Booting from second hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter
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P

Peter

On my second hard drive I have a Windows98-SE bootable partition
which I would like to replace with XP Pro. I have restored an image
of a bootable XP Pro partition from my first hard drive to the
partition on the second drive but I cannot get it to boot.

My question is this, is it possible to boot XP Pro from a second
hard drive? If it is I must dig a little deeper to see where I have
gone wrong!

Before I get flamed I should say that I have searched the XP pro
Resource kit documentation for guidance, without success.

TIA

Peter

My reason for wanting to do this? I have a space hungry video
editor that I would like have on one partition together with its
data. The bootable partition on the second hard disk is a biggy,
over 75Gb. The three bootable partitions on the first hard disk are
approximately 10Gb each. This is not nearly big enough for the video
editor.
 
If that video editor is all that would eat space, why install another XP for
that?? You can always point the program to install to a specific location
when installing it, usually by choosing custom installation. There you can
point it to a suitable location, this time the _big_ partition....


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Hi, Peter.
My question is this, is it possible to boot XP Pro from a second
hard drive?
Click to expand...

This depends on what you mean by "boot ... from".

In the native Microsoft system, the boot process always begins with the
first partition on the first HD (typically C:), then branches to load
Windows from whichever location is chosen from the menu in C:\boot.ini. The
very few "system files" must be in this "system partition" C:, but all the
rest of Windows is in the "boot folder" (\Windows, by default) on the "boot
volume", which can be just about any volume on just about any HD in your
computer.

Terminology here is counter-intuitive, as many writers have pointed out: We
boot from the system partition (C:), and keep our operating system files in
the boot volume (D:, E:, X:?). :>( The reasons are buried in computer
legacy and are not likely to be changed, so we have to live with these
terms.

Your problem may be solved by simply booting from the WinXP CD-ROM and
telling Setup to install WinXP in that "biggy" partition on your second HD.
First, though, delete the Win98 boot folder (\Windows, by default, but be
sure you are dealing with the right volume because the same name is used by
default for WinXP's boot folder). Or, if there's nothing on that partition
that you want to keep, just let Setup reformat it before clean installing
WinXP there.

Since that is a Win98 partition, it must have been formatted FAT32. You can
keep it FAT32, or have Setup reformat it NTFS. Microsoft limits WinXP's
ability to format FAT32 to partitions smaller than 32 GB, although WinXP can
use larger partitions already formatted FAT32 by Win98. There's no reason
to keep FAT unless you plan to reinstall Win9x/ME on that computer some day,
but if you do want to keep that partition FAT32, don't let WinXP reformat
it.

But you say you've already wiped out Win98 by "restoring" the WinXP image to
it, didn't you? Then maybe the only problem is that WinXP on the second HD
thinks it is still on the first HD. If this is the case, then either (a)
physically switch the second HD to primary master, or (b) do an in-place
upgrade to the WinXP on that second HD so that it can re-write its Registry
to conform to the new hardware environment. (For instructions on how to do
an in-place upgrade, see KB article 315341.)

I'm not sure I understand your statement that you have "three bootable
partitions on the first hard disk". Any primary partition can be marked
Active (bootable), but typically only one at a time can be so marked on any
one HD. Is any operating system installed in any of those partitions?

Your simplest solution might be to install WinXP on one of the partitions on
the first HD and let the second HD hold only your video editor and data
files.

RC
 
Peter,

Thank you for your post.

What error are you receiving when you boot the sytem? Is it something
along the lines of "NTLDR is missing or compressed". If it is, then the
system still has the Win98 boot sector on that partition and it needs to
have the newer XP boot sector. You can repair this using recovery console.


The following URL points to an article on installing the recovery console,
it applies to XP as well
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;318752

Once you are inside the recovery console and accessing the XP partition,
run the fixboot command. This will update the boot sector.

Reboot the system and try to boot into XP then.

Best regards,
Blane Clark


This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.
(C) 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved
 
Hi, Peter.


This depends on what you mean by "boot ... from".

In the native Microsoft system, the boot process always begins with the
first partition on the first HD (typically C:), then branches to load
Windows from whichever location is chosen from the menu in C:\boot.ini. The
very few "system files" must be in this "system partition" C:, but all the
rest of Windows is in the "boot folder" (\Windows, by default) on the "boot
volume", which can be just about any volume on just about any HD in your
computer.

