MBR seems to be located on seperate hdd

[Jake2k]

I'm having a strange problem, I'll go through the steps that got me to where I am now:

Had two hdds, an 80GB (master) that had WinXP and program files on it and a 160GB (slave) I used for extra storage/scratch disk.

Then without changing any of the drives I formatted the 160GB and installed Win7 on it and everything seemed to work fine except my 80GB wasnt showing up under "My Computer" however it did show up in the device manage. So I went ahead and unplugged the 80GB so I could throw in a newer sata drive but when I went to boot it up I got the "MBR is missing" message.

It seems that the only way I can get the 160GB with Win7 to boot is to have the 80GB set up as the the first option in the boot order. I've tried using the Win7 installer to repair the disk but that didnt get me anywhere.

Is there anyway to get the MBR transferred from the 80GB to the 160GB or to creat a new one? My end goal is to be able to replace the 80GB with my new 750GB and still boot to the 160GB, thanks for any help.

 

[-RockMan-]

Have you tried repairing the master boot record in windows 7 using the the DVD installation ?
Give this a look and see if it helps out any: Repair the MBR to restore Windows 7 to your Multiboot Options

 

[Jake2k]

I've tried a few things like that, bootsect, fixmbr, etc with no luck, also I don't want to have a multiboot, just windows 7

 

[-RockMan-]

Try this:

•1Insert Windows 7 installation DVD and boot from DVD drive. While in some older systems you may have to change boot order through system BIOS, most newer systems allow booting from DVD without changing boot order by simply clicking on any key when prompted to doing so.

•2Choose your default "Language", "Time", and "keyboard Input" on the first window and click next.

•3You're now presented with 3 choices. Click on "Repair Your Computer" to gain access to the System Recovery window. Now choose "Command Prompt" in order to run the desired utility which is called "bootsect.exe". Bootsect is located inside the boot folder so change your directory to boot. Now run "bootsect /nt60 C:\" if you had Win 7 initially installed in the C partition. Alternatively, you can run "bootsect /nt60 SYS" or "bootsect /nt60 ALL" to repair the system partition or all partitions. Eject the DVD, and restart computer. Your computer should now boot Windows 7.

 

[Jake2k]

Tried that and nothing changed

 

[KSoD]

Take a screen shot of your Disk Management screen and post it please.

 

[Jake2k]

Here ya go:

 

[KSoD]

Okay so from what i see the C:\ drive is the XP Drive and the D:\ drive is the Win7 Drive correct? Now Open up Computer, Click Organize and select Folder and Search Options. There in the View tab make sure that you Show hidden files and folder, including the system protected ones. Now go into the C:\ drive and you should see some Boot information is it present in teh C:\ drive but not the D:\ drive?

 

[Jake2k]

Actually C is the Win7 drive, D is the flash drive with the win7 installer, E is my external, and the one without a drive letter is the one with XP on it.

I went ahead and did what you suggested and looked at the hidden folders in each drive, there was nothing in the Win7 drive(C) and the XP drive isnt showing up under "My Computer". I did notice that the flash drive with the Win7 installer had two files that might help, "bootmgr" and "bootmgr.efi". Could it be as simple as copying these files into my C drive?

 

[KSoD]

I would at least try copying those files to the Win7 Drive and see if it works. If it doesnt, try using the Win7 DVD to repair the boot files. Since they will be located on the drive now, the disk should find the install and attempt to repair it.

The auto repair option can take up to 3 times to actually fix the issue. I dont know the exact reason why, but it just does it like that.