Can System and boot partitions be the same ? 2

[TrueMan]

We often talk about bootup files being in system partition and system files being in boot partition. But, are the bootup files not NTdetect, NTLDR, NTbootDD, etc. if so this files i often see inside my C drive or partition where the winnt folder( where i have the system files) resides. This files do reside together on my C drive or partition.

My question is can anyone explain to me if boot and system partitions are always merge together or are logically thought of.

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ndi

 

[CitrixEngineer]

This is, in fact, the default that Microsoft offer.

Many administrators choose not to go with the defaults - and if you wish to build a multi-O/S system, it may be better to have a small (16Mb or so) FAT16 partition on which the boot loader resides.

The O/Ses can then be installed on other partitions, with whichever file systems the user requires, eg FAT32, NTFS, HPFS etc.

The files you mention MUST reside on the primary active partition (usually C:\).

You could even install Linux on a system with this setup, since Linux uses its own boot manager, often one called lilo, which needs to be on this partition. The remainder of Linux can be put on other partitions in the same way. The provisio I always follow is that Windows systems are installed first.

I hope this information is useful.

 

[TrueMan]

You answered my question well about boot and system partition.

but tell me how you separate the boot files from the system files.

you know when u are installing the only option given is to put it in C:\WINNT directory, then how do u separate them.

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ndi

 

[culshaja]

You need 2 partitions. Make C your primary. When installing change the install directory to D:\WINNT. The boot partition will be C and teh System partition will be D

James James Culshaw
jculshaw@active-data-solutions.co.uk

http://www.active-data-solutions.co.uk

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=193305

 

[CitrixEngineer]

That's absolutely right, James!

The installation procedure will automatically put the files necessary to boot the computer in the correct location on C:\, so, in effect, the files are separated for you.