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Two boots are better than one
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December 18, 1998 by Michael Desmond |
From...
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(IDG) -- Not long ago I gave my 300-MHz Pentium II PC a split personality. Tired of late-night operating system crashes, I installed Windows NT Workstation 4.0 to run my office applications in a reliable environment. Yet I kept Windows 98 on the PC so I could buzz bad guys in an F-18 Hornet when I needed a break from work.
Ironically, my schizophrenic PC has never been so stable.
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Dual booting is not just for home office types like me with a penchant for game play. Software developers, help-desk representatives, and IT managers will find dual booting helpful for troubleshooting, user inquiries, telecommuting, and cross-operating-system testing.
You'll need 260MB of disk space to run NT and Windows 98. And if you have an older system or run DOS or Windows 3.x software, NT may not work with your current system. Otherwise, adding NT to your operating system mix can be a relatively simple, two-hour task, provided you plan for it. Here's how:
Assess your system: You should have at least a 100-MHz Pentium and 32MB of RAM, and even then NT might not work on your hardware. Consult the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List to see if your components are supported.
Get the drivers: Round up device drivers for your components before you get started so you have them when NT trips over an unrecognized device. And it goes without saying that you should back up your hard disk.
Always install NT last: The NT Boot Loader utility won't recognize multiple operating systems unless NT is installed after Windows 9x.
Set up your disk: Partition your disk drive into at least two drive letters, one for Windows 9x and one for NT. This allows you to use different file systems for each operating system.
Pick FAT-16: Windows 98 recognizes FAT-16 and FAT-32, but NT sees FAT-16 and NTFS (the NT file system). If you want NT to share disk partitions and application code with your other operating system, you'll have to adopt the lowest common denominator: FAT-16. Although you'll lose some disk space, the compromise ensures that all your operating systems can see all your files.
Michael Desmond is a contributing Editor to PC World.