Change boot drive? 1

[serializer]

I have 2 drives. My OS on C and other bigger drive on F. In my bios the F: drive is set for boot. When I try to change to C: it gives me boot error. It seems like some files or settings on C: is missing - I would like to boot from C: and cut the dependency to F:

How can I do that?

Thanks!

 

[goombawaho]

The post doesn't make sense. You can't be booting from F: if C: is your boot drive. In other words, your O.S. is NOT on C: apparently.

Have you moved any hard drives into the machine? You need to explain what was happening before and any changes you made.

 

[serializer]

It has always been this way. I was not saying that C: was my boot drive. Only that Windows is installed on C:

However, I can't set the C: drive as boot option in bios - then I get the error about boot failure.

But as you say, I might have moved sata ports around when I installed the computer or afterwards, but that was very long time ago.

 

[serializer]

Here is how it looks. What I find strange is the SYSTEM part on the F: drive:

http://neteject.com/boot.png

 

[DrB0b]

Did you pull "F" from another machine that had Windows on it? Is there a Windows folder on the drive and on "C"?

Have you changed the SATA ports that either drive was plugged into? That shouldnt matter unless you had another OS installed on the other drive

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[serializer]

The disk has never been used with OS on it. I might have changed ports though.

What about the screenshot and option to "Make active partition"? I wonder why the System reserved part is on the F: drive.

 

[DrB0b]

Ok, turn off the machine and unplug "F" from its SATA port on the board and try to boot, going into BIOS and making sure that either "C" is set to the top of the HDD boot order or is plugged into the SATA0 port. If so, and if it is indeed your boot drive, it should load the OS fine. If not, try it the other way by removing "C" from its SATA port and see if "F" boots. Easy way to tell which is your boot drive and or if one is interfering with the other.

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[DrB0b]

Also, what is the reason for trying to change this now? Is there a Windows error or you're now having boot errors?

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[serializer]

If F: fails for some reason I want to know how to solve it - or event better - take the dependency away from it now.

I will try to disconnect F: to see what happens first.

 

[goombawaho]

This post still doesn't make sense.

This is a contradiction:
"I was not saying that C: was my boot drive. Only that Windows is installed on C:"

Your boot drive by definition must have windows installed on it (or linux or whatever).

 

[serializer]

You are probably right. But as my OS did not boot unless I set the F: drive as boot option in bios I thought there was something software related that was missing rather than a hardware problem (cables).

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah, I don't think there is a hardware problem at all.

I think that somehow, Windows is loading from F:\ which I don't understand. Was this a home built computer or purchased from Dell/HP, etc??

Type this into the RUN or SEARCH box depending on whether it's XP or Vista/7 to see where the windows system directory is. See if it opens a windows that shows the contents of F: or C:

%SystemDrive%

What are the contents (folders) on C: when you look at it through Explorer??

 

[BadBigBen]

after reading the post 3 times, I finally figured out what the problem is...

the PC boots from F: and then proceeds to load Windows from C:, as C: does not have the required BOOT information... this probably happened because C: (D: is probably your DVD) was already formatted and residing on SATA PORT1, where as F: is residing on SATA PORT0 (or it was set as FIRST BOOT drive in the BIOS)...

I agree with DrBob, in that you should remove the F: drive's SATA cable from the mainboard (some mainboards do not like cables attached to SATA ports, without a device on the other end, and will behave strangely)...

then get your W7 DVD ready...

power on the machine go into the BIOS setup making sure that the DVD drive is set as first BOOT DEVICE...

reboot... place W7 DVD into DVD-drive and boot from it...

When the Install Windows page appears, click Startup Repair, it should automatically fix the problem...

once done, remove the W7 DVD, and proceed to reboot the PC, if all went well, then it should boot into W7, if not, then please post back...




Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[vacunita]

Time-Out.

Looking at the provided picture, and this being Windows 7 I can tell you with certainty that Windows is in fact Booting from C, as clearly evidenced by the "boot" label under it. Yes that's the boot drive.

The F 10-0MB partition is the Boot Data storage partition Windows 7 requires.

The small hidden ‘System, Reserved’ partition serves as the BCD store (Boot Configuration Data) and Windows needs to access the information contained in this partition to boot and load properly.

All Widows 7 installations will create one, its normal. Though usually they will create it on the same drive as the one you are installing to, unless there is no free un-partitioned space then it will find a suitable location to do it.

It looks to me that when Windows 7 was installed it could only find space in the F drive.

This does not mean there was ever another Windows installation there at all.

With that said, the only way you are going to fix this, is by freeing up 100MB of space on your C drive, make it unpartitioned, and recreating the System Reserved Partition there by running a repair install on the system.


----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[goombawaho]

I had failed to look at the picture, but now what I see seems to jive with what vacunita says.

I don't really understand WHY/HOW it came to be set up this way, but that's the way it is with the System Reserved partition on the F: drive.

If you really want to separate your operating system from your data, sounds like you'll need to reload Windows 7 on the C: drive (with the other drive removed) and then use a partitioning tool to wipe out the reserved partition on the F: drive and make it all DATA.

 

[serializer]

Thanks all. Seems like I won't mess with this now as it currently works

 

[BadBigBen]

Actually, Vacunita, you are partially correct ("The F 100MB partition is the Boot Data storage partition Windows 7 requires."), it is not required...

BUT, once it is created and Windows 7 is installed it should not be removed or messed with...

on my system, for instance, I do not have that 100 mb partition, and Win7 created a FOLDER instead, with all the BootManager and boot files...




Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

So, should we take from this to NOT load Windows 7 with a second hard drive connected to avoid the scenario.

 

[vacunita]

Actually, Vacunita, you are partially correct ("The F 100MB partition is the Boot Data storage partition Windows 7 requires."), it is not required...

BUT, once it is created and Windows 7 is installed it should not be removed or messed with...

In my experience Win 7 will not install if you don't let it create one. In all of the 3 Win7 installations I've performed from scratch in empty drives, it always needs un-partitioned space to create it or the Installation will not progress. Granted one of those installations was one of the RC candidates back when they were offering them as free downloads.
The other 2 were done on empty un-partitioned drives and Windows crated the partition on the same drive.

In any case it may or may not be required, but once its there as you say it should not be messed with.

As far as Installation goes, my rule of thumb is to always disconnect anything unnecessary in a PC when performing a clean install. That includes peripherals, and other hard drives.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[BadBigBen]

Vacunita,

I've done so many installs of W7 that I stopped counting...

As far as Installation goes, my rule of thumb is to always disconnect anything unnecessary in a PC when performing a clean install.

that is a good way to go about it...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"