Possible setups:
Scenario 1.)
First, I'd make a decision about which drive should be the primary, or mastered as the jumper on the IDE cable. The fastest drive would be the determining factor in this decision. Let's say, in this situation, that the 120GB drive is the master.
Next, I'd decide whether or not the operating systems would be sharing the primary drive, or kept isolated, one operating system per drive.
Let's assume that in this scenario, I decided to allow both operating systems to share the primary drive.
Next, I'd make a decision about how many partitions I wanted, and how large they should be. The first part of that decision would involve Win9x. I'd calculate the amount of free space needed for the programs I wanted to install, and add that to 500MB. The 500MB would be for the operating system files and the virtual memory. Or I could use a nice round figure such 1GB, with the assumption that this is sufficient free space for everything I'll be needing -- combined.
To install WinXP, absolute bare minimum, I'd want <i>at least</i> 1.5 for the operating system files, and 3GB would be a safer bet. But with this in mind, I'd want a separate partition created to hold the bulk of the third-party files that would be installed to use within this OS. This means I'd also want to calculate how much free space is needed for these applications. For my personal needs, based on past usage, I'd say about 7GB for everything.
This means I'm dedicating 4GB total for the operating systems; 7GB for the WinXP applications, with 109GB of free space left over. (In actuality, the free space would be closer to 100GB after the drive is partitioned and formatted, since a 120GB drive with FAT32 partitions would be 111.79GB, instead of 120GB, but let's not nitpick over the bits and bytes!) :lol:
The last consideration in this area would be the choice of the file system. Since I'm dual-booting, and would prefer for all partitions to be visible, regardless of the operating system I'm using, I would create FAT32 partitions.
To create the partitions, I'd start the system with a Windows <A HREF="http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/original.htm" target="_new">boot disk</A>, and use the <A HREF="http://www.computerhope.com/sfdisk1.htm" target="_new">FDISK</A> utility. This might involve changing the boot order of the devices in the BIOS so that the floppy drive is the first, bootable device.
First, I'd create a 1GB primary DOS partition on the master drive, and set it as "active". Then I'd create an extended partition with the rest of the free space. Within that extended partition, I'd create a 3GB logical drive (for WinXP). Then, considering the WinXP applications, I'd create a second logical drive of 7GB. Finally, I'd create a third logical drive with the rest of the free space.
This creates drive letters C, D, E, & F. C: for Win98, D: for WinXP, E: for WinXP applications, and F: for personal documents and files.
I'd also immediately partition the 80GB disk at the same time, and more than likely make two partitions of an equal size. This creates drive letters G: & H".
Partitioning both drives at the same time means that the drive letters for the optical drives will be listed after the drive letters for the hard drive partitions once the operating systems are installed.
Note 1.) This scenario does have it's setbacks. Since all the partitions are FAT32, the cluster sizes for the bigger partitions will be very large, and there will be quite a bit of slack space. Read this <A HREF="http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html" target="_new">article</A> for a further explanation.
Once the partitions were created, I'd change the boot order in the BIOS to the CD-ROM. Then I'd install Win98 <i>first</i>, on C: Then WinXP, on D:. When this was complete, I'd change the boot order in the BIOS to the first IDE drive, which is usually IDE 0. Afterwards, a boot loader would appear, allowing me 30 seconds to decide which operating system to use.
Scenario 2: Due to the size of the hard drives, I've decided to use NTFS as much as possible. But there is a trade-off; none of the NTFS partitions will be visible from within Win98. With that in mind, I might want to dedicate an extra partition to Win98 for personal files and/or programs, so I don't have to keep them within the primary partition that contains the operating system files.
First, to create the partitions, instead of using FDISK, I'd use the WinXP CD, which means the first device in the boot order would need to be the CD-ROM. Information on how to create partitions with the WinXP CD:
<A HREF="http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPPro/installxppro1.htm" target="_new">Windows XP Professional Install Guide</A>
<A HREF="http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPHome/installxphome1.htm" target="_new">Windows XP Home Install Guide</A>
Again, I would create a 1GB partition for Win98, and logical drive within an extended partition for Win98 personal files and programs. Then a third for the WinXP operating system files. Finally, a fourth partition for WinXP applications and personal files, using the rest of the free space.
I'd do the same thing for the second hard drive, and create one large partition with all the free space on the disk.
Next, I'd boot with the Win98 CD, and install it on the first partition of the primary drive. Then I'd boot with the WinXP CD, and install it on the third partition of the same drive.
Once the operating systems were installed, I'd change the boot order in the BIOS to IDE 0, boot into WinXP, and format any remaining partitions, right from the GUI. This means the second partition on the primary drive would be FAT32, and everything else would be NTFS. This would reduce the slack space, since the majority of the partitions would be using a more efficient file system.
It's easy to format a partition within WinXP. You just open My Computer, right-click on a drive letter and choose "Format" from the menu. Select the file system.
Note 2: Partitions larger than 32GB cannot be formatted as FAT32 by WinXP, neither within the GUI or by the CD. This can only be done with the FORMAT command on a Windows boot disk, or by a third-party partitioning tool.
OR ... (yeah, it continues!)
Scenario 3.)
This may be the simplest method. Start the computer with the Windows boot disk. Create a 1GB primary DOS partition for Win98. Create the extended partition, and make a second logical drive for the Win98 personal files or applications (if you so choose.) Or stop after making the primary partition, and leave the rest of the free space alone.
Install Win98 on the partition you created.
Boot with the WinXP CD, and create whatever partitions you prefer, on the <i>second</i> hard drive. I'd advise two ... one for the OS, and the second for applications and personal files. Then create another partition on the primary disk, using the remaining free space on that drive. Format everything as NTFS, except the primary partition that contains Win98.
Install WinXP on the first partition of the second hard drive.
Afterwards, the only partition visible within Win98 will be C:. All of them will visible from within WinXP.
As you can see, setting up a dual-boot and partitioning depends greatly on the applications you intend to install and the file system that you prefer. You can even use a boot manager, like <A HREF="http://www.v-com.com/product/sc7_ind.html" target="_new">System Commander</A> to install multiple operating systems, with a minimum of effort.
Some helpful links:
<A HREF="http://www.webtechgeek.com/center-Frame-win-SuperTechGeek-Dual-Boot.htm" target="_new">Dual Boot Windows!</A>
<A HREF="http://www.winxpfix.com/page5.htm" target="_new">Window Xp Dual Boot Tip Page!</A>
<A HREF="http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/dualboot.html" target="_new">Installing(Dual Booting) Windows XP and Win9x Together In One Hard Disk</A>
<A HREF="http://windows.about.com/cs/dualboot/?iam=mikesart_SDK&terms=window" target="_new">Dual Boot with Windows</A>
Of course, you can also expect to hear helpful advice from other forum members who have their own preferences about how partitions should be created in terms of size, the number of partitions, and their choice of file systems. I'd advise you to give due consideration to all of them, and then make your decisions about the layout, based on your personal preferences. No two people do this the same way, and there are <i>many</i> feasible options and methods to choose from, such as using <A HREF="http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/" target="_new">Partition Magic</A> or <A HREF="http://www.ranish.com/part/" target="_new">Ranish Partition Manager</A> for the partition creation, to even using the BIOS as the primary method for selecting the bootable device, instead of the Windows boot loader.
Toey
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