If I move OS partitions on my hard drive, will OS Selector automatically detect them?
Hi,
I've got several WinXP and Win7 partitions on my hard drive. I may have to move some of these and expand them too. I have OSS running to select which partition I want to boot into. Would OSS pickup the new position of the moved OS and add it to the menu or do I have to do something about that e.g. manually edit the 'bootwiz.oss' file? Any advice on the best way to do this would be most helpful.
Thanks
Mohammed
Thanks. How do I do that? I thought if I were to deactivate OSS, move the partitions, reactivate OSS, it will pickup the partitions with the OS, and then add new entries to the boot menu?
Depending on the OSS, it might. Generally speaking. I didn't want to say it would without knowing more about your configuration.
Thanks for the reply. I'm using OSS v10. This is what it looks like at the moment (in order)
1. Dell Diagnostics (Primary/Hidden)
2. Win7 64-bit (Primary)
3. Win7 32-bit (Primary)
4. Data (Logical) [used by the Win7 partitions]
5. WinXP 32-bit (Logical)
6. WinXP 32-bit (Logical)
7. Data (logical) [used by the WinXP partitions]
8. Win7 64-bit (Logical)
9. TEMP (Logical) [191GB]
10. Win7 64-bit (Logical)
11. OSS (Logical) [Contains the OSS boot files]
12 Unallocated [100GB]
What I need to do is extend (2) and (3). Right now, (2) is the critical one. If I kept (2) in place and moved everything else, I should be able to boot into (2) without a problem. I can then sort out the rest. A couple of questions:
(a) Can I move the OSS partition? Will OSS still work?
(b) Here's a line for (2) in the 'bootwiz.oss':
I can get the 'begin' parameter from the 'Hidden sectors' value in the Acronis Disk Editor. However, the 'size' parameter is shown as '116583705' in the 'bootwiz.oss' file but as '116583704' in the Acronis Disk Editor. Why the difference? Assuming I have to edit the 'bootwiz.oss' file, if I extend a partition, do I have to fill in the 'size' parameter or will OSS do itself?
First I have to congratulate you on having one of the most complex boot environments most of us have probably ever seen. But in all honestly, it looks like disaster waiting to happen. The latest version of DD is certainly the most robust, v10 has some short comings. I do hope that this entire disk is somehow protected or at least the data partitions should you need to rebuild any of the OS's. Have you ever considered running VM's instead of a multi-boot configuration. Hyper V is built into windows 8 and is free. It will give you finite granular control. Much easier management and protection of your environment. It would also provide you with the ability to spin up VM's on different hardware further protecting you from data loss and downtime.
Thanks for the compliment. :)
I do video editing, so I have to run a multi-boot system to keep video-side of the software away from everything else. Initially, it was only a WinXP dual-boot with a data directory. I keep the data in a separate partition away from the OS. With the move to Windows 7, the idea was to migrate to a dual-boot Windows 7 system. I had to keep the XP partitions running until that was completed as it takes a lot of work to setup the software up so that everything is working, especially with editing software, graphics, audio, and FX based tools too. The move to 64-bit posed problems too. For example, the Test partition is there to ensure that any updates to the editing software, new versions etc. are tested out before being deployed. Tests take time as problems don't always show up straight away.
The data directories are backed up every night on a networked ReadyNAS. The OSs are backed up using Acronis. I can a create a partition when I need it and deploy backup images from XP to Windows 7. When you've trying to solve a problem, and editing software is incredibly complex and demanding, you sometimes have to go back to a basic Windows install to eliminate some of the variables. All my software is licensed and the software isn't cheap, so I can't just update to the latest - the combination of software and hardware doesn't work in all versions of Windows.
I can't use a VM as I have a lot of hardware connected and performance is critical. Installing a patch can be lethal, let alone installing a new OS! When you get something working, you tend to keep it as it's too much time and effort to keep changing it. Projects tend to be long and you certainly don't fiddle with a system part way through a project. Even Window's updates can really break your system (which I'm sure many have experienced). With shared directories (I also have a RAID0 setup plus other media drives which are also backed up) and the ability to boot into any OS, it's easy to jump from one to the other when needed.
It looks chaotic but it's well managed. I'm in the process now re-organizing it as things are quite stable under Windows 7 and I hardly use the XP partitions. I've moved a lot of software over and it looks stable - I know what all the issues are and the workarounds, if any. I've already started to make the changes but I have to do it inbetween projects which is difficult. I hope that gives a better picture of the reasons behind the layout. :)