XP Pro won't boot when I remove slave HD 2

[dubruoy]

I had a 20 gb hard drive with data on it and xp pro. I bought a new large hd and installed xp pro. All is well and I copied all my data over. When I unplug the slave, xp won't boot. Do I need to uninstall windows on the slave to avoid duplicate installations, reformat the slave so that xp will see that there is only one or what?

-John

 

[linney]

For this drive to boot XP must access the Boot.ini file, NtLdr and NtDetect.com. Are these hidden and system files on the drive that you disconnected? Try placing them on the new drive.

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP (Q307654)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/6/54.asp

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q291/9/80.asp

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q289/0/22.asp

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

Q305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

The boot process.

http://www.winntmag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?IssueID=62&ArticleID=3952

 

[dubruoy]

I bet that's it linney. I'm at work so I'll check when I get home. That makes sense to me. When I remove the slave and try to boot, I get a primary hd fail error so it is probably running off the slave.

-John

 

[LloydSev]

Well... I would check to make sure that your master drive doesn't have a "Single" drive setting.. maybe the drive won't work by itself set as master "with slave present" mode.. I'd check that.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[wolluf]

dubruoy - linney's almost certainly on the right lines.

if you installed XP on the new drive while the old drive was connected, then the new install would just have used the boot sector on the old drive - rather than creating a new one on the new drive (so, note for future - always disconnect existing installations if you want new one to be independent).

To create boot sector on new drive, you'll need the 3 files linney mentioned copied to root of new drive, AND you'll need to run fixboot x: from recovery console (where x: is the new drive's letter as seen from recovery console).

Question - what's the system drive letter for XP on the new drive?

 

[dubruoy]

Thanks linney and wolluf...it worked. I needed to have the old drive as a slave to pull the data over before wiping it. This is the first time I have done this in xp and the first time this way. I've done this in 2k by adding the slave after install, pulling data over then disconnecting and it seemed ok but now seems like I may have been close to creating a boot problem that way.

Thanks again for your responses.

dubruoy