BT3 + Vista + XP

[hell333]

I have BT2 + Vista + Xp atm in my laptop. Now, i want to upgrade to BT3. So, do i need to format BT2 partition and install BT3 and use vista dvd to recover vista? and then use easybcd to add xp back? I am just confused...

Can someone please guide me with perfect steps so i dont loose any data on vista? I dont want to loose any data on vista.

Thanks.

[jackabee]

In theory, just formatting your bt2 partition and installing bt3 afterwards would be fine. BUT, personally, I would make a backup of your master boot record, I've had too many bad experiences overwriting my MBR.

command for backup MBR:
dd if=/dev/hda of=<BACKUP FILE> bs=512 count=1

and if you need to restore:
dd if=<BACKUP FILE> of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

Then you will want to update you boot loader.

Sorry I wasn't more specific but you havn't given me enough details. (e.g. your partition table, which boot loader you use)

[hell333]

Well can u please elaborate? because I am complete newbies with this things.. just learning as I am installing and adding somethings...

Here is my boot screen and I guess its default Backtrack2 bootloader. If i select vista i get 2 options vista and xp and i made that using Easy BCD software.

So, can you please explain where do i need to type that? I mean for back up of MBR and for recovery if something goes wrong.

Also, i have 3 partitions:

C: Vista

D: XP

Backtrack2 .
Thanks for helping.

[Archangel-Amael]

Well can u please elaborate? because I am complete newbies with this things.. just learning as I am installing and adding somethings...
Here is my boot screen and I guess its default Backtrack2 bootloader. If i select vista i get 2 options vista and xp and i made that using Easy BCD software.
So, can you please explain where do i need to type that? I mean for back up of MBR and for recovery if something goes wrong.
Also, i have 3 partitions:
C: Vista
D: XP
Backtrack2 .
Thanks for helping

The answer is:

command for backup MBR:
dd if=/dev/hda of=<BACKUP FILE> bs=512 count=1

and if you need to restore:
dd if=<BACKUP FILE> of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

Then you will want to update you boot loader.

No one cares that you are a n00b. You are able to read and this is the important part. Simply put: the dd command copies data from one place to another.

Now for more information and here is where the reading is fundamental part comes in.
Have a look at this link
Now there is also a man page for dd you can get it by typing the following in a shell.

# man dd

Good luck and if you need some more help then post back here in this thread.

[bruk0ut]

I would backup the MBR as described in the thread as its a good idea, but I was in a similar situation.

1) All you need to do is format the BT2 partition

(personally, I done #mkreiserfs /dev/sda4)

2) install BT3 to that partition

3) run lilo -v to rewrite the MBR (may not be neccessary but I done that anyway)

Also, to make things easier, keep your current /etc/lilo.conf from BT2 and use it as a reference when editing the lilo.conf on your fresh BT3 installation.

You don't need to touch bcdedit as all you are modifying is your linux partition and using lilo to change the MBR... your not touching your windows partition(s).

just make sure you have your windows section correctly configured in lilo.conf (as I say, use your current lilo.conf as a reference)