What partitioning software to use if you dont want to change your current setting?

[Battousai001]

Hi, I would like to ask what is a free partitioning application that lets you create another partition without erasing your current partition? I have windows xp pro installed and it is on one partition only, I wanted to install win98 and I dont want to do another reformatting just to install win98 but would prefer to just create another partition from the free space of my current parition then install win98 there.

Or if there is no easy to use free parition software available then my last resort is to just do a reformat

BTW one last question, is this setup possible: Can I create a boot menu to select which o.s. to launch if ever I made a new partition and installed win98? and lastly, is it possible to hide the boot menu and just activate it when you need it? Like for example a specific operating system will automatically be loaded without the menu anymore, and when you need to have the menu you just activate it?

 

[Billb2]

When you install Win98 it will write it's own boot loader...that will not see WinXP ... Xp, while not going to "bit heaven", will not be bootable anymore.

What you want to do can be done, but not that way.

As for partitions, you'll have to resize (smaller) your existing partition, then format the umpartitoned space that results.

 

[lxskllr]

Gparted

 

[Navid]

If you have a second hard drive, this will be much easier and more convenient to use.



Backup all irreplaceable data you have on this partition. You should do that whenever you manipulate partitions.

Download and burn GParted Live CD onto a CD.
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Boot to GParted and resize the partition to make it smaller.
Create a new partition after the one you resized.

If you want, you can reboot to make sure everything still works. It should because we have not made a significant change yet.

Boot back to GParted and using flags make the first partition hidden.
Using flags, make the second partition you created to be boot.

Now, if you reboot, your computer will hang! This confirms that the partition that is visible is empty.

Now, use your Win 98 CD and install 98. It will be installed onto the second partition you created.

After the installation, you can set one partition to be hidden and the other to be boot using GParted and you boot to that. You will keep booting that every time until you change it through GParted.


Both OS will be on drive C this way.



If you want to have a simple boot menu, you should install 98 first and XP second.

Edit:
Virtual machine might be a much easier solution. I have no experience with it. But, I have heard about it!

 

[Battousai001]

Thanks for all the replies, and yes regarding virtual pc, I have already tried that first before posting the thread but after trying virtual pc i still preferred to run win98 on a dual boot. I will just be using win98 for playing two old games.

I think I will just make a fresh install of everything.

 

[Billb2]

That really is the BEST solution.

You might want to think about the formatting:
Win98: Can be Fat16 or Fat32
WinXp: Can be FAT32 or NTFS

Note that FAT32 partitions can not be read by OS's on NTFS partitions, and vice-versa.
Fat32 is inherently slower and less robust than NTFS.

 

[Navid]

XP, on NTFS, should be able to read a FAT32 partition.
No?

 

[yinan]

XP can read FAT32.

Also, why not install 98 in a virtual machine, cleaner and no need to repartition.

 

[Nothinman]

Note that FAT32 partitions can not be read by OS's on NTFS partitions, and vice-versa.
Fat32 is inherently slower and less robust than NTFS.

FAT can be read by any OS, the filesystem used to host that OS is irrelevant. And FAT is faster in some cases than NTFS because NTFS does more work in the background with journaling, permission checks, etc.

 

[QueBert]

Give me one example where FAT32 is slower than NTFS? NTFS is good if you need larger than 4 gig files or security. I use FAT32 on my main partition and if it's any slower than NFTS it's just in a benchmark sense and you won't notice any real world difference.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: QueBert
Give me one example where FAT32 is slower than NTFS?

When Windows is shutdown abruptly with FAT32, the system requires CHKDSK to run before booting and that delays the boot considerably. NTFS doesn't require this.

Yeah - I know - that's not what you meant, but it is real plus for NTFS.

However, a plus for FAT32 is that it gives you more usable HDD space because it does not require metadata files, MFT files, and a designated MFT zone that takes away from your usable space.

 

[Nothinman]

Give me one example where FAT32 is slower than NTFS?

Finding files. Searching the FAT is slower than searching the MFT when there's a decent amount of files.

When Windows is shutdown abruptly with FAT32, the system requires CHKDSK to run before booting and that delays the boot considerably. NTFS doesn't require this.

It's not required for NTFS but it still ends up doing it lots of the time for reasons that I can't explain.

 

[Battousai001]

Hi! I have another question, is there a software that lets you switch partitions/operation system without restarting?

 

[Nothinman]

Something like VMWare will let you run multiple OSes concurrently, but you can't fully switch OSes without rebooting

 

[Battousai001]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Something like VMWare will let you run multiple OSes concurrently, but you can't fully switch OSes without rebooting

Thanks but I have already tried virtual pc before I posted the thread, after checking out virtual pc I have decided to run win98 on a separate partition due to some performance issues.

 

[jonmcc33]

I don't bother with partitions. I made the entire drive one single volume. I use proper folder management to sort my data.