Hard Drive Addition Problems

[C HARKNESS]

I have just completed the addition of a second hard drive to be my bootable
drive, but I still have a problem with the old drive and my USB backup drive
not being visible under My Computer. They show up in Device Manager, but not
when I do Start, My Computer. The following are the steps I used to install
and set up the new drives.

1. Installed USB hard drive a month ago with no problems. Showed both in
Device Manager and in My Computer. Moved some of my pictures to this hard
drive.

2. Installed the new 80 GB hard drive as a secondary internal drive with no
problems. Showed both in Device Manager and in My Computer.

3. Installed Acronis True Image 10 and cloned my old hard drive to the new
internal hard drive.

4. Changed jumper settings and connector position on both old and new
internal hard drives.

5. Rebooted computer which did not see the a hard drive. Went into
configuration and under Drive Configuration set Primary Master and Primary
Slave
hard drives to auto and rebooted computer.
Computer rebooted to windows successfully, Device Manager shows all 3 hard
drives
however under My Computer only the following shows:
(1) A: 31/2 inch floppy drive
(2) Local C Local Disk
(3) Removal F: (this was my USB drive, but now it looks for a removal disk)
(4) DVD/CD-RW Drive G:
(5) Removal Disk H:

I am not sure how to get Windows, Start, My Computer to show what shows in
Device Manager.

Your help is appreciated.

Charlie

 

[Bill Blanton]

I have just completed the addition of a second hard drive to be my bootable
drive, but I still have a problem with the old drive and my USB backup drive
not being visible under My Computer. They show up in Device Manager, but not
when I do Start, My Computer. The following are the steps I used to install
and set up the new drives.

1. Installed USB hard drive a month ago with no problems. Showed both in
Device Manager and in My Computer. Moved some of my pictures to this hard
drive.
Ok.

2. Installed the new 80 GB hard drive as a secondary internal drive with no
problems. Showed both in Device Manager and in My Computer.

Ok. However this is where the problem starts, as XP stamps the new drive
with a unique signature.

reference:
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

3. Installed Acronis True Image 10 and cloned my old hard drive to the new
internal hard drive.
Ok.

4. Changed jumper settings and connector position on both old and new
internal hard drives.
Ok.


5. Rebooted computer which did not see the a hard drive.

Went into
configuration and under Drive Configuration set Primary Master and Primary Slave
hard drives to auto and rebooted computer.

Huh? Not clear what you mean. Setting the drives to auto in the BIOS shouldn't
have had an effect unless an incorrect goemetry was already in effect. Are you
still booting off the (new drive) primary master?

Computer rebooted to windows successfully, Device Manager shows all 3 hard drives
however under My Computer only the following shows:
(1) A: 31/2 inch floppy drive
(2) Local C Local Disk
(3) Removal F: (this was my USB drive, but now it looks for a removal disk)
(4) DVD/CD-RW Drive G:
(5) Removal Disk H:

Likely "C:" is the "old" C: from the original disk. Somewhere along the way you
would have had to set the "cloned" partition as "active" in order to boot from it.
Even if that was done, you may have a situation where the boot process starts
with the primary master, but finishes with the original clone Windows installation
on the secondary master.


Open disk management.
What disk/partition shows as "Active"?
What disk/partition shows as "System"?
What disk/partition shows as "C:"?

 

[C HARKNESS]

Bill,

I was able to fix the problem in Disk Manager. The drives were there, but
they did not have a letter name. I was able to add the letter designation
and everything works now.
Thanks for your help.
Charlie

 

[Bill Blanton]

As a final test, you might want to check if the new drive (primary master)
boots with the old drive disconnected.

 

[C HARKNESS]

Bill,

I disconnected power to the old hard drive and rebooted. The computer would
not boot to Windows until I went to setup which showed under Hard Drive
Configuration the Primary Master 80GB (which is the new HD) and the Primary
Secondary Unknown. The Boot Sequence showed Hard Drive "C". I hit EXC and
the computer booted to Windows. I check and the other hard drives did not
show under Device Manager or My Computer. I turned off the computer,
reconnected power to the old HD and rebooted and the computer went to
Windows. I check and everything looks OK. I would assume that it is safe now
to format the old HD for use as a general storage location for my pictures,
music and other personal files.

Thanks for your final comment and the other help.

Charlie

 

[Bill Blanton]

If you're able to boot the clone copy with the source disconnected,
it should be safe to reformat the source drive. You might run chkdsk
on the clone while you still have a backup

 

[C HARKNESS]

Good idea, thanks,
Charlie

If you're able to boot the clone copy with the source disconnected,
it should be safe to reformat the source drive. You might run chkdsk
on the clone while you still have a backup