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blueprintsg

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Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Dec 19^th, 2006 at 10:20pm

hello all! first of all i wanna say you guys are great and have made my life alot easier on the computer maintenance side!

anyway I've successfully created norton ghost bootable CD which I never thought possible after searching on google and found your site. now that comes to mind, I would really love to know if it's possible to do this :

my usual installation setup is :

C: 10 gig primary partition, Windows XP OS

D: 10 gig primary partition, 2nd multiboot-Windows XP OS (Backup Partition) , in case C: screws up and renders windows unbootable.

E: (logical partition) is where I store my data. a.k.a labelled as "DATA" drive.

F : (logical partition) is where I store my ghost files.

Z: my cd rom bla blabla.

all NTFS.

so now I would boot up through norton ghost boot cd and restore from F: >> C: when crap happens. then recently my DVD drive screwed up on me, and i didn't have a floppy. i had it replaced already, but i was thinking is there anyway I can set my F: drive bootable.
y'know make changes to the boot.ini as
1st choice : C:\'s Win XP OS
2nd choice : D:\'s Win XP OS
3rd choice : Norton Ghost Partition.

so i wouldn't have a need for any CDs at all? boot into F:\'s norton ghost and load the ghost files directly into C:\ or D:\

I hope i'm not confusing you guys. thank you guys big time in advance.

cheers and happy holidays

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blueprintsg

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #1 - Dec 19^th, 2006 at 10:23pm

oh before i forget. my boot.ini :

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP (Diagnostic)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Norton Ghost" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

apparently the last one doesn't work. starts looking for some windows/hal.dll error.

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NightOwl

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #2 - Dec 19^th, 2006 at 11:51pm

blueprintsg

If I'm reading your setup correctly, you have only one HDD with multiple partitions.

And, you are using Microsoft's way of multibooting--correct?

Well, that is risky on two counts--

1. Your Ghost backups will get hosed and be unavailable if your only HDD goes out on you--so you really only have protection against problems with your software and OS if something goes wrong with them--but you are not protected against HDD failure.

2. Your second Windows boot is dependent on the health of the first Windows partition--the boot files for both WinXP's are on that first partition--so you loose both installations if the first partition goes south--of course, having the Ghost backup will protect you there.

To your question--if your BIOS is newer, it might let you select which HDD is the boot drive, but I don't think you can select through the BIOS which partition is the boot partition--that has to be done by altering the Master Boot Record--or more precisely, the Master Partition Table--you have to set the boot primary partition as active and the other primary(s) as not active--and for some OS's, like DOS, the other primaries may need to be *hidden* as well or it will have problems!

If you really want to delve into the sea of multi-booting, then here's the guide to read:

Understanding MultiBooting and Booting Windows from an Extended Partition

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blueprintsg

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #3 - Dec 20^th, 2006 at 1:15am

hi nightowl! well I have 1 hard disk with multiple partitions.
and actually i'm not sure if there's a difference between microsoft's way of multi booting or the way I used =
partition C: 10gig NTFS (Primary Partition)
install winxp
alter boot.ini (to have options to boot 2 windows.)
run diskmgmt.msc
create another D: 10 gig NTFS
use norton ghost bootcd to drive copy from C:'s contents to D:'s (and in fact this method i find it's WAY faster than re-installing a 2nd OS by loading the windows cd again)

so when I boot into C:'s windows, D:'s not affected, I'll have to be careful when installing softwares when I boot into D:\'s windows because usually they direct to C:\program files. i don't think the health is linked because they're like totally seperated. when i'm in D:'s windows, I check all the temp files etc it's all set to D:\windows\temp. except for the pagefile.sys hehe which doesn't really matter. I've been in cases where my C:\'s windows is down but I just login to my D:\'s and transfer out the data + reghost and i'm up and running again.

actually I don't know what's "hosed" but i'm thinkin it's "lost" , and yes 1.) i'm aware it's not protected from hardware failure, so after I get it all up and running smooth, I burn a .gho onto the DVD-r =)

2.) as mentioned above.

hmm well what i'm trying to do here is , again
C:\Windows XP (NTFS primary partition 10gig) *set active*
D:\Backup Windows XP (NTFS primary partition 10gig)
E:\My Data (NTFS Extended Logical Partition XXgig)
F:\I Store Ghost Images here. (FAT Extended Logical Partition) <---

