screen then the "saving user settings" screen. A reset is needed
to escape this loop. It's not a big deal because XP is fully functional.
Clearly the system is confused with a setting somewhere that designates
Windows 2000 on "C:\" instead of "D:\". Naturally, I cannot even change the
letter assignment for the Windows 2000 partition even when I am in XP. I
checked the boot.ini file & it contains no reference to drive letters. Is
there another file I can access while in XP to adjust so that the system
knows to boot Windows 2000 from "D:\" now instead of "C:\"?

Thanks,
Rich

"Rich" <> wrote in message news:WhTkj.29506$...
>
> "Rich" <> wrote in message
> news:9UNkj.64846$...
> >
> > "michael adams" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> >>
> >> "Rich" <> wrote in message
> >> news:H0Ckj.1011$...
> >>> Greetings,
> >>> I have an upgraded old Dell Dimension XPS400 that has been upgraded to
> >>> to a Powerleap Celeron 1.4GHz, 768MB RAM, etc. I currently am
> >>> transitioning to Windows XP by dual-booting with Windows 2000. Now that
> >>> things are stable on the rebuilt system, I realized that the arrangement
> >>> of hard drives needs slight tweaking to better utilize disk space. I
> >>> back up each drive & partition to another computer on my network with
> >>> Ghost 2003. It is my understanding that Windows 2000 & Windows XP
> >>> retains drive letter assignments (unlike Windows 98) even after adding
> >>> new hard drives or repartitioning. Would the system still boot & operate
> >>> properly if I were to swap the drive contents of 2 of the hard drives by
> >>> restoring the Ghost images from one drive to the other & vice-versa? Or
> >>> do the operating systems remember their actual original physical drive
> >>> locations & be confused?
> >>
> >> All that Win XP prevents you from doing within disk management
> >> is changing the assignation of the boot or system partition.
> >> You can change the assignations of other partitions and
> >> discs as you wish. Assuming at least one of your OS partitions
> >> is already C, which it is, the 2000 Partition, when copied to a
> >> new disc this will remain as C and you can reassign letters of all others
> >> partitions as necessary.
> >>
> >> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844
> >>
> >> To implement changes as described you would need to change the boot
> >> order in the CMOS set-up at boot-up F2. Although its probably more
> >> usual to have the primary OS connected to the first available
> >> connector as there seems no good reason not to. Which would
> >> again be be disk 1 as it is now. (Assuming your propsed changes
> >> would actualy work. )
> >>
> >>
> >> michael adams
> >
> >
> > I'll give it a try & post back:
> >
> > 1) Change 1st boot disk in CMOS to Disk 4 (10G with 5G "C:\" partition
> > containing Windows 2000
> > 2) Use Partition Magic to erase partitions & format 40G Disk 2 to 1 drive
> > 3) Use Partition Magic to partition Disk 4 into 2 partitions, 5G each
> > 4) Restore Ghost image of "C:\" from Disk 2 to 1st partition on Disk 4
> > 5) Restore Ghost image of "H:\" from Disk 2 to 2nd partition on Disk 4
> > 6) Restore Ghost image of "D:\" from Disk 4 to Disk 2
> >
> > Thanks for answering, Michael.
> >
> >
> >
>
> OK, I completed the changes & have one issue to iron out. Originally Windows
> 2000 was on "C:\"(Primary partition) & Windows XP on "H:\" (Extended
> partition) on the same drive. After repartitioning with Partition Magic, the
> original OS drive retained "C:\" & the new OS drive shows Windows 2000 on
> "D:\" & Windows XP on "H:\". I get the boot menu & can select Windows XP &
> it loads & runs normally. If I choose Windows 2000, the OS starts to load,
> shows the "loading user settings screen", goes to a black desktop with mouse
> cursor & then goes into an endless loop rapidly displaying the "loading user
> settings" screen then the "saving user settings" screen. A reset is needed
> to escape this loop. It's not a big deal because XP is fully functional.
> Clearly the system is confused with a setting somewhere that designates
> Windows 2000 on "C:\" instead of "D:\". Naturally, I cannot even change the
> letter assignment for the Windows 2000 partition even when I am in XP. I
> checked the boot.ini file & it contains no reference to drive letters.

> Is
> there another file I can access while in XP to adjust so that the system
> knows to boot Windows 2000 from "D:\" now instead of "C:\"?
>
> Thanks,
> Rich

Windows and DOS always boot from the C: partition. Just as they save
the letters A: and B: for obsolete floppy drives. AFAIAA you can't change
any of that.

To boot from 2000 which I assume is in the primary partition on that particular
disc, you simply need to select that disk as first in the boot sequence on
the CMOS screen. That will now change that partition to C:.

To repeat: AFAIAA the system will always boot from the C: partition. Which is
decided by whichever partition you instruct the CMOS to boot from. That automatically
becomes C:

I don't know about any further complications arising from your multi-boot
software as I only ever load alternative OS's by means of the CMOS
settings myself by switching the relevant discs on and off.


michael adams

....








>
>

michael adams wrote:

<snip>

> Windows and DOS always boot from the C: partition.

This is not true for XP. A couple of times I've installed XP Pro on a
system with multiple HDDs, using SETUP to delete & create the C:\
partition, and certain crucial files, e.g., NTLDR, ended up on an
existing partition such as E:. The files couldn't be moved either,
otherwise XP wouldn't boot. SOP for me now is to unplug & disable drives
other than the one I want to be the boot in the BIOS. This forces SETUP
to put the mandatory files on the new C:\ partition.

I've also had dual boot configurations, e.g., XP Pro & XP Pro x64, where
XP Pro booted from the C:\ partition and XP Pro x64 booted from the I:\
partition.

You really have to be careful with multiple HDDs.