i used PARTITION MAGIC to create a drive called d:/ Can I use the three restoration disks that came with my computer to install another copy of ME to my d:/ drive without destroying my c:/ drive? My c:/ drive has all of my data on it and my current working copy of ME. THANKS

I'm not 100% certain, but I suspect not. Reason: As far as I'm aware, you can break up any single physical disk into as many partitions as you like, but each physical disk can only have 1 booting partition. At least, this is true with F-Disk. However, maybe partition magic really is magic and you will be able to install ME again. Give it a spin. However, if you want to do this for data backup reasons, you would be better off installing a second physical drive, since HD failure will most often affect the entire drive, not just one partition. It's a good move, since drives of the 30G to 40G are really cheap, and will give you heaps of space for anything but video. Also, while I'm at it, installing a second version of ME won't gain you much. For it to work you will need to reinstall all your programs, which will chew up a heap of disk space. Try going for the second drive, and also (if you can access it) give another OS a try: maybe Win2000 or XP (SUPER stable), or venture into a Linux version.

ME insists on being on the C: drive (first partition of first hard drive) I don't think it will install to D:, and if it does it won't work. If you install it to a second hard drive, if the first fails, you can switch them around to make the 2nd first, and it will work.

you can in fact use PM to create another partition and install a second copy of ME or for that matter 98, 2000, or XP on your single hard drive. There are probably other ways to do this but the following has worked for me. Use PM to make a second partition as Primary, install BootMagic if you have not already done so AND MAKE THE RESCUE DISC. Set BootMagic as active and add your second Primary partition to its menu. Set the second partition active, then disable BM. Open PM, set your second Primary as active and then reboot when prompted. Since the second Primary has no OS, it will just hang there. Use your Recovery CD's to install to this second partition as per normal install. Reboot and ensure your install worked. Since Bootmagic is disabled, you will not be able to access your first partition until you set BootMagic active. Shut down , insert the BootMagic Rescue Disk you made and use it to make BM active. When you reboot you will have the choice to boot to your first or second copy of ME. This has worked for me using a regular Windows CD to install W98, 2 of W2k and 1 of XP on a single hard drive. Make your partitions small to begin with, remember the 8 GB boundary, and then resize later. I have never used a Recovery CD to install with this method so do so at your own risk. As always, back up your data and your OS (Drive Image works great) before attempting this. Oh yeah, each OS will see itself as the "C" drive and the other OS will be hidden. I suggest creating a third "extended" partition to share data between your OS's. Much easier to back up that way too.

thanks to all who replied