TIA for your help.

Here is the short version:
I needed 2 XP installs on different partions: one for Office and
graphic work, the other for Video and Music work. Here is what I did:

1) I Partitioned C drive (XP Pro)
2) Installed Acronis Boot Manager
3) Installed another XP Pro on new Partition (G) from Win XP Pro CD
4) After reboot, Original XP install won't boot anymore error: missing
System32\hal.dll
5) On new XP install on Drive G, when I go the C Drive to look at the
other XP installation the "C:\Document and Settings", "C:\Program
Files", "C:\Win32", and other folders belonging to original XP
installation on C drive are present, but empty (Zero K)


Here is the long story:

I wanted to set up a Dual XP boot system. I work in high end graphics,
3D, animation and such, but I also work in video editing and music
composition. Each specialty uses a ton of resources and dedicated
hardware and software configurations. I tried setting up different
profiles within XP but it was cumbersome, so I decided to set up a dual
boot of XP Pro.

My original set up was 2 disk drives: C:/ and E:/, the C drive
contained the OS but the E drive contained the "My Documents" folder,
"My Pictures", My Videos etc. I did that with Tweak UI if I recall.

Yesterday I partitioned my C drive and created a new bootable
partition. I also installed Acronis Boot manager. I proceeded to
install XP pro into the new partition (G:/) and after the installation
I restarted.
At first I didn't think anything was wrong, but when I went to restart
the computer to check if the old XP installation was still good the
first thing I noticed was that Acronis OS selector was not active.
All I had was the usual boot screen with 2 choices of xp. The upper one
was the new one (On the G drive), the lower one was the old one (on C).
When I tried to start from the second XP (C Drive) the system told me
that I was missing HAL.DLL (system32/hal.dll).
I started the new XP OS (the one I am writing from) to go look for my
system files and I discovered that the old XP OS on my C drive had
disappeared!!!

All the proper high level folders are there, but there are no files
inside the C:\Document and Settings folder, nor there are any inside
the C:\Program Files. My Win32 folder only contains another folder
called Photoshop and the C:\Windows folder is empty as well. I am not
talking invisible files here. I set up the new OS to show all the files
and the size of these folders is "0 kb".

Thank God I did not keep "My Documents" in the default directory or it
would have disappeared with the rest of the subdirectories and files
contained in the Document and Setting Folder on the C drive.

I searched for the HAL.DLL fix and I found several fixes, but I have a
feeling that HAL.DLL is just the first of many missing files.

Fortunately, I have several backups of my files and I have a Ghost file
of the OS a few months old. The only important issue, beside the pain
in the neck of having to reinstall all my programs, drivers and
pheripherals, would be my Outlook eMail. I had some important
correspondence there that I have not backed up in a while. The ideal
solution would be to restore the old XP install, but I am weary of
touching my C drive and risk overwriting important files. My best guess
is that the files are still there (How could a fresh install on a
different partition have deleted them?) but they have become invisible
along with all the system files.

Does anyone know what went on here? And more importantly, does anyone
have a fix for this? This is a first for me and I would appreciate your
help, along with any suggestions you may have on setting up an XP dual
boot properly next time.

Thank you