I have been trying a few tricks to make my own recovery technique. I dont know if anybody has tried this ?

I create 3 partitions. The 1st partition for Windows XP Pro, 2nd partition to host the image(created with ghost 11) of this computer, the 3rd partition is a special partition -- bootable BartPE installed with Ghost 11 plugin; I could also put more tools here like partitioning tools.

THIS IS HOW I DID THE BARTPE TRICK:
Usually BartPE is burnt to CD or put on USB. I thot hey, how 'bout using that pe2usb command to push PE into a partition. So I created a very small fat32 partition; about 1.9GB. Surprisingly it worked.

Just one issue that got me stuck for days!!
Windows writes its own boot sector, so already the mbr is written to boot only Windows. I cant make the computer to pick the BartPE boot sector !? I tried editing the BOOT.INI file, but to no avail ! I came across BootMGR software, and it runs in DOS -- and somehow I cant get my DOS usb working !? I dont know what I'm doing wrong ! With this I was hoping to edit the mbr to link the BartPE partition...

esco wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2010 at 2:06am:

Usually BartPE is burnt to CD or put on USB. I thot hey, how 'bout using that pe2usb command to push PE into a partition. So I created a very small fat32 partition; about 1.9GB. Surprisingly it worked.

By "it worked", do you mean you were able to successfully boot your PE partition . . . presumably, merely by making it the active partition and rebooting?

If so, then I think what you're asking for is some ideas on how to switch the active partition back and forth between your XP partition and your PE partition, right?

A bare-bones method requiring nothing to install would be to use a tiny command-line utility that directly swaps the active partition.  If you have a Partition Magic CD, it comes with pqboot32.exe, a simple utility that runs from a PE or XP command-prompt window and does exactly that--swaps the active partition and reboots.

If you don't own Partition Magic, a comparable free alternative to pqboot32 is MBRWiz.  Download the 32-bit version of MBRWiz.exe and copy the file to one of your partitions--I'll use d:\mbrwiz.exe for example.  Then create a desktop shortcut to "d:\mbrwiz.exe /bootmenu".  Whenever you want to reboot into the other partition, double-click your shortcut, select which partition you want to set active, and reboot.

If you don't mind installing something, you can install a genuine boot manager.  The boot manager will present a menu every time you boot, and you'll select which partition you want to boot into from the menu.

It sounds like the boot manager you already found doesn't quite fit your needs.  You've already created your partitions, so a boot manager that doesn't need another partition for itself would be ideal for your purposes.  Take a look at the free GAG boot manager.  It installs in Track-0 of the hard disk, so you won't be forced to repartition.  You can set it up to present two boot choices: XP, or your custom PE partition.

I dont want a Boot Manager. I've come across some boot managers like GAG. I wanted a MBR tool, that is intuitive; easy to use. Then I would create a new mbr that can look at both OSs and enable me to select which one to boot, like what the NT Loader does with dual boot; by looking at the boot.ini

I want to be able to select from options after the computer is switched on. Not making a partition active nor the pqboot32 way.

I like the idea of BootMGR, based on my understanding it rewrites the mbr. The best tool I wanted to use is Partition Logic. Its easy with partition logic, but Partition Logic is old. It doesnt recognize newer drives like SATA, and these are the ones I'm using.

@ esco

I guess I don't understand what your needs are....


Quote:

I dont want a Boot Manager.  ...... I would create a new mbr that can look at both OSs and enable me to select which one to boot, like what the NT Loader does with dual boot; by looking at the boot.ini

Isn't that just a *boot manager*--it's Microsoft's boot manager for multi-booting, but still a boot manager--how is that different than another boot manager that presents you with a menu during boot that takes you to whichever OS you choose?

Are you saying you don't want a boot manager that uses the *Active* partition to control which OS boots--but, instead uses a *path* like found in *boot.ini* that points to the *boot partition*?

Or, are you saying you want to use *boot.ini*?


Quote:

The best tool I wanted to use is Partition Logic. Its easy with partition logic, but Partition Logic is old. It doesnt recognize newer drives like SATA, and these are the ones I'm using.

I'm not familiar with *Partition Logic*--under what OS does it operate--i.e. DOS, WinNT, Linux.....??????  Isn't that a function of the BIOS?  My RAID controller will not work in Windows unless I add drivers--but it works fine in DOS because the BIOS has already loaded the needed DOS OS drivers so the RAID controller appears in that OS environment......!

"I would create a new mbr that can look at both OSs and enable me to select which one to boot ..."

That's called a boot manager.

"... like what the NT Loader does with dual boot"

That's not like what ntldr does.  The Microsoft method uses a standard MBR that only boots from one active partition.  Nothing customized about it.

But I'm still not sure if you've got a standalone PE partition that can boot by itself, so I don't have anything further to suggest.

hello again,
useful information:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14127&pid=111856&mode=threaded&start=#entry111856

place to find the Boot floppies in zip file.
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14127&pid=159119&mode=threaded&start=#entry159119
Regards Ben

Dan Goodell wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2010 at 3:27pm:

"I would create a new mbr that can look at both OSs and enable me to select which one to boot ..." That's called a boot manager.

