detecting 2 operating systems

[Mike]

I just recently installed a new hard drive. My computer detected it as drive
F. The old drive is C: I transfered all my files from C to F. Now i would
like to use the C drive as storage. However, whenever I boot the computer it
sees 2 operating sytems-- C and F and I have to choose one of them. I went
back to the bios and told it to boot only from the floppy, drive F and the CD
(in that order). I also disabled drive C. When I rebooted it told me no
operating system was installed. Both drives are SATA.

I tried to remove the windows directory from C but it won't let me.

What is the best way, besides formatting C or unplugging it, to have the
computer boot the F drive only?

 

[Jim]

I just recently installed a new hard drive. My computer detected it as
drive
F. The old drive is C: I transfered all my files from C to F. Now i
would
like to use the C drive as storage. However, whenever I boot the computer
it
sees 2 operating sytems-- C and F and I have to choose one of them. I
went
back to the bios and told it to boot only from the floppy, drive F and the
CD
(in that order). I also disabled drive C. When I rebooted it told me no
operating system was installed. Both drives are SATA.

I tried to remove the windows directory from C but it won't let me.

What is the best way, besides formatting C or unplugging it, to have the
computer boot the F drive only?

Since the BIOS has already told you that it cannot find an OS on drive F, I
gather that you just copied files. This procedure won't work.

What you need to do is to clone the new drive from the old. Then, you can
just unplug the old drive and reboot. The computer should recognize the new
drive as drive C.
Jim

 

[Mike]

The operating system is there. I did a fresh install on drive F. When the
computer boots up it gives me the choice to either boot from C or F. Either
one works. I would rather it not give me a choice and boot from drive F.

This gets kind of strange...I unplugged drive C and tried booting and it
does not detect an O/S. I go under the bios and it says I have a hard drive
in port 3 (it gives it a number in brackets). While still in bios I go over
to the boot options. It shows the same number but with SM in front of it.
For some reason its detecting this drive as a master--even without another
drive connected. Remember, this is a SATA setup so I can't tell the comp if
its a master or slave--its automatic.

What do I need to do to get rid of the SM in front of the boot options. I
think this is the problem...then again maybe not. That's why I'm here...

 

[Patrick Keenan]

The operating system is there. I did a fresh install on drive F.

But the *boot files are on C*, not on F.

When the
computer boots up it gives me the choice to either boot from C or F.
Either
one works. I would rather it not give me a choice and boot from drive F.

You can edit the boot.ini to remove the reference to the C installation.

This gets kind of strange...I unplugged drive C and tried booting and it
does not detect an O/S.

It's not strange, it's because the boot files are on the drive you removed,
the C drive. The system has no idea where to look for an OS.

I go under the bios and it says I have a hard drive
in port 3 (it gives it a number in brackets). While still in bios I go
over
to the boot options. It shows the same number but with SM in front of it.
For some reason its detecting this drive as a master--even without another
drive connected. Remember, this is a SATA setup so I can't tell the comp
if
its a master or slave--its automatic.

So all SATA drives will be master on their channel.

What do I need to do to get rid of the SM in front of the boot options. I
think this is the problem...then again maybe not.

Probably not, and probably not relevant.

The problem is more likely that you installed to F with the C drive
attached, and the boot files went to the C drive. It's best to disconnect
other drives while doing an install, as this prevents other drives being
given any precedence.

Some options include editing the boot.ini, trying the fixboot command from
the recovery console, and yanking the excess drives and starting over - if
you moved, rather than copied, data from the C drive to the F, that may not
be a great idea just now. You'd have to move the data back to C first, as
you'll be wiping the F drive, and it will become C at the reinstall. You
will have to reinstall everything.

Another option if the C drive is in its original condition is to clone it to
the new drive. This will erase what's on the new drive. At the end,
remove the old drive, put the new one in its place, do NOT attach the old
drive until after the first boot. The new drive will become C. You can
use the free trial of Acronis TrueImage for this. Run it in Manual mode,
which will give you the option to select how much of the F drive you want to
use (probably all of it).

How much work do you have in the system at this point? That's going to be
an influencing factor in what works best.

HTH
-pk

 

[Mike]

Dang it...I was afraid you were going to tell me to re-install. Yes, drive
C was hooked up when I installed XP on F. My bad...
The clone option is not good because I have some "stacking" going on drive
C. I reinstalled XP on drive C a year ago and so a fresh install on a new
hard drive is my only option.

I'm not sure what route to go because I've spent at least 5 hrs transferring
files, hooking up componets and such. At this point I'm thinking it was a
bad ideal to upgrade...

 

[Mike]

And to Pat and Jim-- thanks for the help...

Dang it...I was afraid you were going to tell me to re-install. Yes, drive
C was hooked up when I installed XP on F. My bad...
The clone option is not good because I have some "stacking" going on drive
C. I reinstalled XP on drive C a year ago and so a fresh install on a new
hard drive is my only option.

I'm not sure what route to go because I've spent at least 5 hrs transferring
files, hooking up componets and such. At this point I'm thinking it was a
bad ideal to upgrade...

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Dang it...I was afraid you were going to tell me to re-install. Yes,
drive
C was hooked up when I installed XP on F. My bad...
The clone option is not good because I have some "stacking" going on drive
C. I reinstalled XP on drive C a year ago and so a fresh install on a new
hard drive is my only option.

I'm not sure what route to go because I've spent at least 5 hrs
transferring
files, hooking up componets and such. At this point I'm thinking it was a
bad ideal to upgrade...

Can you get or borrow another hard disk? Where I am, 250 gig hard disks
are around $70.

You probably need a drive for backup purposes anyway....

HTH
-pk

 

[Mike]

The drive I'm installing is a 250 gig I bought it for $50 (free shipping). I
finished the install last night. I did as you instructed...everything turned
out just fine. The wife is a little sore since I was shut in the room for
another 4-5 hours moving files around-- She'll get over it. Again, thanks
for the help Pat.