help with a second OS

[carolt]

I am PC literate and do upgrades but am unfamiliar with tweaking the inards of my PC so bare this in mind when responding. I have about a 02 model PC that came with XP (and I have the disc) and an 7200RPM 80 gig HD. I was running out of space on the HD so yesterday I installed a 7200RPM Ultra ATA/133 Maxtor 120gig HD. I used the enclosed Maxtor software and chose to use the new HD as storage because I only had the option to use it as a boot drive or storage. I had decided I wanted to install Win98 on the 2nd drive so I could play several games that are not out for XP, so using the Maxtor software as recommended, I set up partitions on the new drive as follows: 15 gig FAT32, 47 gig NFTS, and the rest NFTS. Everything went fine, the new HD was recognized and the partitions were assigned letters F, G, and H in order of the above. C is my XP old drive and D and E is my CD-ROM and DVD burner. Of course, I want to install Win 98 on the 15g FAT32 partition and want to use OS loader to boot between 98 and XP. When I tried to put 98 on the partition, it said I needed to use MS-DOS to install it and not knowing how to do this, I began searching online. There I read that I could not install 98 if XP is already installed (can't install an older OS once a newer one is on there). Both drives are set to cable select right now with the old HD on the black connector and the new one on the gray connector. What if I changed the new Maxtor drive to master and the XP to slave, then deleted XP (I wanted to do a clean install of XP anyway because I am having some problems with it), installed Win98 first on the new drive now set as master, then reinstalled XP on the old drive set as slave? I reinstalled XP right after I bought the PC (as it was used and full of spyware), but it had an extended warranty and they walked me thru the whole thing (I have the key and XP disc) and I don't remember what I did. Would this work? If so, what options will I get and which do I choose when I put in the XP disc? What problems might I have? I have a driver CD included when I bought this PC, but I know I will need to find my discs for my printer and DVD burner that I have since added. I have cable internet and don't know if I will have problems reinstalling that (I don't remember if there is a disc with cable). I have SP1 installed with XP but my updates have not been downloading (some problem that I know will be fixed with a reinstall) and so I can just use my cable connection to quickly download SP2. Anything else that might cause problems? Will this work (deleting XP, installing 98 and reinstalling XP)? 95% of the time I want to use XP because I just want 98 and the 15g partition to just play games. Will this be a problem if 98 is on my C drive or does it not matter if I am using OS loader? I hope someone can help me w/o it being a major ordeal and remember to give me step by step instructions assuming I may be clueless as to what you are saying! Thanks in advance!
Carol

 

[carolt]

I forgot to mention this in previous post

Also, if I put some files that I don't want to lose on the new HD in one of the partitions (either the 47g or 50g), will I lose these when installing 98 to the 15g FAT32 partition or when reformatting the old drive and reinstalling XP? I could back up but hate to use 8+ DVDs to back up my music. Thanks!
Carol

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I read that I could not install 98 if XP is already installed (can't install an older OS once a newer one is on there).

Not only that, but if XP is installed to an NTFS partition, 98 won't be able to write its own boot files to it.

What if I changed the new Maxtor drive to master and the XP to slave, then deleted XP (I wanted to do a clean install of XP anyway because I am having some problems with it), installed Win98 first on the new drive now set as master, then reinstalled XP on the old drive set as slave?

That would work.

If so, what options will I get and which do I choose when I put in the XP disc?

You get to choose the installation partition during XP's text-mode setup. Just select the correct drive, there should be no problems.

I have cable internet and don't know if I will have problems reinstalling that (I don't remember if there is a disc with cable).

Just in case XP detects the connection automatically, unplug the cable. Plug it in once you've installed a firewall.

95% of the time I want to use XP because I just want 98 and the 15g partition to just play games. Will this be a problem if 98 is on my C drive or does it not matter if I am using OS loader?

Keep in mind that 98 won't be able to see any NTFS partitions, so if you want to share files between the OSes, you need to store them to the FAT32 partition.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Also, if I put some files that I don't want to lose on the new HD in one of the partitions (either the 47g or 50g), will I lose these when installing 98 to the 15g FAT32 partition

No.

or when reformatting the old drive and reinstalling XP?

No, if you're not going to format the new partitions. Just copy the files to the new drive first and format the old drive the way you want.