I think we are on the same page about boot managers. Though what I had in mind is slightly different. Its a'rite though, this is clear.



Quote:

But I'm still not sure if you've got a standalone PE partition that can boot by itself, so I don't have anything further to suggest.

Trust me, I worked this out and tested it. ITS FLAWLESS. You should see how BartPE loads from the HDD---? lightning speed ! Just make the PE partition active and reboot.

If you create a BartPE compatible partition: less than 2GB FAT/FAT32. And you have all the things in place for PE2USB to work. Then you should not face any problems

Finally I decided that I'll use BOOT-US boot manager. I manged to get the DOS flashdisk working by using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Utility, and accessed BootMGR. What I didnt like about BootMGR is that it doesnt have a password protection for boot options

The PE2USB command is meant to install BartPE to a flashdisk(FDD). I had the idea that it may work against a partition with a similar configuration to a fdd.

So the PEBuilder cannot tell that you are installing to non-usb/internal drive. The partition configuration tricks it into thinking that its installing to a fdd

"Just make the PE partition active and reboot."

That's the missing piece of information I was waiting for in reply #1.

That means your PE partition is indeed a standalone partition (it doesn't depend on booting through another partition)--and why your tinkering with boot.ini files was futile.  A true dualboot (via a boot manager) and Microsoft's  "pseudo-dualboot" (via boot.ini) are incompatible with each other and not interchangeable, so knowing that small piece of information would be crucial to finding the correct resolution to your problem.

@ esco

I have a BartPE partition that is bootable. But it doesn't do anything that can't be done from the CD. Have you found something that can't be done from the CD?

Quote:

I have a BartPE partition that is bootable. But it doesn't do anything that can't be done from the CD. Have you found something that can't be done from the CD?

Not really. You are talking as if your BartPE partition is worthless !? I think its quite hard to figure out what you cant do from the CD, because its not the CD that determines what you can run, its the PE environment/engine (this may not be the rite words) loaded in RAM.

Further more:
Remember, things run from local disk. The processor does less work. Unlike through the CD, everytime you pick something for the first time, the CD has to start spinning and get scanned, and transfer data to RAM. Its quite slow than doing it from the HDD.

This can be done once BartPE is loaded to RAM, regardless of the medium source:
You can run some malware tools without putting plugins. I dont know if you have tried this before ? You can run Dr. Web, Norman Malware Cleaner may also run. As long as the tool is a compact executable

Quote:

That's the missing piece of information I was waiting for in reply #1. That means your PE partition is indeed a standalone partition (it doesn't depend on booting through another partition)--and why your tinkering with boot.ini files was futile.  A true dualboot (via a boot manager) and Microsoft's  "pseudo-dualboot" (via boot.ini) are incompatible with each other and not interchangeable, so knowing that small piece of information would be crucial to finding the correct resolution to your problem.

I thought I was done with the 'Pick-boot-which-one' issue !! My preferred boot manager is disappointing me !? Boot-US lists only partitions it sees as bootable, and it doesnt see the PE partition as bootable !?

How do I get this fixed?

I tried another boot manager---OSL2000. It boots the partitions perfectly, but it lacks many desired features. You cant edit the options display names, descriptions, cant remove some boot menu entries,etc. Its really not what I want

I dont like the display interface of GAG. Thats why I have not even tried it.

esco wrote on Mar 5^th, 2010 at 8:30am:

You are talking as if your BartPE partition is worthless !?

It was fun making BartPE boot from the HD but apart from booting faster than the CD, it has no advantages that I can see. At times it is nice not to have to find a CD so the partition does have a place. Mine is still on the HD but is rarely used.

FINALLY !! FINALLY !!
I found the boot manager that I think stands out from the crowd. I've tried a lot of them popular ones.
BootStar from Start-Tools is the best, based on my own judgments.

The other day I tried GAG. It was doing a great job; it terms of features. Like I said, I dont like the interface that is presented to the user to pick the OS to boot. Its not clean.

Well Bootmanager BootStar gives all I wanted. Thanks for the patience of researching.

Thanx everyone for your patience and intelligence that you are always willing to pass over

@ esco

For anyone who's interested--here's a link:  Star-Tools

However, doesn't appear to be a *free* program--$25 after 30 day trial!

The set up works great: Windows on 1st partition, image (not final image) on 2nd partition. BartPE on 3rd. But its not perfect !!

Ghost was giving me the error:
EstimateFatClusterUsed: Unknown fat_type: 0
I found it was caused by the BartPE partition. Why? I don't know ! I derived a work-around solution. I put a plugin of Symantec Partition Magic 8. Booted into BartPE, formatted the partition that hosts BartPE. Once BartPE is loaded into RAM, you can do anything to the partition. Finally I succesfully restored the ghost image from the 2nd partition.

After booting into the restored Windows, I have to do the PE2USB command to restore the BartPE installation !! Phew! Do I have to do this every-time?

This is a hard-nut-to-crack !? Based on my analytics, whether you format the partition with a proper partitioning tool before you install BartPE, BartPE will reconstruct/reconfigure the partition !

The million dollar question:How does this get fixed ?