Hi, Les.
First, a little terminology, some of which is counter-intuitive, but we're
stuck with it. In Windows-speak, the "System Partition" is the bootable
primary partition on the HD designated in the BIOS as the boot device. This
is traditionally and typically "Drive C:", but not always. I suspect this
partition is what you meant when you said "boot drive". The "Boot Volume"
might be either a primary partition or a logical drive in an extended
partition and it can be on any HD in your computer. This is the volume that
holds the "boot folder", which is named \Windows, by default. For a
dual-boot computer, there will be at least two boot volumes, but only one at
a time will be acting as such. When you are booted into Vista, then WinXP's
boot volume is "just another volume", so far as Vista is concerned. And
vice versa when you boot into WinXP. The system partition may also be the
boot volume for ONE Windows. (Microsoft - and practically everybody else -
strongly advises against installing more than one operating system into a
single volume.) So, a dual-boot system will have a single system partition
(usually C
and multiple boot volumes (which may be C: or D: or X: or
whatever).
When WinXP boots, the MBR points to the boot sector of the system partition,
which finds NTLDR in the Root of that partition, which uses Boot.ini to
select and find WinXP's boot folder, no matter which HD it may be on. When
Vista boots, it uses the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) system to find its
\Windows folder. When we install Vista into a system that already has WinXP
installed, Vista Setup overwrites the WinXP boot sector, but first it saves
those contents in a new file in the system partition. Later, when we boot
the system, the BCD offers to boot Vista or an earlier version of Windows.
If we select the earlier version, the BCD backs out of the way and turns
control over to the NTLDR system, which presents the Boot.ini menu or boots
directly into WinXP, just like before we installed Vista.
I cloned the boot drive to the new drive using the included software
that came with the new drive.
I suspect that this software is not aware of Vista, so it simply wrote the
WinXP-style boot sector on the new HD. You will need to replace the Vista
boot sector by running the new bootsect.exe application on the Vista DVD.
This utility will run in WinXP, so you can find it on the DVD and copy it to
your system partition for easy access - although you probably will need it
only once. In a Command Prompt window, type bootsect /help for
instructions. Perhaps the only command you will need is:
bootsect /nt60 SYS
This should write the Vista code into the boot sector on that new HD. The
cloning software should have copied the \boot folder from your small drive;
this is what holds the rest of Vista's BCD system, pointing to your Vista
installation.
If this doesn't work, please post back. Please tell us how many HDs you
have in your computer, how are they partitioned, and where are Vista's and
WinXP's "boot volumes".
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA [RC]
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(currently running Windows Mail 7 in Vista x64 Build 5456)
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