Whas the best way of installing Win XP on a Raptor drive twice?

What I am really saying is I have Win Xp installed on my Raptor and I want to install another WIN XP on the same drive so I could boot one or the other, The reason I want to do this is my Main OS is currupted and I want to slowly backup files, But I need a Good OS in the meantime, Thanks

Just do a parallel install on another partition. In order to gain access to the files and folders on the original install, you'll need to take ownership of them...

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

redduc900 said:

Just do a parallel install on another partition. In order to gain access to the files and folders on the original install, you'll need to take ownership of them...

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

Click to expand...

Ok so your saying create a partition on the drive while installing or inside partition magic, And the take owner ship of the files, I really dont understand, can you break it down, What is a parallel install??

Create another partition during Setup, or use a program like PM to partition the drive... then perform a parallel install to that partition. You'll then need to take ownership of the files and folders on your old install in order to access them. The MSKB article I linked you to describes the process.

redduc900 said:

Create another partition during Setup, or use a program like PM to partition the drive... then perform a parallel install to that partition. You'll then need to take ownership of the files and folders on your old install in order to access them. The MSKB article I linked you to describes the process.

Click to expand...

What files do I have to take ownership of? My Docs folder?

You need to take ownership of any files or folders you need to access after reinstalling XP, otherwise you'll get an "Access Denied" error when trying to access them from your new install.

Ok cant I just disable the log on password and the files will be accessable? I want to be able to access all the files, Not just some?

Maybe I dont have to install an OS on anther partition, maybe I will try to repair the OS?
Buy I have never try that before, Lets see?

I just install the first XP install, but tell the XP Installer to format only part of the drives' total space (I usually use like 75% for the main install, the the remaining 25% for the second install - or whatever you want). I'll let the first XP install run, and finish the install.

Then, I simply install windows again on the remaining free space of the drive. Windows automatically creates a boot.ini file (boot menu), and you can select which OS you want to boot from...

This might take longer than redduc900's methood - but my 2 installs are usually a bit different anyway (One for general use, one for Audio Production apps - and I build the XP CD's a bit differently using nLite - one for each install).

Works perfectly, and you have 2 isolated XP installs to choose from.