SSD Saga continued

So I got my OCZ Vertex2 SSD some time ago, and I managed to get it running in AHCI mode on my existing Windows XP pc. However, I had not yet transferred my windows system partition from hdd to ssd. A good job for Super Bowl Sunday, as it mirrored the highs and lows, the moments of elation and crushing despair, that I would have experienced had I watched the game itself.

After many false starts, I arrived at this process:

1) I aligned the partition, and formatted the whole ssd drive as one partition.

2) I used Clonezilla to copy my C: drive partition on my hdd to the new empty partition on the ssd. I used the "device-device" (device to device) menu option, with the basic (not advanced) option.

So far, so good. Here's where the fun began. Naturally, after such a cloning operation (operating on partitions, not the whole disk), the master boot record on the SSD was not set up properly to boot into windows.

First, I unplugged the hdd, so the ssd would show up as C: (and so I wouldn't fat-finger it into oblivion). I booted from the XP install disk into the Recovery Console, and used the three classic incantations:

fixmbr
fixboot C:
bootcfg /rebuild

This is supposed to repair the mbr, and make the drive bootable. No dice. I just received the message "Error loading operating system" on a black screen.

I turned to the old reliable, Ultimate Boot Cd (not UBCD4win this time)

It comes with several MBR tools. The one that worked for me was MBRWork (version 1.07b)

Here's how to use MBRWork, from here and here

Steps to recover lost partitions
7> Change active hard drive. (ignore if you have only one hard drive)

1> Backup first track

4> Reset MBR to zero

3> Reset EMBR area to zero.

A> Recover MS Partitions (see fig 2)

5> Install standard MBR code

Reinstall your boot manager. (if used)

See explanations below..

Below view shows after 4> Reset MBR to zero. A> Recover MS Partitions has been
added to the list of options, also notice MBR Partition Information is
now all zeros. There are no longer any partition boundaries, meaning the hard
drive is unbootable and you can't read any data. If you now try to use fdisk
or other utility to recreate the partitions, new file tables will mean all
your data will be inaccessible, except for data rescue efforts. MBRWork finds
the original partition boundaries and reconstructs them exactly as they were,
meaning your computer works again and the data is intact.

MBRWork Menu

1) Backup First Track This is your safety valve to put things back as they were
2) Restore First Track Appears as an option only after using 1)
3) Reset EMBR Clear extended partition area
4) Reset MBR Remove partitions
5) Install Std MBR Same as fdisk /mbr (removes any boot manager)
6) Set active partition Also can be done with fdisk
7) Change active HD
8) Only shows if DDO present Remove Dynamic Disk Overlay (i.e. EZDrive, Maxblast)
9) Capability Check Runs tests on your BIOS, makes no changes.
E) Exit
A) Recover partitions Appears only after running 3) (and/or 4)

Success! It boots, and is much much faster booting and loading programs. And, it's still aligned properly, according to this ssd alignment calculator.

However, if you're using XP, and thinking about transferring your existing install to an ssd, know that it is not an easy or straightforward operation. Newer versions of windows are apparently much smarter about the way they handle ssds.

iTunes: How to share apps between different accounts on a single computer

I've got multiple family user accounts on a Windows XP computer. I have my iTunes library set up the way I want, and my son has his playlists set up in iTunes under his own Windows login. All good. We even share the same iTunes music library, thanks to clear instructions here

To complicate matters slightly, he's using my iTunes account.

To summarize:
2 windows accounts
1 iTunes account
shared iTunes media library
I sync the iPad when I'm signed in under my windows login
he syncs the iPod when he's signed in under his windows login

This sounds complicated, but it all works remarkably well. His playlists and ratings are blessedly separate from mine, yet we can pull from the same underlying pool of music. I can listen to his Weird Al, and he can (hopefully, someday) learn to appreciate Elvis Costello and Gillian Welch.

Now, one little problem was that the apps were not shared automatically the way the music was. I sync an iPad to mine, he an iPod. The apps I install, I can see in iTunes when I'm logged in to my PC as me. However, even though we are sharing the library across multiple PC accounts, the apps are not showing up in his iTunes.

Instead of redownloading, here's what to do to get the apps to appear in his iTunes:

Log in to windows under his account. Right-click on one app in the local iTunes Library, and choose "Show in Windows Explorer". This brings up an explorer window at "D:\Bla\Bla\iTunes\iTunes Music\Mobile Applications". This folder contains all the .ipa files that store the applications on the PC. Since we are sharing an iTunes library, this "Mobile Applications" folder contains all the apps I downloaded while I was logged in as me.

I dragged the relevant .ipa files from the explorer window over to iTunes, and it added those apps. Now I can see the apps from his Windows login, and I can install them onto the iPod as well as the iPad.