1. Change boot order ? 2. "NTLDR is missing"

[Guest]

Here I am after exercising my computer-rebuilding and (ancient) DOS skills for
two days. WinXP runs fine, but I had planned to swap the boot order of my drives.

Specific problem:

- Installed new HD. HDNew = Slave // HDOld = Master.
HDOld = Fat32 partitions. HDNew = partitioned as NTFS
Clean installed WinXP to new HD from C: (WinME)

- Installation successful and WinXP runs fine.

- I wanted to change boot order so that new HD is my C: drive.
I swapped the ribbon cables so HDNew is now Master and HDOld is now slave.

- When I try to boot, I get "NTLDR is missing" message.
- Read KB article Q314057, but it's not quite on the mark.

My questions:
- How do I change the boot order? Should I change the boot order?

My original plan was to make the WinXP partition my C drive and reinstall my
programs to run under WinXP rather than WinME Shouldn't I make this
drive C: first and boot to it?

Maybe it doesn't matter. Currently I'm offered the option of booting to XP
or ME, which is fine with me, because I have a few older programs which
like ME better and I'll just keep a small partition with ME and those few
programs. I'll delete the rest and reinstall them to run with XP.

- If you think I SHOULD change the boot order, how do I deal with "NTLDR is
missing" problem?

- If you think I SHOULDN'T bother changing boot order, I'll use Partition Magic 8
to set things up like this:

OLD DRIVE (40GB) NEW DRIVE (120 GB)
C: (10) WinME+ME Programs D: (10) WinXP
E: (3) Swapfile for XP G: (20) XP Programs
F: (27) Backup & Reinstall files H: (20) Data
I: (35) Music
J: (35) Games

I have read conflicting opinions about partitioning in terms of speed
advantages (faster/not faster), but the majority of opinions hold that:
* Giving Windows its own partition on another drive for a swapfile is good
* Putting similar materials in a partition makes it easier to backup and to
defrag the partitions (I have hopes of setting up an automated system to
do this - described by Fred Langa in Langa List)

So what do you think??????

Misc. information:
- Dell 4100 with 512 MB memory. XP upgrade advisor happy with most of its components except some added afterwards (Delta66 sound card for music recording). I'll reinstall these under XP with appropriate drivers, etc.
- Sorry for the long post

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

You have a conflict in the way XP and ME assign extended partition drive
letters.
You need to setup the drives the way you want them, then the 1st partition
on the Active Boot Drive must be FAT/FAT32 for WinME to be installed and
work. After WinME is installed, you can install WinXP on another drive
and/or extended partition, but not the drive with WinME on it.
Also, WinME/WinXP can't share the Program Files folder, as WinME is based on
old DOS technology, so the install programs install the old DOS type DLL(s)
and EXE(s), WinXP is true 32-bit non-DOS, so the install program installed
NT type DLL(s) and EXE(s) based on UNICODE. Old DOS cannot run true UNICODE
code, but NT OS's can.

Here I am after exercising my computer-rebuilding and (ancient) DOS skills for
two days. WinXP runs fine, but I had planned to swap the boot order of my drives.

Specific problem:

- Installed new HD. HDNew = Slave // HDOld = Master.
HDOld = Fat32 partitions. HDNew = partitioned as NTFS
Clean installed WinXP to new HD from C: (WinME)

- Installation successful and WinXP runs fine.

- I wanted to change boot order so that new HD is my C: drive.
I swapped the ribbon cables so HDNew is now Master and HDOld is now slave.

- When I try to boot, I get "NTLDR is missing" message.
- Read KB article Q314057, but it's not quite on the mark.

My questions:
- How do I change the boot order? Should I change the boot order?

My original plan was to make the WinXP partition my C drive and reinstall my
programs to run under WinXP rather than WinME Shouldn't I make this
drive C: first and boot to it?

Maybe it doesn't matter. Currently I'm offered the option of booting to XP
or ME, which is fine with me, because I have a few older programs which
like ME better and I'll just keep a small partition with ME and those few
programs. I'll delete the rest and reinstall them to run with XP.

- If you think I SHOULD change the boot order, how do I deal with "NTLDR is
missing" problem?

- If you think I SHOULDN'T bother changing boot order, I'll use Partition Magic 8
to set things up like this:

OLD DRIVE (40GB) NEW DRIVE (120 GB)
C: (10) WinME+ME Programs D: (10) WinXP
E: (3) Swapfile for XP G: (20) XP Programs
F: (27) Backup & Reinstall files H: (20) Data
I: (35) Music
J: (35) Games

I have read conflicting opinions about partitioning in terms of speed
advantages (faster/not faster), but the majority of opinions hold that:
* Giving Windows its own partition on another drive for a swapfile is good
* Putting similar materials in a partition makes it easier to backup and to
defrag the partitions (I have hopes of setting up an automated system to
do this - described by Fred Langa in Langa List)

So what do you think??????

Misc. information:
- Dell 4100 with 512 MB memory. XP upgrade advisor happy with most of its

components except some added afterwards (Delta66 sound card for music
recording). I'll reinstall these under XP with appropriate drivers, etc.