Making a C partition on second HDD

[Guest]

Want to say hello to everybody first, new to this group.
I need a "that'll work" from some tech.

1st HDD "C" had WIN98se removed 98 but for files for boot.
2nd HDD "D" has WINXP Home. I installed XP to "D" for dual boot.
My "C" drive is starting to sound like a coffee grinder, so I'm moving files
off of it.

From what I've read over the last few days I think this will work:
Repartition my 2nd HDD, with software, to make room for a small "C"
partition
Make the new partition active
Take the old "C" HDD out of the loop
Remove "C" HDD reference from BIOS
Restart with WINXP cd and run Fixboot, FixMBR Bootcfg
I don't mind XP on "D" because of backups and the like.
Now's where I need the experts to jump in and let me know if this is ok and
what I've missed.
Iain57

 

[peter]

Short cut.........
remove the present C drive
move the D drive to its location....dont forget to change the jumpers
Restart system with XP CD............enter recovery console.........run
fixmbr...fixboot
reboot................if that does not work then do a "repair" installation.
peter

 

[Guest]

Isn't there a chance that could rename "D" to "C" ?

 

[John John]

It should work, before you do the change and run the "fix" commands copy
the files:

boot.ini
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr

from the present C:\ to D:\

 

[John John]

No, the secret to making this work is to make the "D:\" drive the Active
drive while having it keep its "D:\" enumeration. If you cannot
accomplish that, or if you change the Windows drive letter assignment in
the process, the installation will not boot. The integrity of the
installation will be destroyed if the Windows drive letter changes.

John

 

[Guest]

I ran fixmbr and now I have new C drive.
Good thing I did a full backup before, huh
Oh well not my first time to make a brick.
I knew it could do this, but I wanted to try it,
Thanks any way guys

 

[John John]

The drive letter assignment can easily be reversed with a remote
registry edit. The drive should then boot to Windows properly.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188/

John

 

[Guest]

I don't think that will work. This drive didn't have a C partition. Fixmbr
wrote a boot sector over my D partition and now I can't access the drive.
I've got some partition recovery software running on it now, If that
doesn't work I'm going to format and start over.
So I think I'll quit while I'm behind and file this under the
"things I won't do again"

 

[John John]

Well, I did some tests and it works here. Here is what I did:

1- Install 2 IDE disks in a master/slave relationship on primary IDE
controller.
2- Install Windows on Master disk. The Active System partition is "C",
Windows is also installed on "C".
3- Install second Windows on Slaved disk. The Active System partition
is "C", Windows is installed on "D".
4- Using the Disk Management tool mark the "D" partition on the slaved
disk as "Active".
5- Copy the boot files ntldr, NTDETECT.COM & boot.ini to the "D" partition.
6- Shutdown the computer, remove the master disk and put the slave in
the Master position (making sure that the jumper is in the correct
position).
7- Reboot the computer and boot the disk, Windows boots without a hitch
and retains its original drive letter assignment. Success!

In an attempt to recreate your problem I boot to the Recovery Console
and issue the fixmbr & fixboot commands. Both commands are processed
and return a successful completion message. I reboot the computer to
the hard drive and once again Windows boots without a hitch and it has
still retained its original "D" drive letter assignment.

So, what you wanted to accomplish is clearly easily done with a few
simple steps. As to why it failed on your computer I do not know.
Perhaps you didn't set the drive jumper in the proper position when you
moved the disk, or perhaps the disk had other issues or unknown problems
before you tried to move it.

John

 

[Guest]

I went back over what I did and think I followed everything suggested, but as
it turned out the way it did maybe not.
When I ran fixmbr I got the warning about partition damage, hit "y" and when
it finished it gave me "C partition has been created" and then
C:\WINDOWS
My partition recovery program didn't find anything so I'm going to format
and reinstall.