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August 6, 2006 at 3:55 am #22758lazyturboMember
If I want to format my secondary (slave) drive, do I simply right-click on the drive in ‘My Computer’ and select ‘Format’?
And after I format that drive, can I install the same version of XP onto the slave drive, as the master drive…using the same serial number? In other words, I want both hard drives to have a copy of XP, and using the same serial number. Is that possible?
Thanks.
August 6, 2006 at 4:26 am #143177dvelez1985Member*omit*
August 6, 2006 at 7:08 pm #143174lazyturboMemberSo if I just want to format the slave drive (and not install XP on it), then its okay to do it in XP, right?
August 6, 2006 at 7:40 pm #143173DavidParticipantdvelez1985 wrote:Um if you trying to get two operating systems running then what you need to do is format the slave hard drive in dos and make a primary partition on that. You can’t have an operating system on a secondary partition because your setting yourself up for disaster. Once you get a primary partition running and a second os then your gonne need a software that lets you choose which os you want to boot. I think windows comes with one but I’m not sure. Oh and about the key issue unless you’re using windows xp pro or 2000 pro you can’t use the same key. That should about sume that up. However I don’t recomend that route because if you’re not experienced you could screw up your slave and master drive all together. I would recomend making the slave drive an extra partition and that way is easier for you.Uh, most of that was misinformation.
Windows 2000/XP will install on any partition on your system that is of the type FAT32 or NTFS. You can install it with or without formatting the target partition. The only thing you have to worry about is, if there are “Documents and settings” or “WINDOWS” folders on the target partition. If there are, you will be prompted to change the windows folder install location, and “Documents and settings” will be renamed to “Documents and settings.old”.
You can install with the same license key, I’m not completely sure about the legality of that, though I’m fairly sure it is OK, since your windows license covers your computer hardware. You don’t need to activate windows again if you copy over your activation files. (windowssystem32wpa.dbl) to the second install.
One thing you may need to worry about, or at least understand is how the windows installer will place your boot loader. The NTLDR (windows NT boot LoaDeR) is placed at the first Windows-compatible disk location, starting with partition 0 on Disk 0 on Bus 0. So seeing as you already have a windows installiation, a line will be added to your /dev/disk0/partition0/boot.ini thus causing the NTLDR (once executed on startup) to throw the OS selection menu, you will have the option of booting the second windows install, otherwise the first will start in 30 seconds. This is configurable directly by editting the boot.ini, or through the MSCONFIG utility on Winodws XP.
What exactly are you trying to do though?
August 8, 2006 at 6:05 am #143175lazyturboMemberWhat exactly are you trying to do though?
I share a computer with somebody else, and sometimes he takes the master drive away to use on another computer in a different location, leaving my current computer useless. So I want to install XP on the slave drive, so I can still use the computer, even when he takes away the master drive.
Thanks for the info David. I think I’ll just format the slave drive to start fresh, and then install XP on it. So your sure that I can use the same serial number on the slave drive, without screwing up anything on the master drive?
August 8, 2006 at 7:50 am #143178dvelez1985Member*omit*
August 12, 2006 at 7:16 am #143176lazyturboMemberI guess I could hook it back up to my old computer. 🙁
Can I install XP on the slave drive first, and then transfer it over to my old computer? Do I need to buy another copy of XP?
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