Maxtor HDD problem - please help!

[Mike]

This post is a clarification of a question/problem I
posted earlier this morning.

I purchased a new Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 80GB ATA 133 7200
RPM HDD to replace an existing Western Digital 60GB drive
in my main computer (I plan to install the 60GB drive in
my son's machine). I'm running Windows XP Home edition.
The system is a XFX NF2S-ALH motherboard with an AMD
Athelon XP 2500+ processor. The MB supports ATA 133. The
bios recognizes the new drive just fine.

I used the MaxBlast 3 software that came with the new
drive to create a mirror image of the old drive. All
files appear to have copied to the new drive with no
problem. However, when I attempt to boot from the new
drive, I get the following error message:

"Error Loading OS"

At that point, the system hangs. I can boot from the old
drive just fine. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Larry]

When you copy from one hard disk drive to another,
depending on the software you use, you will usually be
prompted with a question "Do you want to create a
bootable disk?" or something to that effect. You should
respond yes to the prompt. If you were not prompted, then
most likely the nes disk will not be bootable.

Note, that creating a bootable disk requires certain
files to be placed on a area of the disk call a Boot
Sector. If the boot files are not palced in exactly the
right location, then the computer cannot boot from the
new disk.

Once again, copy the old disk to the nes disk using a
product that will create a bootable copy of the original.

 

[Mike]

Larry -

Thanks for the response. The MaxBlast imaging software
does offer the option of establishing the new HDD as the
boot disk, and that is the option I used to image the new
drive off of the old. Despite this, I'm still getting the
error. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Jerry]

You can place your original XP Windows CD-ROM into the CD drive and boot
from this. It will eventually give you the option of repairing the Windows
installtion and this will insure that the disk is bootable.

 

[Mike]

Larry -

Tried that, but it didn't solve the problem. I'm pulling
my hair out! I can access the new drive through Explorer,
and open files, etc. I just can't boot from it.

Shit !!

 

[Brian Grant]

Mike: two items I don't see referenced in previous notes. 1. How are
the master slave jumpers set on the 2 drives? 2. Are both drives on the
same IDE controller?

Brian

 

[Les Herrman]

Larry -

Tried that, but it didn't solve the problem. I'm pulling
my hair out! I can access the new drive through Explorer,
and open files, etc. I just can't boot from it.

Shit !!

Is the drive partition marked as an active partition?

 

[Mike]

Les - How do I tell if the drive partition is active?
This I can share: I am able to access all of my files and
content on the new drive through Explorer. I just can'y
boot from it.

Mike

 

[owlbird]

See http://www.ptdd.com/partitionerror.htm

Good luck to you.

 

[RNolen]

I had the same problem with Maxtor 160. I tried the
partion, drive transfer 2 times and still had a non-
booting hardrive. I finally managed to transfer and get a
working drive using Backup. You can install from XP disk.
You can copy your backup to the WD. It will use the same
amount of space as the current WD. You can then transfer
the backup to the Maxtor. It worked fine for me. Its
works like N.Ghost to clone the entire drive. You
probably want to reformat the Maxtor. I would disconnect
the WD while doing this. Just boot from the Maxblast
disc. This is a cheaper solution since its already on XP
disc. Its a add-on and doesn't install with the OS.