Partitioning/Multiboot Windows XP without formatting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pine and Period
  • Start date Start date
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Pine and Period

Hi,

I've recently purchased a new PC which came pre-installed with
Windows XP on a 120GB Hard disk.

What I would like to do is somehow partition this into four
partitions (poss of different sizes, but doesn't matter).
For the following purposes, which I would like to keep
separate

1) Visual Studio 6
2) Visual Studio .NET
3) J2EE
4) General Office/Email/HTML development.

I understand this can be done without formatting the hard
disk, which seems the simplest way to do it.

Any advice grateful received....


Paul
(e-mail address removed)
 
The only way you can delete, create, resize or merge existing partitions,
and not harm your existing Windows XP installation, is to use
a third-party partitioning program such as Partition Magic 8
(www.powerquest.com).

Partition Magic Instructional Videos
http://www.powerquest.com/support/primus/id2752.cfm


--
Nicholas

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Hi,
|
| I've recently purchased a new PC which came pre-installed with
| Windows XP on a 120GB Hard disk.
|
| What I would like to do is somehow partition this into four
| partitions (poss of different sizes, but doesn't matter).
| For the following purposes, which I would like to keep
| separate
|
| 1) Visual Studio 6
| 2) Visual Studio .NET
| 3) J2EE
| 4) General Office/Email/HTML development.
|
| I understand this can be done without formatting the hard
| disk, which seems the simplest way to do it.
|
| Any advice grateful received....
|
|
| Paul
| (e-mail address removed)
 
Pine and Period said:
I've recently purchased a new PC which came pre-installed
with Windows XP on a 120GB Hard disk.

What I would like to do is somehow partition this into four
partitions (poss of different sizes, but doesn't matter).
For the following purposes, which I would like to keep
separate

1) Visual Studio 6
2) Visual Studio .NET
3) J2EE
4) General Office/Email/HTML development.

I understand this can be done without formatting the hard
disk, which seems the simplest way to do it.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you're saying you want four separate XP installations, right?
It's actually easy to do, but you'll need to invest in a few utilities.
You'll need a non-destructive partitioning tool (PartitionMagic 7 or 8), a
partition imaging tool (DriveImage 2002 or Norton Ghost 2003), and a
third-party boot manager (see www.xosl.org for an excellent free one). Or
you can spend a mere $35 for BootIt NG (www.bootitng.com) and get all three
in one. BootIt NG (BING, to its friends) is a real bargain and every bit as
reliable as the others, although its interface is not quite as intuitive as
PM, DI or Ghost.

The general idea is to repartition your HD into four partitions plus a
little room at the end for the boot manager. Then make an image of the
original partition and clone it onto the other three. Install the boot
manager to choose which of the four to boot up when you turn the computer
on. There's a few "gotchas" you'll have to deal with, but they're not a
problem if you plan for them in advance. See my webpage at
www.goodells.net/multiboot for the background on all of this.
 
I assume you want just one copy of the operating system, but the ability
to install those four applications on different partitions.
First, the easy advice: you don't have to do this! Visual Studio 6 and
Visual Studio.Net co-exist happily side-by-side with one another. Indeed,
the ability to co-exist was one of theings tested in the beta period.
Similarly, J2EE can co-exist with VS 6 and VS.Net, and Office can co-exist
with any and all of the above. Therefore from the vantage point of being a
developer, you don't have to separate these applications on different
partitions, and even if you do, their Registry settings are all written into
the same System Registry anyway.
Second, the partitioning advice: If it were me, I'd leave them all on a
25 to 35 GB primary partition, the same one (i.e. primary partition) as the
operating system, and use the balance of the giant hard disk to store and
organize data on logical partitions.
Third, if you *MUST* do what you propose, then get Partition Magic 7 or 8
or BootIt NG, create as many logical partitions as you want or need, and
install these applications more or less as you propose. There is no native
Windows tool that will do on-the-fly partitioning.
And every time you change the partitions, run a full system backup first.
 
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