Is it possible to load Win98 SE onto a new drive, with the old one still in the system?

[Sacotool]

I bought a new Maxtor 30gig drive, all I have in my possession right now is my backup copy of Win98 SE, the original is at my parents house. For some reason when I put the CD in and try to boot from it, it says SYSTEM BOOT FAILURE, but all the files are intact when I check in DOS. (I have Boot from CDROM selected in the BIOS) My question is:

Can I keep my old HD on primary master, and put the new drive as a slave. Then can I run the install of Windows 98 on the new drive, and after it's done, remove the old drive and put the new Maxtor on the Primary Master channel. Hmm, that is confusing to me and I wrote it!

 

[Sacotool]

hmm I thought I was in Gen Hardware

 

[Plantanthera]

Why don't install the NewHDD on the Primary Master, and the OldHDD as Slave and boot from floppy to Dos and install Win98se from DOS.

C: - PrimaryMaster - NewHDD - Fresh install Win98se

D: - PrimarySlave - OldHDD - Old Win98 & WinBackUp

 

[Sacotool]

Thanks for the reply


I've run into a major snag, my floppy drive doesn't work Every disk I try it's finding errors on them.

 

[Napalm381]

Sounds like you could use a copy of Partition Magic to copy the whole partition from the old drive to the new one.

 

[Sacotool]

I'll have to use my friends computer and make a Win98 boot disk tomorrow. The Maxtor install utility demands a bootdisk, all I have is an old Dos bootdisk. When I use the DOS disk, Maxtor thinks I'm running Win 3.1 or something and will only make an 8gig partition with FAT 16.

 

[Plantanthera]

Here is a solution for ya that don't need a new Boot Disk.

Install the Maxtor as the Slave, then FDISK & FORMAT the NEW DRIVE using the current config.

1. PrimSlave - NewHDD, PrimMaster OldHDD (then boot system as usual from OldHDD)

2. FDISK & FORMAT - NewHDD (then reboot)

3. Copy the Win98se Cab files from OldHDD to NewHDD. (shut off puter)

4. PrimMaster - NewHDD (boot system using old DOS Floppy, or CD Boot Disk)

5. Change to path to the apropriate folder that contain the Win98se install to setup your puter.

Good Luck!

 

[Sacotool]

Plantanthera,

Thanks for your help I followed your directions and got the drive formatted correctly. I got to the last step where I tried to boot from the new drive (on the primary master) with the old one disconnected. It said there wasn't an active partition. So I tried booting from my ancient DOS boot disk, and when I boot this way, when I try and access the C drive it says it can't be found. So I hooked up my old drive and went to fdisk but it won't let me set an active partition on the new drive because the old one already is already active partitioned. Whew that was a mouthful!

 

[Plantanthera]

Boot to promt and choose option 2. Set Active Partion to make your partition Active. (look at option 4 to view Partition Status)

 

[Sacotool]

When I go into fdisk I have to switch to drive 2, and it says that it can only make disk 1 active. When I disconnect the old HDD and boot from my old DOS disk it says "invalid drive specification" when I try and access the new drive.

 

[Plantanthera]

Oop!

I forgot the Old Dos 6.22 Can't play with FAT32

And Some how I was thinking that your floppy drive weren't working :Q

Goo here to down load a Win98se boot disk.

And I think that you don't need a CDrom to make a boot disk...You just have to redirect the path to the apropriate folder.

* When creating Boot Disk; In the Copy files from [box](redirect it to the apropriate path)