Hangs up on boot when disk 0 is removed

Running Windows XP home SP2. I have two identical SATA hard drives installed, disk zero and disk 1, both disks are partitioned the same. Not using any form of RAID. My goal is to create a backup/image procedure that will allow me to remove disk zero and run from disk 1 if disk zero fails.

I am using the drive to drive function of Drive Image XML to copy the partitions from disk zero to disk 1. This is run from a boot CD so the source drive can be locked during the copy process. My normal boot sequence is disk zero partition 1. Disk 1 partition 1 is active and I can change the boot sequence in the BIOS and the PC will boot from disk 1 partition 1 as long as both hard drives are connected to the original channels, so it looks like the images created by Drive image XML are working ok.

If I swap the signal cables between the two disk, then the system will not boot up into windows. It gets to the windows XP screen and hangs there before it displays the user log on. If I disconnect the signal cable from disk zero, leaving only disk 1 connected, the boot hangs at the same place. There has to be a way of replacing disk zero if it ever fails without reinstalling windows and all other apps , so what am I doing wrong?

I don't know if this is a Windows XP problem, something specific to Drive Image XML, or something to do with SATA hard drives. So please move this question to whatever area it really belongs in.

Gordon

 

Thanks Steve,

That sounded like a good idea so I have been testing some more. Made my drive copies, then disconnected disk zero immediately. It still hangs in the same place attempting to boot from disk 1. Now I am wondering if it may be a problem with the MBR on disk 1. Windows has never been installed on disk 1. It was installed on disk zero, then the windows partition was copied over to disk 1. If there was anything that the win XP install wrote into the MBR on disk zero, I don't think that it would have copied over to disk 1 by doing a drive to drive copy. So I am going to have to read up on how to use the recovery console to fix a MBR. I will let you know if I ever figure this thing out.

Sure glad that I started planning for a disk failure befor it actually happened.

Thanks for your help.
Gordon

 

Christer,

**Boot.ini from disk 0, partition 1
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

**Boot.ini from disk 1, partition 1
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

These boot.ini files did not show up on a windows search. I found them in the root for each drive using windows explorer. The search function did find copies of boot.ini.backup in the Windows/PSS folders. I looked at one and it was the same as the above. Would it help you to see the backups also?

Thanks, Gordon

Edit; looks funny, the word windows does not have a space between the W & S. It looks correct when I view it in edit mode, but looks like a space when just viewing my post.

 

Do you have the jumper settings on drive 1 set to master?



Keith

 

Maybe I am on the wrong track, but one of the activation security features is to make a record of the harddive "number" so that it cannot be reproduced by cloning harddrives. How this works exactly, I am not sure.

If you were to use it this way you might have to do a Windows "repair" when swapping the drive then reactivate when you get to Windows.

It may work the way you want it to if both HDDs were the same brand or may even need to be the same model number.

Just some speculations.

Matt

 

Keith,
Both hard drives are SATA. There are no master/slave jumpers on serial drives.

PeteC,
Good to know, I thought I had messed it up by doing something wrong.

Matt,
I think you are on the right track. Both hard drives are the exact model. It looks like Windows is remembering the install details down to the hard disk serial number level. I can understand why Microsoft wants to protect the windows product and prevent people from cloning it, but it sure makes it hard on us honest folks that just want a disaster recovery procedure in place.

Windows XP inside out, second edition; on page 73 there is a short discription of the boot process and the author is talking about the MBR and states, "which is created by Windows XP Setup ". So maybe my idea of a recovery plan will never work with Windows XP. That was the plan that I used on Win 98 and it served me very well for many years with that operating system.

Thank you everyone for your help.
Gordon

 

Gordon, your problem is with the MBR code on the cloned drive. You have several options.

1. Make a boot floppy that contains the three files: NTDETECT.COM - NTLDR - BOOT.INI all copied from your bootable drive. Use that floppy for booting.

2. If you have no floppy drive, you can make a bootable CD with the same above files.

3. You can boot to the REPAIR CONSOLE and run the FIXMBR command but you must do so with only the unbootable drive connected.

4. (I prefer this method) Use a better method to clone your drive. For instance, try XXCLONE which has a free version. It works great. You could also use Acronis True Image or Symantec Ghost. Either will work well although not free.

Good luck!

 

There is one clarification that I should add regarding the boot.ini file that you place on your boot floppy or CD. If you plan to use it with both drives connected you will need to edit it to add the second drive. It will then look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I though I'd better add this since without a second drive listed in the boot.ini, the boot process will ignore the pause and not give you any opportunity to select which drive you want to boot. Just one of those little glitches we love.

