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The way I have my multi-boot setup is Win98se, WinY2K, WinXP pro and in that order. All Fat32.
WD 160 gig, 8 MB cache FAT32
Maxtor 30 gig, 2 MB cache FAT32
Each O/S is on a separate 4 gig partition. [C:] [D:] & [E:]
1 gig swap file partition [F:]
I install my programs on a separate partition. [G:]
I created folders on the programs partition.
Program Files98
Program FilesY2K
Program FilesXP
I custom install all programs of each O/S into their respective Program Files folder.
TIP:
With this kind of a setup, and you are going to install any Creative software into the next O/S, rename the C:\Program Files folder temporarily. What ever O/S is on [C:].
If you don't, you'll have a folder popup on you when you boot into your alternate O/S's on the other partitions that you installed the Creative software. It seems that Creative software doesn't really like you to have a multiple boot machine. There's some registry entry referencing the C:\Program Files upon Windows startup processes.
The first time I used the separate partition for my individual O/S's Program Files, I created the folders with a space before the O/S designation.
e.g.
Program Files 98
Program Files Y2K
Program Files XP
Creative found a way to disregard the designation. It only saw the Program Files part and didn't see the rest of the folder name. Thus I had to rename the folders by removing the space before the designation. This was with the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 and Value card software install.
I created a Misc files partition for my data storage. In here has everything that moves or changes or stays put in the way of personal files.
The Temp and Temporary Internet Files folder for each O/S is located on this partition. Each O/S shares the same temp folders. This method gets rid of the index.dat file the you usually find in Temporary Internet Files folder. I don't have a Content I.E.5 folder either because of this move.
My WAB file and Outlook Express Store folder is on this partition as well so if I have some kind of catastrophic O/S failure, I don't lose my addressbook or E-mail. Each O/S's Outlook Express share the same WAB and store folder so if I make a change to either my addressbook or receive E-mail in one O/S it is reflected when running any of the other O/S's and Outlook Express.
I moved my Favorites to this drive too. I wouldn’t want to lose them if something happens.
When I save a file, my O/S's default to my Misc partition. Nothing gets put in the O/S partitions except compatibility files during an install.
All this redirection of files and having the swap file on a separate partition keeps the O/S partitions from fragmenting.
Fat32 partitions for Music files and Backup on the 30 gig Maxtor.
I could have left WinY2K and XP on a NTFS file system as I have multiple partitions for file storage on FAT32 partitions. System security isn't priority as I am the only user. A firewall and router protect the system.
An anal file system, I know. A few registry hacks, a little reverse engineering & some imagination is all it took.
Just some ideas for ya.
I had this same setup of 4 gigs for each operating system on a 30gig drive.
Cheers!
PS:
I just noticed that I upgraded my XP partiton to 5 gigs
Last edited by Beemer; 03-06-2004 at 07:31 PM.
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