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Boot problems with 2 hard drives in certian sequence

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by Elite, 2006/08/30.

  1. 2006/08/30
    Elite

    Elite Banned Thread Starter

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    ok So I finally took the time to ***** around with my old 1996 PC and get the external HD turned into and internal. Now that I have it in and I used data lifeguard tools to move all the files from C:\ drive to E:\ drive now if I try to use drive E:\ to boot from then it gives me an error saying "Disk Read Error pres CTRL+ALT+DEL to continue." What do I need to do in order to get it so that it will boot from drive E:\and I can remove the files on C:\ and rename E:\ drive to C:\ drive and change the letter of C:\ drive?
     
    Elite,
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  2. 2006/08/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    It would help if we knew the Operating System for a start.

    You cannot change the drive letter of the Boot drive, so if, for various reasons it ends up other than C:\ the only way to change it is to re-install the operating system on that drive without any other drives such as card readers attached.

    I am not clear as to exactly what you did with Data Lifeguard tools as I am not familiar with them. A simple copy/move of the OS to another drive will not work - does DL give you the facility to transfer the OS in a working state to another drive?
    Best bet would be to remove C:\ drive and format the other drive and install the OS - then reconnect the original drive which will be designated D:\ or E:\ - assume you have an optical drive. Simple enough to swap those two drive letters round.
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2006/08/30
    Elite

    Elite Banned Thread Starter

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    The operating system is win 2k.

    I am about to get XP to put onto the new HD. But as I said when I try to boot it gives me the " Disk read Error press Ctrl+Alt+Del to Continue" error .

    Could I possibly just put the XP cd in and set the Boot sequence to this:

    1) CD Drive
    2)80 gig HD
    3)1.6 gig HD*

    *But disconnect the 1.6 gig HD before so that should I say mess up the xp installation I can allways reattach the 1.6 gig and reformat the 80 gig HD and retry? Will it be allowed or would it skip the CD and go right to the Hard Disk?
     
    Elite,
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  5. 2006/08/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    I am still not clear as to how you got W2k onto the E:\ drive, which is the one you are trying to boot from. Would clarify which of the following methods you used - only the last two are viable ....

    Copied the OS from C:\ to E:\

    Moved the OS from C:\ to E:\

    Cloned C:\ to E:\

    Clean installed W2k on E:\

    Let us know exactly what you did and what you set up Data Lifeguard tools to do as I asked in my last post.

    As an aside have you checked the jumpering of the two drives and the ribbon cable connections?
    The boot sequence is set in BIOS, generally CD > Floppy > Hard Drive. On some of the latest BIOS's you can set which hard drive is master, but you cannot use the XP CD to set the boot order.

    Is your final aim to set up a dual boot system?
     
    PeteC,
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  6. 2006/08/31
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    After you use the cloning program, you need to make the new drive the master on the primary IDE Controller. The cloned drive thinks it is "Drive 0 on the primary IDE channel ", it needs to be configured in that position.

    Remove the old drive and jumper the new drive the same way the old one was and connect it to same cable connector.

    A 1996 model? I think you would need at least a 500Mhz CPU and 256Mb of RAM to make Win XP run. I think the minimum specs for XP are a 300Mhz CPU and 128Mb of RAM, but you will find that if you run more than one program at a time (including things like antivirus, firewalls and other background programs), it will be really s l o w.

    Matt
     
    mattman,
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  7. 2006/08/31
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    PeteC is right that a copy or move from one hard disk to another will not work. This procedure does not copy/move the MBR (Master Boot Record) to the "new" hard disk. It could work if an operating system had previously been installed on the "new" hard disk (MBR existing and pointing in the right direction and also defining the hard disk as "active ").

    A Disk-to-Disk clone copies everything, including the MBR to the "new" hard disk. Matt is right that the "new" hard disk must replace the old one on its controller prior to rebooting after cloning.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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