cross linked XP OS

[quintessentialgui]

I am running 2 HDs.
Each has XP Pro loaded as OS.

These drives have somehow become crosslinked.
They are no longer independent.

When I removed the D drive - the C drive would no longer boot.
If I connected only the D drive it would not run independently either.

I must now have both drives connected in order for the C: to boot.

This has happened before.

What is going on here?

What causes this?

How do I prevent this from happening again?

Thanks.

 

[peter]

Maybe you should explain how you originally set this up.
In a normal dual boot system you would install the 1st OS on the C drive and
then install the 2nd OS on the D drive.The 2nd installation would place its
boot files on the C drive and change the boot sector to reflect 2 OS's.When
you boot you would then be given a choice of which OS to start
with..................how did you set yours up???
At this point I would reboot into the C OS and from there format the D
drive....then run a repair installation of the C OS.Once that was up and
running I would reinstall that 2nd OS onto the D drive.........but do it
from within the 1st OS....it will reboot and start the installation as if
from scratch ,you must pick new installation and tell it to install onto the
D drive.
This will give you the dual booth so be sure to install into a directory
named in such a manner that you know which OS is which.
I would also partition those HD's so that each OS has its own programs
installed under each OS.
peter