Hmmmm

[[GSV]Trig]

Right, got my new work laptop here, ToshSatPro U300-130.

Not a bad bit of kit actually, cheap, small, light..

Comes with Vista 32B preinstall with a restore cd, as well as a restore CD for XP Pro..

Now, is it possible to get both recovery versions on 2 partitions within the drive?
Both restore CD's wanna nuke the entire drive and thats whats creating the problem...

I've put the restored XP on one partition and installed my own seperate Vista on the 2nd partition n that works fine but I want to have access to all of the bits that come with the laptop.

What I was thinking was...
Use the Vista Restore CD, get Vista installed updated etc, then create an image of that, then install the XP Restore CD, use my Vista CD to get the boot menu then put the Vista image I create onto the partition..

Will that work, and what "free" software can I do it with?

[Bounty_Bam]

I had a free CD that came with a magazine, with a full version of something like Partition Master or Partition Wizard. That was months ago but I guess it would be on the net somewhere or other?

[this_is_gav]

You're trying to use both the Vista and XP disks/restores that came with the laptop? If that's the case then no can do I'm afraid. The license is one or the other, not both.

If I'm mistaken, and you're just trying to use your previous Vista or XP license then just ignore the above.

[Splash]

I thought that was what he was trying to do earlier but after re-reading I suspect what he ACTUALLY wants to do is essentially convert the restore CDs in recovery partitions, so he can recover either/or as he sees fit. I can't really figure out a) why you'd do that or b) how you'd do it though.

[[GSV]Trig]

Why because its a work laptop and we use XP mainly at work but I want to test Vista with the new system we have and because I want to keep an eye on Vista and see how long it takes to be stable so I can install it on my main rig...


I want dual boot, one with the XP Pro from one of the restore CD's and the other VistaB32 from the other restore CD...

As far as licencing goes I can change the keys as were licenced for 50 XP Pro and 50 Vista at work, we dont have 50 machines yet so its still legal but instead of installing our XP and Vista I'd rather do it with the restore CD's, basically cos I'm lazy and want a quicker way of doing it than installing both OS's from scratch..

[Splash]

Aha - are your 50 of each keys OEM or VLK? You may well find that you can't change the key on an OEM preinstall to a VLK one (though I've yet to try this with Vista it was certainly the case that you couldn't do it with XP)

EDIT - back to the technicalities I'm assuming based on your post that you've tried creating 2 partitions prior to booting from one of the disks and that the OEM installer won't let you install to an existing partition without nuking the partitions? I guess that if you were to do the XP install and then use a tool to shrink the partition size, then take the image before doing the same with the Vista preinstall and then using some third party bootloader might work, but as I'm in no position to test this I really couldn't be sure.

[[GSV]Trig]

Done it.

Partitioned drive.

Used the Vista Recovery CD installed to the 2nd partition, booted up updated, works fine, remove drive from laptop, put in main PC, used TI to create backup of partition.
Formatted and repartitioned drive.
Drive back in laptop, used XP recovery CD, all updated works fine.
Use works Vista32B via XP to install Vista to 2nd partition, got to the bit where Vista has modded the boot thing and can boot from the menu, drive out of laptop, back in main PC, recstore the image taken earlier, now works fine, both versions of the Restore CD's.

Total time about 2 hours.
Bit faster than full seperate installs of XP/Vista from scratch...

[Splash]

Just a pointer - you know you can create a boot cd for Trueimage so you can take your disk/partition image without fiddling around switching the drives over, right?

EDIT - also were you able to change the key without any issues?

[[GSV]Trig]

Not changed the keys, might not bother if all works fine..
Theres a Vista key on the bottom of the machine but not one for XP, like you said our VLK might not work.

[Splash]

I'd be interested if it works or not, as technically you're in breach of license at present (whether you care or not is another matter entirely)

[[GSV]Trig]

I'll try it just for you

[Splash]

Ta!

Worst case scenario you have your images, I guess

[[GSV]Trig]

aye