Terminology here is counter-intuitive, as many writers have pointed out: We
boot from the system partition (C:), and keep our operating system files in
the boot volume (D:, E:, X:?). :>( The reasons are buried in computer
legacy and are not likely to be changed, so we have to live with these
terms.

Your problem may be solved by simply booting from the WinXP CD-ROM and
telling Setup to install WinXP in that "biggy" partition on your second HD.
First, though, delete the Win98 boot folder (\Windows, by default, but be
sure you are dealing with the right volume because the same name is used by
default for WinXP's boot folder). Or, if there's nothing on that partition
that you want to keep, just let Setup reformat it before clean installing
WinXP there.

Since that is a Win98 partition, it must have been formatted FAT32. You can
keep it FAT32, or have Setup reformat it NTFS. Microsoft limits WinXP's
ability to format FAT32 to partitions smaller than 32 GB, although WinXP can
use larger partitions already formatted FAT32 by Win98. There's no reason
to keep FAT unless you plan to reinstall Win9x/ME on that computer some day,
but if you do want to keep that partition FAT32, don't let WinXP reformat
it.

But you say you've already wiped out Win98 by "restoring" the WinXP image to
it, didn't you? Then maybe the only problem is that WinXP on the second HD
thinks it is still on the first HD. If this is the case, then either (a)
physically switch the second HD to primary master, or (b) do an in-place
upgrade to the WinXP on that second HD so that it can re-write its Registry
to conform to the new hardware environment. (For instructions on how to do
an in-place upgrade, see KB article 315341.)

I'm not sure I understand your statement that you have "three bootable
partitions on the first hard disk". Any primary partition can be marked
Active (bootable), but typically only one at a time can be so marked on any
one HD. Is any operating system installed in any of those partitions?

Your simplest solution might be to install WinXP on one of the partitions on
the first HD and let the second HD hold only your video editor and data
files.

RC
Click to expand...

RC,

Thank you for taking the trouble to reply that is so long and
detailed. It is now 0230 Hrs and very nearly time for bed so I have
only skimmed your reply as yet. At first glance it does seem that
my informal use of "Boot from" is technically sloppy!. I will give
your reply the attention that it deserves later today.

For a start though, I have three "C:" drives on HD1 and one"C" drive
on HD2. Boot Magic ensures that three of these drives are hidden at
any time. I do keep my data, as far as possible, on D: to F:. G:
is my technical data storage area and H: is reserved for backup
images. I may be a bit simple computerwise but I have learned to
create backup images very methodically. When one learns by making
mistakes, as I do, the backups are essential.

The whole computer is FAT32 to enable all files to be accessed by
Win98 and WinXP. The "C:" drive on the second HD is 75Gb FAT32. It
took me a little while to find out how to format that!

Concerning the configuring of the video editor program to keep its
data remote from the operating system - I have tried to do this but
the particular program has a distributed folder tree for data and
settings. This has proved to be too much for me to sort out.

I bought this program, which receives no end of stick in NGs,
because part of the package is a superb external unit with
Camcorder\VCR\S-Video\Composite video\Firewire input to ditto
output.

That is why I want to have the program and the OS on the same
partition. This is not all that inefficient, even XP Pro looks a
little small in 75Gb. Having the program plus system together also
means that the data and program are imaged together for backup
purposes.

It is time for bed now, 0300 Hrs.

Thanks again RC, I look forward to really absorbing your reply when
I get up.

Peter
 
Hi, Peter.

I hope you had a good night's sleep. ;<)

As I should have said up front in my post, my experience is only with
Microsoft's native dual-boot system included in all NT-based versions of
Windows. I've not worked with Boot Magic at all. My only experience with
third-party boot managers was in trying unsuccessfully to get OS/2 working
alongside Windows (3.1?) a decade or so ago.

So, I'll back off here and let someone with more knowledge of that kind of
multi-booting help you, now that we know what kind of system you have and
how you want to manage it.

For the benefit of others with similar problems, please post your solution
when you find it.

Good luck, Peter.

RC
 
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