When is a drive a drive?

[Jethro]

I have made numerous posts that partly involved this question, but
here it is again in a nutshell.

If I have a c hard drive and a d harddrive. and if my machine will
boot from c drive, and when doing so, correctly 'sees' in WXP PRO the
d drive - then if I shut down and reverse the drives - and the machine
correctly boots up from the new c drive - what is it about the new d
drive that suddenly renders it unknown to WXP? I am just curious.
My BIOS identifies the new configuration correctly. So clearly WXP
had placed something on my now unworking d drive that renders it
useless.

So my question is - Does WXP place something on a hard drive to force
it to remain where it was? If so what? I'll sleep better if I know.

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Guest]

I have made numerous posts that partly involved this question, but
here it is again in a nutshell.

If I have a c hard drive and a d harddrive. and if my machine will
boot from c drive, and when doing so, correctly 'sees' in WXP PRO the
d drive - then if I shut down and reverse the drives - and the machine
correctly boots up from the new c drive - what is it about the new d
drive that suddenly renders it unknown to WXP? I am just curious.
My BIOS identifies the new configuration correctly. So clearly WXP
had placed something on my now unworking d drive that renders it
useless.

So my question is - Does WXP place something on a hard drive to force
it to remain where it was? If so what? I'll sleep better if I know.

Thanks

Jethro

it has a boot.ini file on the drive that is loaded at bootup and tells
the computer where to find the operating system.. click start/run type
msconfig hit enter to see what the file contains.

Flamer.

 

[peter]

The Question is what OS are you booting into when you switch
drives??????????/
The Older OS's Win98...ME cannot see a NTFS formatted HD...which the HD with
XP Pro on it would be..
But XP Pro can see the other HD wether it was formatted in Fat32 or NTFS
peter

 

[Ron Sommer]

An operating system gives drives drive letters.
Usually the active drive gets the operating system installed on it and
becomes C.
Which drive has the Windows folder?
Use the drive size to describe the drive.

What do you mean 'reverse the drives'?
Are you referring to the boot order in the Bios?

The first drive in the boot order will be checked to see if it is active.
If the first drive is not active, the second drive will be checked to see if
it is active.
So even though you switched the boot order, the same drive could be booting.

More information required.
--
Ronald Sommer

:I have made numerous posts that partly involved this question, but
: here it is again in a nutshell.
:
: If I have a c hard drive and a d harddrive. and if my machine will
: boot from c drive, and when doing so, correctly 'sees' in WXP PRO the
: d drive - then if I shut down and reverse the drives - and the machine
: correctly boots up from the new c drive - what is it about the new d
: drive that suddenly renders it unknown to WXP? I am just curious.
: My BIOS identifies the new configuration correctly. So clearly WXP
: had placed something on my now unworking d drive that renders it
: useless.
:
: So my question is - Does WXP place something on a hard drive to force
: it to remain where it was? If so what? I'll sleep better if I know.
:
: Thanks
:
: Jethro

 

[Jethro]

The Question is what OS are you booting into when you switch
drives??????????/
The Older OS's Win98...ME cannot see a NTFS formatted HD...which the HD with
XP Pro on it would be..
But XP Pro can see the other HD wether it was formatted in Fat32 or NTFS
peter

WXP PRO all the way.

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

An operating system gives drives drive letters.
Usually the active drive gets the operating system installed on it and
becomes C.
Which drive has the Windows folder?

As a clone backup, it should be identical as c drive, and contains the
windows folder of course.

Use the drive size to describe the drive.

I do that to keep me straight.

What do you mean 'reverse the drives'?
Are you referring to the boot order in the Bios?
Yes


The first drive in the boot order will be checked to see if it is active.
If the first drive is not active, the second drive will be checked to see if
it is active.
So even though you switched the boot order, the same drive could be booting.

No, the right drive is booting. It is just that the original boot
drive is not recognized by My Computer in the resulting WXP booted
system. It should look like a second drive there.

More information required.

Flamer offered that the boot.ini file on the phantom drive may be the
culprit. It would have what it had when it was the boot drive. I'll
have to take a look. Haven't done that yet.

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Jethro]

it has a boot.ini file on the drive that is loaded at bootup and tells
the computer where to find the operating system.. click start/run type
msconfig hit enter to see what the file contains.

Flamer.

Here are the contents of the two identical boot.ini files on the
original c boot drive and the target clone drive (in order). Naturally
when I change the BIOS to boot from the second it should look the same
to WXP. I don't see that the boot.ini file should behave differently
- do you?

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW1
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW1="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect


[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW1
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW1="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect

Thanks

Jethro

 

[Ron Sommer]

Did you boot the clone with the original disconnected after doing the
cloning?
What did you use to do the cloning?
If you disconnect the original, will the clone boot?
--
Ronald Sommer

: On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:42:50 -0600, "Ron Sommer"
:
: >An operating system gives drives drive letters.
: >Usually the active drive gets the operating system installed on it and
: >becomes C.
: >Which drive has the Windows folder?
:
: As a clone backup, it should be identical as c drive, and contains the
: windows folder of course.
:
: >Use the drive size to describe the drive.
:
: I do that to keep me straight.
:
: >
: >What do you mean 'reverse the drives'?
: >Are you referring to the boot order in the Bios?
:
: Yes
:
: >
: >The first drive in the boot order will be checked to see if it is active.
: >If the first drive is not active, the second drive will be checked to see
if
: >it is active.
: >So even though you switched the boot order, the same drive could be
booting.
:
: No, the right drive is booting. It is just that the original boot
: drive is not recognized by My Computer in the resulting WXP booted
: system. It should look like a second drive there.
: >
: >More information required.
:
:
: Flamer offered that the boot.ini file on the phantom drive may be the
: culprit. It would have what it had when it was the boot drive. I'll
: have to take a look. Haven't done that yet.
:
: Thanks
:
: Jethro

 

[Jethro]

Did you boot the clone with the original disconnected after doing the
cloning?

Not physically. Just changed boot drive in BIOS.

What did you use to do the cloning?

Acronis TI Demo

If you disconnect the original, will the clone boot?

Clone boots with or without the other HDDs connected and activated in
the BIOS.