Hard drive

[Mentali$T]

ok, in my computer at the moment i have 2 hdd's. what i want to do is take the old hdd out and into my old computer so i have 2 computers working. When i removed the hdd from my current computer i thought it might cause a problem, so i booted it up and it said "ntldr missing" or sumthing like that so how can i take out this old hdd and make my current computer still work. I have an OS installed on both hdd's so there shouldnt be any problems :S

Thanks

 

[talldude123]

http://www.pctechguide.com/w3t/show...er=4470&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

 

[Mentali$T]

:s i tried the replacing file thing and it didnt work. my pc just kept restarting before loading up OS choices.
Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

So, originally you had two hard drives, both with an OS installed on each, so a dual boot system?

You've removed one of these drives and placed it in another PC...correct?

In a dual boot system, with Windows XP installed on both drives, only one drive will contain the boot files needed to boot the system....

...If you've removed the drive containing the boot files from your current PC, and into your old PC, leaving just the second HDD with Windows XP without the MBR on that partition, then your current PC will not be able to boot because it can't find the files required to boot successfully (as you've removed the drive containing those boot files that are required)...

If you removed the hard drive which doesn't contain the boot files, however, then you should still be able to boot on your current system.

Which drive did you remove?

 

[Mentali$T]

Hi,
Yeah thats right.
It was the hdd with the boot files on i have removed. How do i get the files to boot from the correct partition then?

Thanks

 

[Dr.Gootch]

Reinstall XP on 1 drive.

 

[Mentali$T]

There has to be an alternative way. I dont want to have to reinstall everything again.
If i did a windows repair would that keep all my files and set the hdd correct?

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

You can get around this. You'll need a Windows XP Installation CD to get into the Recovery Console.

In BIOS set the CD-ROM drive as the primary boot device. Boot into the CD and go into the Recovery Console. Log into the Windows partition. Then do the following:

Where x: is the Windows partition in question and where d: is the CD-ROM drive with the Windows XP CD in...

1. Type copy d:\i386\ntldr x:\
2. Type copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com x:
3. Type fixmbr x: and proceed...
4. Type fixboot x: and proceed...
5. Type bootcfg /rebuild and for Enter Load Identifier type a description (Like Windows XP) and for Enter Operating System Load Options type /fastdetect.

 

[Mentali$T]

Thanks a lot alvin! one question how do i know the letter of the windows partition? Its not just the hdd letter is it? and will this keep all my current files and settings still?

Cheers

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

Yep it's the drive letter.

It won't do anything to your files except for placing ntldr and ntdetect.com in the root directory C:\ of the drive, as well as write a new boot.ini file.

Other than that, your files and settings aren't touched.