Help Pse - HDD Boot drama!!!!!!

[Nick]

Thanks for looking!!

Here's the situation. I am running

XP Pro (SP1)
Abit NT7 Mobo
Ath 2000+
Radeon 9800 Pro

I have had a perfect system, which has had no problems. I have a removable
HDD, which I have used for backups, data storage, etc. Recently, I deleted
a load of stuff from this removable drive - still no dramas - but when I try
to boot WITHOUT that drive in its bay I get

NTLDR is missing

This seems strange as my system is defintitely booting from my other drive.
I have gone for the newbie approach of completely reinstalling my system
(without the removable drive) and I now have a perfectly running system,
with all my software reinstalled, etc. The issue is that I want to stick my
removable drive back in but I am concerned that I will have problems again.
What I really want to do is format the removable drive and start afresh but
I am not clear on how to do this. I tried originally to do this using
Partitioin Magic - and thats where the problems started. It is a SATA HDD -
and I have to load SiL SATA drivers when I reinstall windows.

Is there a clever way in which I could switch off - insert the drive - boot
to either a disk or a prompt - and format that drive ? I used to be able to
format anything with my trusty DOS 3.1 disk - but that was a long time ago.
Is there another option to reconfigure the boot in the BIOS so that it does
not look at the removable drive (bearing in mind that my system is currently
working PERFECTLY without this removable drive).

Your help, guidance and/or laughter will all be hugely appreciated!!

Thanks

Nick

 

[Michael Cecil]

Thanks for looking!!

Here's the situation. I am running

XP Pro (SP1)
Abit NT7 Mobo
Ath 2000+
Radeon 9800 Pro

I have had a perfect system, which has had no problems. I have a removable
HDD, which I have used for backups, data storage, etc. Recently, I deleted
a load of stuff from this removable drive - still no dramas - but when I try
to boot WITHOUT that drive in its bay I get

NTLDR is missing

This seems strange as my system is defintitely booting from my other drive.

No, I think you're booting from the removable drive. Windows may be
installed on the non-removable one but it's clear from that message which
drive you're booting from. Did you check to see which drive has the boot
files - ntldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com?

I have gone for the newbie approach of completely reinstalling my system
(without the removable drive) and I now have a perfectly running system,
with all my software reinstalled, etc. The issue is that I want to stick my
removable drive back in but I am concerned that I will have problems again.
What I really want to do is format the removable drive and start afresh but
I am not clear on how to do this. I tried originally to do this using
Partitioin Magic - and thats where the problems started. It is a SATA HDD -
and I have to load SiL SATA drivers when I reinstall windows.

Why not just use Disk Management to do this? (Control Panel>Admin
Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management)

 

[Nick]

Of course!! Very many thanks Michael - I had written off the idea of
formatting from within XP as Partition Magic had fallen over. I now have a
formatted drive thank to your timely advice.!!!!

Thanks again - I am not sure how many of us would remain sane without advice
from the more experienced users out there!!

Nick

 

[Guest]

If you are now able to boot without the removable drive being installed: then
XP has been properly installed on your fixed drive.

If the SATA device is hot plugable, then insert it once XP is running and
then use disk manager and reformat it.