<---- = I've pointed the arrow above, what I want to do is making the boot.ini to run DOS ghost.exe , I'm not sure if i got you confused thinking i'm trying to boot windows from the extended partition. but all I want is sort of : instead of putting in a norton ghost cd... I already have that F:\ partition with ghost.exe in it. just log into it straight and restore the ghost files to C: or D: (whichever is down first).

really appreciate your help nightowl! meanwhile I'll check out this bootmanager called XOSL (thanks for the link recommendation) see if it works the way I want it

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blueprintsg

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #4 - Dec 20^th, 2006 at 1:51am

hey nightowl , what i'm trying to do is something like this :

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18480

but that F10, F11 is a bonus. took me a while to read it , but does this mean that I have to install windows XP as FAT32 in order for the ghost boot partition to work? (the steps through hiding/unhiding is a serious hassle.. but the results look gold)

what I want is i don't need to "hide" the partition in case I "update" the ghost images with new ones.

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NightOwl

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #5 - Dec 20^th, 2006 at 8:36am

blueprintsg

That's an interesting twist on setting up multi-booting--now that I see it, it makes sense that it works--but the system is still dependent for booting on the C:\ partition--if the boot files there become corrupted--you will not be able to simply boot to D:\ WinXP!

I'm tight for time for today--I'll report back later!

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blueprintsg

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	Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition Reply #6 - Dec 20^th, 2006 at 7:42pm hmmm "if the boot files there become corrupted--you will not be able to simply boot to D:\ WinXP!" really? that's just weird. it works for me though. what system files does it rely on though? maybe I can try delete them on purpose and see if my D:\ still works. no worries I got a little spare time heheh.
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NightOwl

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #7 - Dec 20^th, 2006 at 10:21pm

blueprintsg

You can protect yourself from corrupt boot files if you have a floppy disk (or, you can probably to this with a bootable CD as well!):

How to use System files to create a boot disk to guard against being unable to start Windows XP

To prove whether your boot files are on C:\ or D:\, you can check each partition's root directory--if you have set Windows Explorer to show all files, then both partitions should have a *boot.ini* file.

You can add a *marker* command line parameter to show which boot.ini is active:

The command line parameter */SOS* disables the Windows splash screen that hides what's going on behind the scenes during the boot process--if you add it to your command line in boot.ini for the OS you are booting, then you should see what's taking place on-screen.

So, using Notepad--open *boot.ini* on the C:\ partition root directory. Edit the *boot.ini* file like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /SOS

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP (Diagnostic)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Norton Ghost" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

And then save it back to the root directory of the C:\ partition.

Now open the *boot.ini* file on the D:\ partition in Notepad. Edit it this way:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP (Diagnostic)" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /SOS

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Norton Ghost" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

And then save it back to the root directory of the D:\ partition.

Now, re-boot to your C:\ WinXP--you should see the boot process without the splash screen.

Then, re-boot to the D:\WinXP--and you now should see the splash screen again, because it's the boot.ini file on the C:\ partition that is controlling the boot process--and not the boot.ini file on the D:\ partition.

In the reference link above:

Quote:

4. If the Bootsect.dos file or the Ntbootdd.sys file resides in the system partition, repeat steps 2 through 4 to copy these files to the boot disk.

If you format a floppy disk in Windows XP, the startup record points to the NTLDR file. When NTLDR runs, it loads the available operating system selections from the Boot.ini file. If you select Windows, NTLDR runs Ntdetect.com, and then passes control to Osloader.exe. If you select MS-DOS or OS/2, NTLDR loads Bootsect.dos.

If you want to boot to a DOS OS, then the multi-boot process has to build the *Bootsect.dos* file that WinXP's loader has to pass the boot process control over to during boot to boot a non-NT based OS--so, yes, the boot partition would have to be readable by DOS--so FAT32 or FAT16.

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blueprintsg

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Re: Norton Ghost Boot HDD Partition
Reply #8 - Dec 21^st, 2006 at 10:13am

ah I see that explains loads. anyway having windows XP installed into FAT32 partition isn't much of an option for me, maybe I feel NTFS is more stable when it comes to win XP. so I'll have to drop that. HOWEVER, thanks to your link I searched and searched from one branch to another and I now use www.ubcd4win.com , installed it into my hard disk, and I use its drive image xml to restore. (also slipped in a customized ghost image too) I'll keep ya updated when it works and all. thanks so much man!!

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