Dual Boot XP and PING

[Admiral208]

I am trying to set up a laptops with the following configuration:

 

1 Hard Drive, 2 partitions.

1st Partition - Windows XP

2nd Partition - Hidden FAT32

 

Is there a way I can install PING (PartImage is Not Ghost) so that if i boot the hidden partition it loads the program?

 

Eventually I want to turn this into a recovery partition that automatically reimages the XP partition.

 

Thanks

James

[Admiral208]

BUMP Anyone??

[Steve21]

BUMP Anyone??

 

Assuming the program can run outside windows etc normally anyway, I'm guessing you'd just need to create custom MBR for booting into it. However lazier way would just be creating a secondary boot OS (whether XP/linux or whatnot), and do the restore through that?

 

Steve

[Admiral208]

That was my thought. This is where I am currently.

 

I have used GParted to created a hidden partition. I have used a program called mbr.exe from Terabyte to do this

mbr 0 /install sel 5 12 "Press F12 to boot the recovery partition"

 

MBR.EXE will install a MBR to hard drive 0. The MBR will display the

message "Press F12 to boot the recovery partition" for 5 seconds, and

the F12 key will cause a hidden FAT/FAT32 to be selected for booting.

 

This works and when I boot the laptop, it dispays a message for 5 seconds saying "Press F12 to boot the recovery partition". I have copied all the files from the PING bootable cd iso onto the hidden partition but when i press F12, it says "this is not a bootable disk. please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again."

 

How do i get the hidden partition to boot the files to load ping?

[Steve21]

Doesn't it need to be an image file? (e.g. WIM etc?)

 

Steve

[Admiral208]

If I use the bootable CD, I can boot into PING. from there, I can create images and restore images. How can I transform a bootable cd into a bootable partition?