Two HDDs ; one Win2K & the other Win98se??????

[Lcarvone]

I need a little advice with some basic setup questions regarding multiple hard drives. I currently have a 10 gig drive loaded with Win2K on my main PC. My digital camera and scanner software won't run in Win2K (and never will according to manuf) so I currently do all this work on my 2nd PC (Win98se) and transfer to the main PC through a crossover cable (it is in another room). The time and effort involved has finally gotten to me so I had planned to add a second drive to the main PC and load Win98se on that. Will I be able to move pics, files etc from drive to drive, drop and drag style? (This may be a very simple question for some but I have been a single hard drive man my whole life

Basically these are the applications I intend (or are required) to use and how I had envisioned setting them up:

Original 10 gig(Win2K)

Office Apps
E-Mail
Web Browsing
Web site management
Games (those capable of working under Win2K))

New 4.3 to 6.4 gig(Win98se)

Digital camera
Scanner
Games (those incapable of running under Win2K or optimzed using Win98se)

A typical (simplified) session at the PC (getting rarer these days) as an example would be to download a pic from the camera and then publish onto a website or attach to an e-mail.

The current 10 gig drive is not big enough for both OS nor for the files I have/intend to have over the
forseeable future. Would selling my 10 gig and getting a 20 gig then subsequently partitioning it be a better plan?

Any thoughts on my situation would be greatly appreciated.

L-Carvone

PS: I like the better control and stability of Win2K so I don't want to just run Win98se alone under which everything works....well most of the time

 

[zzzz]

you can set both the os on a single HD. install win 98 first in a primary partition say about 1 gig. now make an extended partition for the rest of the space. In that extended partition, make logical drives(more than one.) then insert the win 2k CD while in win 98. It would give you an option of fresh installation, choose that and also somewhere it would ask whether you want to specify the partition on which to install win 2k. choose any of the logical partitions. now you can access the win 98 partition from within win 2k. I am not sure whether you can access win 2k partition in win 98, but you can access all other partitions.
If this is not clear for you, I think win 2k has a help section on dual booting.
and if you have more than one drive, you can access the second drive from both the oses.
zzzz
just a after thought.
go to hotdeals forum. there is a thread on 40 gig HD for $120...Then you will have the space you want..
here

 

[Lcarvone]

Thanks...anyone else with thoughts?

 

[Ladi]

Yes you can...as long as there is at least one partition that BOTH OS's can read (fat16 or 32). In many instances, people start to favor one OS over the other rather than rebooting constantly. You may want to look into vmware or buying new hardware that supports 2k... Make sure, also, that you know how to get a dualboot working properly when 98se is installed 2nd (yes, it is possible)...

~Ladi

 

[Lcarvone]

Ok Thanks

I currently have two partition on my 10 gig drive. One at 7 and the other at 3. Currently using NTFS. If I convert the whole thing to FAT32 can I then install 98 on the smaller partition?

This is great folks....any more ideas on the 2nd hard drive scenario(s)?

 

[JokerF15]

here is what i did

9.1 gb
win2k, d:, for stability, fat32!!

10.0 gb
c: win98, for games, scanner (pos dont work under win2k)
fat32

to copy, drag drop files both partitions must be fat. Also, install win98 first, than win2k, because it will automatically setup a dual boot menu at the start of boot up. hope i can help =)

 

[Lcarvone]

Ok. Getting a little closer and this may be another stupid question but here it goes anyway....

Two scenarios:

A) I convert my main drive to FAT32 under Win2k. The second drive will be loaded with Win98se also using FAT32 allowing both to communicate.

B) Create two partitions on the main drive; one Win2K and the other Win98se ; both using FAT32. Then convert the second hard drive to FAT32. (Would I have to load Win98se on both a main drive partition and the second drive.....or......just format and convert the second drive to FAT32 from within Win2K on the main drive?)

If booted into Win2K can I run an application that was loaded on the second drive (i.e. damn scanner software)or just copy files back and forth? My concern is that the above dual hard drive scenario will result in me having to boot into the second drive (98) and run the scanner, save whatever, then reboot into main (2K) to use the thing I just scanned.....

Any thoughts on this setup are appreciated......flood me with opinions gurus!

 

[Lcarvone]

Anyone got some more advice?