Multi-boot: Making windows partitions bootable?

[Daniel B. Thurman]

Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
>
> I have been able to make a multiboot windows disk, no
> problems, but I am trying to make a windows backup onto
> another drive and make it bootable.  Perhaps this is related to
> the 32bit (137GB) boundary problem?
>
> On a different system,  I have a successful multiboot drive as follows:
> [mb][bb][sw][[Xp][Vis][bf9][rf9][bf11][rf11][bu9][ru9][bs][rs][wa][fa]]
>
> mb = master boot
> bb = backup boot
> sw = swap
> Xp = Windows XP
> Vis = Windows Vista
> bf9 = boot Fedora 9
> rf9 = root Fedora 9
> bf11 = boot Fedora 11
> rf11 = root Fedora 11
> bu9 = boot Ubuntu 9
> ru9 = root Ubuntu 9
> bs = boot spare
> rs = root spare
> wa = Windows Apps
> fa = Fedora Apps
>
> Notice that the max of 15 partitions are all used up (for SATA)
> Also notice that the windows partitions are placed within the
> 137GB boundary.
>
> For my current system, here is what I have:
>
> Disk1:
> [w2kp][Xp][Vis][mb][wa]]
>
> w2kp = Windows 2000 Professional
> Xp = Windows XP
> Vis = Windows Vista
> mb = Grub boot partition
> wa = Windows Applications
>
> Disk2:
> [mb][bb][sw][[bf9][rf9][bf11][rf11][bu9][ru9][bs][rs][Xp][Vis][fa][wa]]
>
> Notice that the windows partitions are outside the 137GB boundary.
> The reason is, that disk-2 was previously all linux-distros only disk
> and I realized later I did not have backup windows partitions and
> decided to use the spares after the fact.
>
> My goal is to copy the contents of drive1:Xp to drive2:Xp and
> drive1:Vis to drive2:Vis and to make drive2:Xp and drive2:Vis
> bootable after copying the data over.
>
> This is what I did as for "backups":
>
> 1) mkdir /mnt/{a,b}
> 2) mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/a
> 3) mount /dev/sdb12 /mnt/b
> 4) cd /mnt/b; rsync -av /mnt/a/. /mnt/b/.
> Repeat the above steps for Vista but with the right partitions
>
> The difficulty I am having is making the respective windows
> partitions bootable.
>
> I tried:
>
> 1) Disk2: Set the partition boot flag (Using gparted) on Xp (and later 
> Vista)
>    This makes the Xp partition C: drive so that repairs might
>    be successful.
> 2) Reboot with the CD/DVD inserted and if successful, use the "fixMBR"
>    utility file.
>
> The problem here, is that for both Xp & Vista, the CD/DVD program 
> fails to
> locate their respective partitions from which to launch windows and 
> simply
> stops.  The question is, does that mean that both Xp & Vista 
> installation program
> stops because it is outside the 137GB boundary, long before partition 
> 12/13?
>
> Is there another way to make partitions bootable other than using
> Windows installation CD/DVD/floppies?
>
> Thanks-
> Dan
>
I know this is a Fedora site and I am a diehard Fedora user,
but I also have a multiboot system...  apologies to the purists.

Is it possible to backup and restore Xp/Vista to a different drive/partition
in the case of imminent drive failure?  How is this to be properly
done?

I tried to use rsync from the original to a different partition
but this does not seem to work.

Help please?