Upgrading to a new drive?

[Paul Simon]

How do you format a new hard drive so it can replace an existing C
drive? Let me explain:

My existing 160GB C drive will not boot it appears as if the MBR was
blown out and trying to repair it doesn't work), yet all of the files
are intact. My goal is to format my new 200GB drive, put a system on it
and then copy all of the files from the 160 to the 200 and then keep
going!

Can this work? How do I do this since my current 160 won't boot?

Thanks.... Paul

 

[Jim]

How do you format a new hard drive so it can replace an existing C
drive? Let me explain:

My existing 160GB C drive will not boot it appears as if the MBR was
blown out and trying to repair it doesn't work), yet all of the files
are intact. My goal is to format my new 200GB drive, put a system on it
and then copy all of the files from the 160 to the 200 and then keep
going!

Can this work? How do I do this since my current 160 won't boot?

Thanks.... Paul

The fine manual which came with your computer should tell you how...

But, just in case:

Put the installation disk in the CD.
During bootup, enter the BIOS and make the CD the first in the list of
devices.
When the installation completes booting, select the menu for installing XP.
The program will discover that the drive needs to be formatted, and it will
do that.

From then on, just stand back and watch. By the way, the fine manuals for
each of my Dells warns that during the installation, you may receive this
message:

Press any key to boot from the CD.

The fine manual says, do not press any key.

And so on, it continues for quite some time....

Jim

 

[Jim]

How do you format a new hard drive so it can replace an existing C
drive? Let me explain:

My existing 160GB C drive will not boot it appears as if the MBR was
blown out and trying to repair it doesn't work), yet all of the files
are intact. My goal is to format my new 200GB drive, put a system on it
and then copy all of the files from the 160 to the 200 and then keep
going!

Can this work? How do I do this since my current 160 won't boot?

Thanks.... Paul

This message reminds me of one of the improvements which DEC made for their
file system. There was only one boot block on a disk initialized for
RSX-11. Thus, all that it took to make the disk useless was the loss of
that one critical block. However, the initialization of a disk for VMS
created boot blocks diagonally across the disk. The result is that only a
massive loss of blocks could render the disk useless. Now, if DEC knew of
this approach in the mid 70s, why does Microsoft still employ a mechanism
which is not fault tolerant at all?

Jim

 

[Paul Simon]

Thanks, but.... I think you are missing my goal....

Yes, I am trying to get make the new 200Gb disk bootable. But I am also
trying to stay where I was with respect to my installed aps. I
basically want to upgrade my drive, even though I currently can't boot
from it.

Using the original disks would format my disk, but would yield a system
that has no installed applications. I basically want to be left with a
working 200Gb drive that replaces my broken 160 Gb drive, without
loosing any installed aps.


Any other ideas?

Thanks.... Paul

 

[Don]

Thanks, but.... I think you are missing my goal....

Yes, I am trying to get make the new 200Gb disk bootable. But I am also
trying to stay where I was with respect to my installed aps. I
basically want to upgrade my drive, even though I currently can't boot
from it.

Using the original disks would format my disk, but would yield a system
that has no installed applications. I basically want to be left with a
working 200Gb drive that replaces my broken 160 Gb drive, without
loosing any installed aps.


Any other ideas?

Thanks.... Paul

Take both hard drives to another PC. Install them as something other
than "c." Hopefully you can find a computer with XP on it that you
can remove the cover from and temporarily plug in your drives. Using
the WIndows operating system on your friend's PC format the 200 gb
drive. Copy the entire contents of the 160 Gb drive to the new 200 Gb
drive with the command: xcopy D:\*.* E:\ /h /r /c /k /s (where D is
the 160 gb drive and E its replacement.)

Take the 200 gb drive back to your PC and install it. Insert Windows
XP installation disc and perform a REPAIR installation to the existing
WIndows directory.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Not the only way to do it, but this will work. Unless there is
additional corruption all your installations and settings will be
intact.

Don in Austin

 

[Anna]

How do you format a new hard drive so it can replace an existing C
drive? Let me explain:

My existing 160GB C drive will not boot it appears as if the MBR was
blown out and trying to repair it doesn't work), yet all of the files
are intact. My goal is to format my new 200GB drive, put a system on it
and then copy all of the files from the 160 to the 200 and then keep
going!

Can this work? How do I do this since my current 160 won't boot?

Thanks.... Paul

Paul later adds...

Yes, I am trying to get make the new 200Gb disk bootable. But I am also
trying to stay where I was with respect to my installed aps. I
basically want to upgrade my drive, even though I currently can't boot
from it.

Using the original disks would format my disk, but would yield a system
that has no installed applications. I basically want to be left with a
working 200Gb drive that replaces my broken 160 Gb drive, without
loosing any installed aps.
Thanks.... Paul

Paul:
1. You could install the XP OS onto your new 200 GB HDD.
2. Following a successful installation of the OS you could use a disk
imaging program or the disk copying program that may be included (or
available from the HDD manufacturer) with your new 200 GB HDD to "clone" the
contents of your 160 GB HDD to the 200 GB HDD. Understand that if you did
this, the 200 GB HDD would be a copy of your old drive.
3. But since you say your 160 GB HDD is "broken" (whatever that means) and
the "MBR was blown out" (whew!) and a Repair installation was unsuccessful,
that doesn't seem feasible since, in effect, it sounds like you would be
cloning garbage to your new HDD. Obviously you don't want to do that.
4. So what you could do is connect the old former boot drive as a secondary
HDD; boot to the new HDD, and hopefully access the contents of that old HDD
so that you could copy over to the new HDD your user-created data files.
5. But even if you're able to access the contents the old HDD, except in
perhaps a few instances, you will not be able to successfully copy your
programs/applications from the old HDD to the new HDD. They will have to be
installed on a program by program basis through their installation media.
Anna

 

[LS \(V\)]

Have you actually tried writing a new boot sector to the drive?
1. Turn off computer.
2. Turn it back on, insert the Windows XP cd into the cd drive.
3. Boot to the CD (you may have to change a BIOS setting to get it to boot
to the dcd)
4. When the XP Cd boots to a menu screen, choose R for recovery console.
5. select the current installation of Windows and when it gets to a
c:\windows
prompt type, FIXBOOT then when it is finished with that, Type FIXMBR

 

[Paul Simon]

Thanks.... I have run the Recovery Console and tried the FIXMBR. It
didn't help!