 

I ran the repair console multiple times with no luck. Disconnected the working disk0, connected the second disk, (disk1) into the first SATA channel, then did a FIXMBR. Still hangs up on a boot from that drive. Ran repair console again, this time did a FIXMBR & FIXBOOT. Still hangs up on the boot. Moved the disk back to SATA channel 2, as the only disk, did another FIXMBR & FIXBOOT. Boot from that disk still hangs at the same point.

Copied the 3 files (NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR, BOOT.INI) onto a floppy. Added the additional line with rdisk(1) to the boot.ini file. When I boot with that floppy in the PC, I get an error 'invalid system disk'.
Did you want me to create a DOS startup diskette and add the three files to that, or what do I need to do to make the floppy a valid system disk?

I am going to disconnect the good disk, connect the problem disk into channel 1 and do a windows XP clean install on that disk. I need to know if it is possible to boot into windows from that disk. The only thing on that hard drive is copies of partitions from the working hard drive. I can always do those copies again in about 30 minutes.

Thank you everyone for your help and support
Gordon

 

No, you just have to do a basic FORMAT of the floppy and then copy those three files to it. No further action is needed. Do not choose the option of creating a DOS boot disk.

BTW, the format of the disk has to be done on an XP based system since the bootloader code is different on WIN9X systems. Perhaps that's where you went wrong.

 

Thanks surferdude2,
You are correct. I formatted that floppy on the XP system, copied over the files again and that took care of the invalid system disk error.

I did a clean install of XP on the problem disk with that disk connected to channel 1 and my working disk removed. The PC would boot up after that from either disk, connected separately or both connected at the same time. It worked exactly like I wanted.
Then I used Drive Image XML to copy the windows partition from the working disk 0 to disk 1. Now I am right back to where I started, I can not boot from disk 1 without disk 0 connected. Booting from the boot floppy diskette does not correct the problem. I have already learned that FIXMBR will not correct it either. So I have learned that Drive Image XML is a great utility that will allow you to copy a partition someplace for storage, then you can copy that back to the original partition and boot from it fine, I had tested that earlier. But it will not allow you to copy a partition to a different hard drive and then boot from the copy/clone. So I am going to test other imaging options until I find one that works or I have to scrap my recovery plan.

Thank you everyone for your great support.
Gordon

 

Again, in case you missed it before, I suggest that you try XXCLONE since the basic version is free and never expires. It's the most user friendly cloning method I've ever found. I use it often with never a problem. I'm considering getting the full version since the incremental backup feature sounds like a great idea.

All the best.

 

Solution found and problem fixed.
Drive Image XML has an option to set a new disk ID. Disconnected the working hard drive and connected the clone on channel one. Then booted from the bartpe CD, which has Drive Image XML. Tools > set new disk ID. Booted into Windows XP from my cloned hard drive, the only drive connected at that time.

Now I have my disaster recovery copy so I hope I never have to use it.
Thank you all very much from one happy Gordon

 

Christer,
I think that is exactly what happened here. I could disconnect the clone except for the short time that I need both drives attached while I make the backups. However, this is a new PC build, and by installing Win XP home SP2, I was about two years behind on Win critical updates. So I was leaving both hard drives connected, making my clone backup, downloading a few updates, running a couple of days before repeating the process. Now that I know better, I will take the little bit of extra time to disconnect the clone disk except when I really need it.

Surferdude2,
I am not ignoring your suggestion to look at other backup/clone software packages. I just am not comfortable with any clone software that is making a clone copy of the operating system while it is running that same operating system. I like the idea of being able to lock the source drive while the copy is being done. Being able to run Drive Image XML from a boot CD caught my attention so that was my first choice.

Thanks, Gordon

 

That's quite allright Gordon, no offense taken. I just wanted you to have as many options as possible. It sounds like you have it spanked down pretty well to your satisfaction now.

I have Ghost, True Image, Drive Image, Novastore Instant recovery, and xxclone. I have tested them all. They all work well but any one may suit a particular operator best. I personally use xxclone for daily backups of my system drive to a smaller drive. It's always bootable without further ado. Then I use True Image for weekly partition imaging of my boot drive. The point is, if I want to restore an image using True Image or similar software, I must target a drive of equal or greater capacity. To get around that, I have the xxclone copy on a smaller drive that I can image which will render a smaller image that can be restored to a smaller drive. Sometimes that's a handy option to have.

All the best.