Margo Guda said:
Hi,
My system has two hard drives, both with several partitions.
I have the remnants of my 98se system on drive C from which I no longer
boot; drive Q has my new xp and this is my boot drive (primary slave).
Since the drive holding my C volume (with some still-used software as
well) is showing signs of reaching the end of its useful life, I want to
replace it. I formatted the replacement drive externally (via a usb
enclosure) and copied all files over from all partitions (I partitioned it
exactly as the old drive). Then I made the replacement, but when I tried
to boot, my system got stuck at the DOS screen with the message SYSTEM
BOOT DISK ERROR, PLEASE INSERT BOOT DISK. The only thing that got me into
my system was to put the old disk back. I'm obviously doing something
wrong, but what? Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.
Margo Guda.
Margo:
As a practical matter it really would be best if you would fresh install the
XP operating system on your new HD. I realize you've already installed the
OS onto that drive but you're going to have drive letter assignment problems
(as you now have) involving the C: drive letter which you ordinarily want
for your boot drive. While it is true you can live without the boot drive
being designated the C: drive, it's nearly always the way to go for a
variety of reasons.
You need only the XP installation CD to partition/format your new HD and
install the OS. There is no need for any third-party program to accomplish
this. Now I'm assuming that at the moment your new HD contains *only* the
OS, or at the most some programs/data that you could easily replace at this
point should you fresh install the OS. If this is not practical, for one
reason or another, you need not read on...
Assuming the above is a practical course for you, you would
connect/configure your new HD as Primary Master (you obviously know how to
do this judging from your comments) and install the OS per the above.
Following the installation of the OS you would connect your old HD either as
a Slave to that PM or anywhere on the Secondary IDE channel of your
motherboard. The result of all this, of course, is that your new HD with the
installed OS is designated the C: drive. Then, using XP's Disk Management
utility (I assume you're familiar with that program), simply format the old
hard drive (understanding, of course, that all data will be lost) or
re
artition/format it if you want multi-partitions. Or even let it be if
you can access programs/data from it at least through some transitional
period. Presumably you would be using your old HD as a secondary HD for
storage/backup purposes, or whatever.
The problem here, however, are the program files (I assume that's what you
mean by "software") that you have on your HD containing the Win98 OS, since
you say you still want to use some (or all) of those programs. In general,
there's no practical way of simply copying over those programs to your new
HD except in a very few situations. While there are so-called "data
migration" programs which are designed to do this, they're very iffy at
best. Hopefully you would have the installation files/media which would
allow you to install the programs you want on your new HD with the
freshly-installed OS. Obviously, and I'm sure you're aware of this, there's
no problem copying over to the new HD the data files you've created on that
old HD.
As I say, I don't know if in your present circumstances the above is
practical in your situation. But I thought I would mention it as an option
for you to consider.
Anna
