Replacing c: hard drive

[Guest]

My windows install is on the d: drive (80 gb seagate hard
drive). I also have a c: drive (17 gb seagate) installed
as extra hard drive space.

I want to remove the c: drive and replace it with a new
hard drive (180gb hitachi deskstar), but when I remove the
drive and try to boot up, Windows does not boot (with and
without the new 180gb drive). If I connect only the
windows partition hard drive d:, boot off a cd, and try to
repair, it takes me through an endless loop of "setting up
windows" and "reboot".

My original configuration is:
Primary master = 17gb
Primary slave = cd
Secondary master = 80gb
Secondary slave = cdrw

I'd like to be able to run windows with the 180gb extra
drive and have the option to remove it later and still be
able to boot into windows. But just getting windows to
bootup would be a nice first step.

 

[Steven]

The files needed to start Windows are located on the 17GB HD. That is
why Windows will not start when you remove it. You may need to do a
reinstall.

FYI
Avoid putting HDs and CD-ROMs on the same channel. This degrades system
performance. For better perfomance configure your IDE this way.
Primary Master = HD
Primary Slave = HD
Secondary Master = CD-ROM
Secondary Slave = CD-ROM

If your 17GB HD is 7200RPM then I would suggest using it for your
Windows installation and using the 180GB for data. There are many
benefits in separating your OS from your data.


Steven.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

My windows install is on the d: drive (80 gb seagate hard
drive). I also have a c: drive (17 gb seagate) installed
as extra hard drive space.

I want to remove the c: drive and replace it with a new
hard drive (180gb hitachi deskstar), but when I remove the
drive and try to boot up, Windows does not boot (with and
without the new 180gb drive). If I connect only the
windows partition hard drive d:, boot off a cd, and try to
repair, it takes me through an endless loop of "setting up
windows" and "reboot".

My original configuration is:
Primary master = 17gb
Primary slave = cd
Secondary master = 80gb
Secondary slave = cdrw

I'd like to be able to run windows with the 180gb extra
drive and have the option to remove it later and still be
able to boot into windows. But just getting windows to
bootup would be a nice first step.

First of all, create a simple boot diskette and boot from that.
Read the relevant chapter in http://www.michna.com/kb/WxMove.htm
for how to do that.

The function you need from the installation CD is the boot
environment repair. I would hope that that reinstates the
boot.ini file that was on your old hard disk. If you still have
that, you could as well connect your new disk temporarily as a
third drive, create a large partition on it, then copy the boot
files including boot.ini from the root of the original disk to
the new one.

Make sure you have the master-slave jumpers set properly on the
disks.

If all else fails, install Windows XP on the new disk, then edit
boot.ini (remove write protection first).

Some more details can be found in
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxMove.htm, but that article refers
mainly to moving the entire installation. Still some useful
information can be gleaned from it.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Quote "You may need to do a reinstall."

The correct answer is you WILL need to do a repair
install. The boot files for XP are stored on the C:
Drive. Remove it, and you remove the ability to launch
windows.