lrh381b2 said:
I have XP Pro installed on an 80GB SATA HD. I just bought a 160GB HD to
put
Vista Business on and I plan to dual boot it with XP. I used the Western
Digital Data Lifeguard software to partition the drive as a boot device
because I planned to install Vista on it. Now when I turn on my computer,
Windows loads but the login screen never comes up. If I put my 80GB drive
in
an external USB HD enclosure, can I get my documents and music off of it,
then reformat it and put XP back on it? I feel so stupid. Any help is
appreciated. Thanks!
Irh381b2:
If I correctly understand your *primary objective* at this point in time -
it's to get your documents & music off that 80 GB HDD for safekeeping,
right? And then worry about "fixing" that drive so that it will boot and
function without problems. Assuming copying those files *is* your primary
objective at this time, obviously the most straightforward way to accomplish
this would be to install the 80 GB HDD as a secondary HDD in some working PC
or as a USB device connected to that PC and access its contents that way.
I'm sure you would know this but I guess you do not have another computer
available to you. Is that right?
We'll set aside for the moment the 160 GB HDD in terms of your planned
future use of it re the Vista & XP dual-boot objective and just concentrate
now on the 80 GB HDD, OK?
We'll assume that prior to your using the WD Data Lifeguard software in
connection with the 160 GB HDD, your 80 GB HDD functioned just fine. It
booted without incident and it operated without any problems at all. Is that
right? Because if that *wasn't* the case - stop right now, OK?
So without going into the current situation re your 160 GB HDD - I guess
it's a WD SATA HDD, yes? -and since your primary objective at this point in
time is as I've indicated above and since you have only a single PC at your
disposal - do this...
1. Disconnect the 80 GB HDD from your machine and (temporarily) install the
XP OS onto that 160 GB HDD which will be connected to your motherboard's
SATA1 (or SATA0 if that's the first one) connector. During the setup process
with your XP installation CD, delete any & all partitions on that HDD,
creating a single partition on which you'll install the XP OS. Assuming the
installation goes OK and the system boots, don't worry about installing any
motherboard drivers.
2. After shutting down the machine, reconnect your 80 GB HDD as a secondary
HDD on one of the other SATA motherboard connectors or if you already have a
USB external HDD enclosure as you seem to infer, you can install the drive
in that enclosure.
3. When you boot the machine, make sure to access the BIOS to ensure your
160 GB HDD is first in HDD boot order priority.
4. After the system boots, access the 80 GB HDD whether it's connected as a
secondary HDD or as a USB device, and copy whatever files & folders you want
onto the 160 GB HDD.
5. Assuming the above exercise goes well, shut down the machine, disconnect
the 160 GB HDD and re:connect the 80 GB drive to the first SATA connector on
the motherboard. I'm assuming, of course, that it's still unbootable. Run a
Repair install of the XP OS - (I assume you know how to do this; if not do a
Google search on "xp repair install") and hopefully the drive will be
resurrected to its former bootable functional self.
The reason for all the previous steps was to safeguard the data you wanted.
While the Repair install usually will not cause any problems with lost or
corrupted data, it can & does happen. So if the data is important to you it
should be saved *before* undertaking a Repair install of the OS. On the
other hand, if you were willing to take that risk you could simply go ahead
with the Repair install of your 80 GB HDD without going through the steps I
previously listed.
I won't comment on your future exercise re creating a dual-boot
configuration involving XP & Vista. I'll leave that to others. (I assume
you're aware that there are a number of MS newsgroups dealing with that OS).
Just let me say that should you need to partition/format that 160 HDD at
*this* point, there's no need to use the WD software. Indeed, you would be
better advised to use XP's Disk Management utility to carry out that
procedure.
Anna
