A friend of mine has a computer that was given to them and they had an accident when their child had gotten a hold of it. So now the hard drive's partition has been completely erased, and the only copies of XP Pro that they have are on backups. I have a computer that has XP Home Edition, and I was just curious if there is any way that I could re-partition the ruined hard drive and reinstall XP Pro from backups if I slave the hard drive to mine. If it is possible to re-partition the hard drive, how exactly would I partition it to make it bootable?
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How Do You Partition a Hard drive for XP Pro? 1
- Thread starter caligo
- Start date
What do their XP backups consist of? (eg, are they image of the XP installation or complete/partial backups using XP's backup utility or a third party backup utility).
They have no XP Pro install CD? Nor a recovery CD (which would restore PC to its 'factory' state - often provided by suppliers instead of install CD)?
You can create a partition easily enough (if you slave drive in your machine, use disk management - run diskmgmt.msc) - but whether you can reload XP will depend on exactly what they have.
They have no XP Pro install CD? Nor a recovery CD (which would restore PC to its 'factory' state - often provided by suppliers instead of install CD)?
You can create a partition easily enough (if you slave drive in your machine, use disk management - run diskmgmt.msc) - but whether you can reload XP will depend on exactly what they have.
- Thread starter
- #3
Their XP backups are partial, consisting basically of a manual copy of the hard drive (such as system files, hidden files, drivers, everything needed to keep XP running etc.). The computer didn't come with an install cd or a recovery cd. In disk management, there are many options available as far as partitioning is concerned, and I've never partitioned a drive with the intent to make it bootable. In what ways does that differ, and what exactly would I have to do to make a bootable partition with NTFS formatting?
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- #4
The partition just needs to be a primary (non-logical) partition. Then, just simply load what they have from backup. Keep your fingers crossed as you put the drive back in their system. If the backup was thorough enough, it should be fine.
You did say it was a "manual" backup, which only has a high success rate if it was done properly. Doing one while Windows is running isn't the best method.
~cdogg
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You did say it was a "manual" backup, which only has a high success rate if it was done properly. Doing one while Windows is running isn't the best method.
~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
masterchicker
Programmer
Here's what you can do:
1. Since all files are backed-up I think this is feasible.
2. Procure a copy of Win98 and WinXP installers.
3. Procure a Windows 98 recovery diskette. (In Win98 of another PC that is working -- Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs-look for the tab that displays for creating the recovery diskette)
4. Boot from the floopy drive so the command prompt will be available.
5. Type "fdisk" then press enter.
6. Follow the instructions to partition the concerned physical hard drive. It is not-so-rocket-science. This will require you to reboot your PC.
7. Boot again from the floppy drive. Check if the partitions already exist and function well by typing "c:", "d:"... (This will depend on the number of partitions)
8. Install Win98 from the CD. (The Windows 98 Recovery diskette allows for CD-rom functionality)
9. Upgrade to WinXP afterwards.
10. Restore all backed-up files.
1. Since all files are backed-up I think this is feasible.
2. Procure a copy of Win98 and WinXP installers.
3. Procure a Windows 98 recovery diskette. (In Win98 of another PC that is working -- Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs-look for the tab that displays for creating the recovery diskette)
4. Boot from the floopy drive so the command prompt will be available.
5. Type "fdisk" then press enter.
6. Follow the instructions to partition the concerned physical hard drive. It is not-so-rocket-science. This will require you to reboot your PC.
7. Boot again from the floppy drive. Check if the partitions already exist and function well by typing "c:", "d:"... (This will depend on the number of partitions)
8. Install Win98 from the CD. (The Windows 98 Recovery diskette allows for CD-rom functionality)
9. Upgrade to WinXP afterwards.
10. Restore all backed-up files.
Just to add to cdogg's answer, if it doesn't boot, you may need to restore the boot sector after you've restored the files. You can do this while the drive is slaved in your machine. You'll need to boot into recovery console - From there, you run fixboot x:, where x: is the drive letter of the slaved drive as seen from recovery console. This assumes the restored files included ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini in the root of the drive (normally hidden, system, read only files). If they are not there, you can copy the versions from your XP Home installation to the other drive before you run the fixboot command (you might want to edit the boot.ini entry so it says XP Professional instead of XP Home - but this is only cosmetic - getting it to boot is obvious priority).
masterchicker
Programmer
You can delete the NTFS partition and replace it with a FAT32 partition in Fdisk. When you're about to upgrade to WinXP, there's always an option to upgrade to NTFS. I hopes this helps. 
masterchicker,
If I'm not mistaken (and it's been a while since I've worked with a dual-boot NT & 9x system), the fdisk utility cannot even see the NTFS partition - especially if there is a non-primary NTFS partition on the drive.
Also, the other problem is that the backup itself can sometimes be made to preserve NTFS attributes which would not correctly translate over to a FAT partition. Your idea may work in general for some users, but it's more of a last resort IMHO as opposed to creating the partition from an NT install setup. But hey, I guess that's just me!
It's good that you mentioned it anyway in case caligo is faced with the dilemma of doing this from a Win9x system.
If I'm not mistaken (and it's been a while since I've worked with a dual-boot NT & 9x system), the fdisk utility cannot even see the NTFS partition - especially if there is a non-primary NTFS partition on the drive.
Also, the other problem is that the backup itself can sometimes be made to preserve NTFS attributes which would not correctly translate over to a FAT partition. Your idea may work in general for some users, but it's more of a last resort IMHO as opposed to creating the partition from an NT install setup. But hey, I guess that's just me!
It's good that you mentioned it anyway in case caligo is faced with the dilemma of doing this from a Win9x system.
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