Boot disk and system disk on different hard drives

[leadfoot]

I had my C: disk go dead and decided to use another disk to place WinXP MCE
2005 sp2 on. Its on a sata bus.

In addition I have an old copy of winxp on a hard drive on the ide bus.
It's rarely used. primarily it's just for emergencies.

When I finished installing winxp on the sata drive the IDE drive was C:
drive and the sata drive was D: drive

I want to format IDE drive (C with the old copy of winxp and use it for
storage. However when I go into the computer mangement console I see the D:
drive as the boot drive and the C: drive as the system drive. The CM console
will not allow me to format the C: drive nor will it allow me to change the
drive letters. I have the feeling if I use my WinXP boot CD to format the
C: drive I'm going to have real problems.

ABIT nf-7s
Si3112 2-port sata controller on MoBo
Si3114r 4-portRaid PCI controller
WD800JB as IDE drive
Maxtor 6Y250MO sata drive


Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I had my C: disk go dead and decided to use another disk to place WinXP MCE
2005 sp2 on. Its on a sata bus.

In addition I have an old copy of winxp on a hard drive on the ide bus.
It's rarely used. primarily it's just for emergencies.

When I finished installing winxp on the sata drive the IDE drive was C:
drive and the sata drive was D: drive

I want to format IDE drive (C with the old copy of winxp and use it for
storage. However when I go into the computer mangement console I see the D:
drive as the boot drive and the C: drive as the system drive. The CM console
will not allow me to format the C: drive nor will it allow me to change the
drive letters. I have the feeling if I use my WinXP boot CD to format the
C: drive I'm going to have real problems.

ABIT nf-7s
Si3112 2-port sata controller on MoBo
Si3114r 4-portRaid PCI controller
WD800JB as IDE drive
Maxtor 6Y250MO sata drive


Anyone have any suggestions?

If I understand you correctly then your system looks like this:
Drive C: - boot drive, otherwise unused.
Drive D: - WinXP

I assume that you're now trying to format drive C:. I also
assum that you're trying to run WinXP as drive C:.

You don't actually need to format drive C:. You can simply
use the command "rd /s" from a Command Prompt to
remove all existing folders. You need to retain just three
hidden files:
- c:\ntldr
- c:\ntdetect.com
- c:\boot.ini

About changing drive letters: You cannot do this. Since
WinXP was born on drive D:, it has to spend the rest of
its life on a drive that is visible as D:. If you change it then
you will cripple your installation.

There are some further options but there is little point in
discussing them until your exact requirements become a
little clearer.

 

[leadfoot]

If I understand you correctly then your system looks like this:
Drive C: - boot drive, otherwise unused.
Drive D: - WinXP

Drive C: - System drive, otherwise unused, is a bootable WinXP Intending to
format
Drive D: - WinXP Boot drive. Used almost exclusively Want to keep using it

Should have unplugged the C: drive when I reinstalled WinXP. I'll never
make that mistake again.

When I boot up I am asked to chooose between the two drives. In the past I
have used the Motherboards bios option to choose the boot drive.

I assume that you're now trying to format drive C:. I also
assum that you're trying to run WinXP as drive C:.

You don't actually need to format drive C:. You can simply
use the command "rd /s" from a Command Prompt to
remove all existing folders. You need to retain just three
hidden files:
- c:\ntldr
- c:\ntdetect.com
- c:\boot.ini

About changing drive letters: You cannot do this. Since
WinXP was born on drive D:, it has to spend the rest of
its life on a drive that is visible as D:. If you change it then
you will cripple your installation.

There are some further options but there is little point in
discussing them until your exact requirements become a
little clearer.

Worse comes to worse I could reformat both drives and start over. I would
like to find a better solution however

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Drive C: - System drive, otherwise unused, is a bootable WinXP Intending to
format
Drive D: - WinXP Boot drive. Used almost exclusively Want to keep using it

Should have unplugged the C: drive when I reinstalled WinXP. I'll never
make that mistake again.

When I boot up I am asked to chooose between the two drives. In the past I
have used the Motherboards bios option to choose the boot drive.




Worse comes to worse I could reformat both drives and start over. I would
like to find a better solution however

Here is what you can do:
1. Copy the three hidden boot files from C:\ to D:\
2. Adjust d:\boot.ini by telling it that WinXP is on drive 1, partition 1.
3. Turn the drive that has WinXP into your primary master drive.
4. Restore the WinXP boot sector and MBR.
5. Make the primary partition active.
5. Modify the registry via a networked PC so that the WinXP
system drive letter remains D:.

Prerequisites:
- A good understanding of the Windows boot process.
- A networked PC.
- A good deal of patience and perseverance, and the ability
to continue in spite of frustration.

 

[leadfoot]

Here is what you can do:
1. Copy the three hidden boot files from C:\ to D:\
2. Adjust d:\boot.ini by telling it that WinXP is on drive 1, partition 1.
3. Turn the drive that has WinXP into your primary master drive.
4. Restore the WinXP boot sector and MBR.
5. Make the primary partition active.
5. Modify the registry via a networked PC so that the WinXP
system drive letter remains D:.

Prerequisites:
- A good understanding of the Windows boot process.

I'll plead guilty to not having a good understanding of the Windows boot
process.

- A networked PC.

No networked PC

- A good deal of patience and perseverance,

I definitely lack patience

and the ability

to continue in spite of frustration.

But I'm not a quitter

Just for shits and grins dor thsoe in the peanut gallery I pulled the power
off my C; drive just to verify that... and yes it won't work without it.

What if we attack the problem by removing the C: drive and booting from
the install CD and using windows repair?

This is not something i'm in a hurry to do so waiting to see if there is a
better solution is a good option. I'm also waiting on two 250gb Hard drives
to arrive in shipping in the 10 days.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'll plead guilty to not having a good understanding of the Windows boot
process.


No networked PC

I definitely lack patience

and the ability

But I'm not a quitter

Just for shits and grins dor thsoe in the peanut gallery I pulled the power
off my C; drive just to verify that... and yes it won't work without it.

What if we attack the problem by removing the C: drive and booting from
the install CD and using windows repair?

This is not something i'm in a hurry to do so waiting to see if there is a
better solution is a good option. I'm also waiting on two 250gb Hard drives
to arrive in shipping in the 10 days.

Windows Repair won't fix your problem. Ignoring the
laborious solution outlined above, you have two easy
ways to get out of your predicament:

a) Re-install Windows, this time on drive C:.
b) Use one of your new 250 GByte disks as the primary
master disk, then make it bootable. You can still use it
as a data disk - the WinXP boot files take very little
space and are fairly easy to install.