my pc is a packard bell, as u may know these contain a backup partition. you can copy the backup files onto "master cds" and gain the backup partition. i have my master cds but did not get the partition. i then upgraded win ME to XP PRO --- still no partition. i used PQ Partition Magic some time ago to try and make a partition but this killed my computer so i had to reinstall windows xp. since then i never bothered with partitionmagic but i am now wanting a dual boot machine. can u tell me if partition magic will work? and can u tell me if i can create partitions with xp? i tried creating a new partition to install XP to when I installed XP (?grammar?)last but this didnt work any advice welcome. thanks in advance, Harper.

Hi depends if you formatted your drive with ntfs when u installed xp! Hopefully your drive still is in FAT32 if so get a win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com or a mate with win98se http://pcsupport.about.com/library/weekly/aa082602b.htm Assuming you want to start from scratch, use fdisk see link above if not sure what to do. remove all partitions in order , now repartition; create primary and a secondary logical drive etc , ie; split the hard drive in 2. format c: drive fat32 , install win98 or me what ever,u may as well format secondary partition with fat32 just to make sure it works. now install win xp to the second partition it gives you that option in the winxp setup. format the 2nd partition to whatever you want , preferably ntfs. winxp when it boots should give you a boot menu which allows you to dual boot. personally i'd ditch me & use 98se. If any one else got a better route, id like to hear it bcz its the only way ive found that works A ok.