Hard drive won't boot 2

[MarcLodge]

Hi,
Not sure if this is the correct forum, but I'm lost as to guess which one is. Let me describe my problem and then if nobody can help at least somebody might be able to point me to the correct place.

I have a Dell Studio PC which came with a 500Gb hard drive and Windows Vista about 18 months ago. Shortly after I got it I installed a further 500Gb hard drive onto which I loaded Windows 7. The system was the perfect dual boot system, asking me at boot time which operating system I required.

About a month ago, the Vista disk started playing up. System would go slow and then hang requiring a reboot. On reboot (irrespective of which operating system I chose), it invariably went into chkdsk and deleted various lost clusters index etc. on the Vista disk. I downloaded the manufacturers disk checking software which came back clean, but still the problem persisted. I ran various virus checkers, malware etc. all came clean, but still the system when booted in Vista, worked for a while and then went slow leading to a hang.

What I decided to do was to get a new 1Tb hard drive, clone the Vista disk onto it, and then swap it. This I did and all looked well. I did the cloning using EASUS.

I've now swapped the disk and have the 500Gb W7 working fine and it can see the 1Tb Vista disk. When I try to choose the Vista disk at boot time though, it doesn't work and throws me back to the Dell boot splash screen.

Is there something else I need to do ? If I select the Vista disk at boot and press F8 to get etra options, it reboots.

Any help gratefully received.

Marc

 

[flyboytim]

I trust you have backed up any essential data to the Win 7 drive, or external storage.

It appears that the boot sector of the 1TB disk is likely corrupted, and possibly the Vista installation will be irrecoverable.

If you have the Win7 install disk, you are possibly in luck!
Often it is possible to use the Windows 7 install DVD to repair the broken installation. It may recognise the Vista installed partition and repair the bootloader and MBR.

some tips here:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...l/thread/436edb43-49be-41b1-b686-b881a436cffa

My own experience was that the Win7 DVD cured a non-working XP dual boot with Win7 system as I mucked about with various Linux installs, quickly and fairly painlessly too.

I guess you did not get a Vista install disk from Dell:

Older Dell Studio PCs were equipped with a hidden Symantec PC restore partition - on the original 500GB disk.

Dell Inspirons, Studios, and XPS Systems now use DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 as the PC Restore/Factory Image Restore option as of April 22, 2009.

Whether the Easus cloned this partition structure or not I cannot say. If it has, it is the only (legitimate) means of reinstalling Vista without purchasing a new Vista licence.

 

[MarcLodge]

Thanks flyboytim for your reply. The data on the new disk is accessible from Windows 7 but yes, it is all backed up anyway. When EASUS cloned the disk, it did indeed clone the recovery partition and I can see that in Windows 7 too.

I've just had a look through all my disk, and I do seem to have a Vista re-install disk from Dell. What do you suggest I do? Should I try a repair with the Vista disk?

Marc

 

[flyboytim]

Well, you have all bases covered. Think! Is it really necessary to dual boot Vista as well as Windows 7? Do you love Vista that much?

If so, I would first try the Windows 7 install disk as I suggested above, since it knows about itself and about Vista, whereas the Vista install disk and the Dell restore setup know nothing about Windows 7, and may do something to muck that up!

If there is no success along that route, and the Vista system is still unavailable, you have to reinstall from the Dell Vista Disk. (Not forgetting the original 500GB Vista drive, if still available, you could try to repair that in the same way as a second option.)

If there is partial success, and you get a Vista bootloader, and can enter the Dell PC Restore, hopefully that will be an easy route to your chosen system setup.

If restore works, it will take about 30 minutes, a reinstall maybe 2 hours, and then there will be all the windows updates and service releases to follow...Deep Joy!

I would disconnect the Windows 7 drive in order to attempt the restore partition, just in case, which will probably break the dual boot. The Windows 7 disk repair should reinstate that, or you could download EasyBCD to manually edit the bootloader configuration.

 

[linney]

Have you tried the Startup Repair option by booting from either the Windows 7 DVD, or preferably the Vista Disk?

Startup Repair.

Startup Repair is a Windows recovery tool that can fix certain problems, such as missing or damaged system files, that might prevent Windows from starting.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...809f-ed90-415f-a83f-89b42108b3551033.mspx#EFF

Startup Repair: frequently asked questions

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

Point it toward the Vista install when you get a the choice of systems to be (startup) repaired.

Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

 

[MarcLodge]

Many thanks to both flyboytim and linney for your help. I used the Vista disk I had to execute a startup repair which cured the problem. It was, as flyboytim suggested, a corrupt boot, and the startup repair did the trick.

To answer FBT's question, I'm not especially fond of Vista, but that dirve has most of the programs installed on it that I use regularly or ocassionally. I made a list of all the programs that weren't on the W7 disk, and there's around 40 of them, so to copy these all across and install if a bit of a task.

At the moment, the dual boot system is working, thanks to your help, like a dream.

Many thanks once again.
Marc