 

[carolt]

To Mictlantecuhtli or anyone

You get to choose the installation partition during XP's text-mode setup. Just select the correct drive, there should be no problems[/COLOR]

Don't I insert the XP disk also to reformat? Won't I have to reformat first to remove XP before I install 98 on my new drive and do this with the XP disk? Then I guess I take out the XP disk after reformatting, put in the 98 disk and load it on the new HD (with XP removed now, will it matter now if the new HD is the master or the slave?) and then reload XP back on the old drive. Then I install anything (drivers, etc) for XP and then OS loader to boot between the 2.

You said if I wanted to share anything that because 98 won't recognize NFTS that I need to put the files in the FAT32 partition. Would this mean I need to install the drivers for my CD-ROM and DVD-burner on the 98 FAT32 partition because I want to play games. I would guess I need the DVD-burner there too so I can copy things from the Cd-ROM to the DVD-burner. IF this is what I need to do, would I also install the CD-ROM and DVD-burner on the XP drive too? I can't think of anything else that I would need for playing games, can you? Do I need some kind of floppy to install 98 or just the 98 disk? And if I put some files from XP in one of the large NFTS partitions that I created on the new HD, will they be safe while I am adding 98 to the 15 g partition and reformatting and installing XP? Also, since 98 can't read NFTS, will the other 2 partitions that I made NFTS on the new drive just be used for storage? That is what I wanted to do with those other partitions.
Thanks in advance!
Carol

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Don't I insert the XP disk also to reformat? Won't I have to reformat first to remove XP before I install 98 on my new drive and do this with the XP disk?

There's no need to remove XP before installing 98.

with XP removed now, will it matter now if the new HD is the master or the slave?

Yes, it will matter, as both operating systems will install essential boot files to the first partition of the first hard disk drive (which will usually be primary master).

After you've installed 98, XP setup will add its boot files to the new drive and create a boot menu for you.

Would this mean I need to install the drivers for my CD-ROM and DVD-burner on the 98 FAT32 partition because I want to play games. I would guess I need the DVD-burner there too so I can copy things from the Cd-ROM to the DVD-burner.

Hmm, if you have drivers on CD, it's not necessary to copy them to hdd. Besides, 98 should detect such drives automatically (unless you're using external CD/DVD drives).

I can't think of anything else that I would need for playing games, can you?

If you have 98 Second Edition, I recommend installing Unofficial 98SE Service Pack.

Do I need some kind of floppy to install 98 or just the 98 disk?

The CD should be bootable, just set the boot order in BIOS to CD first.

And if I put some files from XP in one of the large NFTS partitions that I created on the new HD, will they be safe while I am adding 98 to the 15 g partition and reformatting and installing XP?

They should be.

Also, since 98 can't read NFTS, will the other 2 partitions that I made NFTS on the new drive just be used for storage?

Yes - or anything you like, of course.

 

[carolt]

Mictlantecuhtli

I hate to keep asking, but I noticed on this last post you said there was no reason to uninstall (or remove may be the word you used) XP. I cannot see the post now as I type this so I am not 100% sure. However, I thought I had to have XP off the PC while installing 98, then add it back on. Oh, maybe you meant when I reformat the old drive it will be taken off. To reformat the old HD, do I use the XP disk as I did last time when I reformatted and reinstalled XP, do I use the disk thing included in windows (and I assume I have to do this first because once 98 is installed, I can't use anything there to reformat in NFTS because Win 98 doesn't recognize this), or do I download something else (free) to reformat the old HD (the one with XP on it)? Also, in the part where you said it would matter which HD is master and which is slave once XP is removed, then which one should I set as which? The original idea I had: the new HD with 98 installed in the 15g partition set as master and the old HD that would be reformatted and waiting for me to reinstall XP would be the slave? Is that the way it should be? Thanks so much for your help!
Carol

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I cannot see the post now as I type this so I am not 100% sure.

You can click "quote" button on a message to reply directly to it.

I thought I had to have XP off the PC while installing 98, then add it back on. Oh, maybe you meant when I reformat the old drive it will be taken off.

No, there's no need to do anything. As 98 can't read NTFS, it won't even know XP is there.

Also, in the part where you said it would matter which HD is master and which is slave once XP is removed, then which one should I set as which? The original idea I had: the new HD with 98 installed in the 15g partition set as master and the old HD that would be reformatted and waiting for me to reinstall XP would be the slave? Is that the way it should be?

It still sounds like it would work.