Win2K/ 98 dual boot?

I am currently running Win2k Pro on my machine. I have been contempating going to a dual boot system with Win98. Is there a way to do it without formating? If that is the case which should be loaded first? Thanx for any help that anyone can offer..

dual OS

Both will need to have their own partition. If you want to be able to choose which OS will load when you boot, install win 98 1st.

partitions

What are your current partitions like?

Right now there is just one primary partition on my HDD. Is there any chance that I can add another partition to it and load Win98 on it w/o loosing Win2k? Or is a format the only answer? Another question.....can I add another hard drive and install it on there.....?

dual

1) If you defrag your partition, then use Partition Magic 7, you could keep your windows 2000 installation and add 98 into a new partition. I think...

2) If you get a 2nd HDD you could install 98 on that. Try it and see if win2k kicks in its protocol for multi-booting. If it doesn't, you might have to unhook your current HDD when you instal win98. That way it can "stand alone". Then you hook both HDD's up and select which to boot from in your bios.

Other stuff: If your win 2000 is on an NTFS partition, you will not be able to view any files in that partition when running win98.

I downloaded Partition Magic 7.0 but it's the Demo version.....will that make a difference....? If I go with the 2nd HDD will I have to choose which one I want to boot from the bios everytime. The partition with 2k on it is in FAT32 form. Thanx for all your input Arkaine23.....

dualboot

I'm not too sure about partition magic... its supposed to be a great program, but I've never used it. It lets you change/create partitions on the fly without the need to format them and lose all your data. The demo version should have full functionality, but it has a time limit, I think. If I were you I'd make 2 extra partitions, one for win98 and the other to keep all your files in. If you ever have to format either of the OS's and reinstall, you can keep all your installers and drivers (not to mention movies and music) in the 3rd partition. That way you won't have to lose or backup that stuff if you ever need to reinstall windows. Besides that, in Fat32 smaller partitions are more efficient.

If you set up the OS's on separate drives 2 things might happen. 1) XP regocnizes another OS and adds it to its boot loader... a good thing. 2) It doesn't do #1, so you set up the 2nd HDD as though it was a single drive. Any time you want to change between the 2 OS's, you'll have to change the boot order in your bios(HDD0 or HDD1). You'll only have to change this setting when you want to switch. I recommend having an extra partition on each drive so format/reisnatll of an OS will not be a big deal.

another reason for partitioning

Another reason to have an OS in its own partition I just thought of.... data is accessed the fastest from the outer edge of the harddisks. The OS and its swap file perform better when placed in a less than 8GB partition... the 1st partition.

I use Partition Magic and it works great, there's a wizard for adding on another OS that's easy to use. I would recommend buying it.

Edit: It also comes with a very good and easy 2 use boot manager called "Boot Magic" which is very good.