Second Hard Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dingo
  • Start date Start date
D

Dingo

Hi.
I added a second hard drive to my Dell 4300, initialized, formatted and
gave it a drive letter (D) using the native Disk Management utility.
Both drives are set to CL and both are set to 'auto' in Bios.
I then copied the drive (C) to the new drive (D) using Partition
Magic. That was completely successful.
The copied drive shows in Bios as Windows XP Home Edition (1).
I then switched drives and placed the new drive on the end of the cable
making it the Primary. But when I reboot, after the Dell logo I get a
black screen with the information that the boot cannot be completed
because the drive is missing the
Win-Root Syst 32-\ hal.dll
When I switch the drives back, the system boots, and I am asked which
drive I want to boot to: Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Home
Edition (1)..........
This is an OEM system and WinXP was installed by Dell. I only have a
recovery disk, but I should be able to change drives in case the
original goes bad shouldn't I? Any suggestions? Thanks. Dingo
 
Hi,

Among other things, the drive does not contain the active (bootable)
partition. While your scheme sounds good, it doesn't quite work that way. As
you have Partition Magic, use it to set up a multiboot.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
When you copy the OS from your old HD to the new, copy into Unallocated
Space (not a drive letter), mark the partition as active after the copy and
remove the active status from your original OS partition.

I usually do the copy with Drive Image but PM should do the same thing.

Brian
 
I am using Drive Image 2002 to copy C:\ to the second HD, in my case F:\ .
It works fine with my Gateway 700X and the Dell 8200 both using Windows XP
Home. I can use second HD as single drive any time I want to. I have found
it necessary to turn off Norton Antivirus and System Restore during the copy
process.
Anders
 
I am using Drive Image 2002 to copy C:\ to the second HD, in my case F:\ .
It works fine with my Gateway 700X and the Dell 8200 both using Windows XP
Home. I can use second HD as single drive any time I want to. I have found
it necessary to turn off Norton Antivirus and System Restore during the copy
process.
Anders
 
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