Eh gads, sounds like a mess.
Really hard to be 100% positive simply through this forum, but it sounds
like you may have copied the old XP partition to the 3rd partition on the
new HD. The default drive letter assignments (when a second HD is attached)
is to letter the first partition on HD0 as C:, then the first partition on
HD1 (the slave in your case) as D:., then back to the first HD (HD0) and the
second partition, as E:, and finally the last partition on HD0 as F:. Since
the old XP partition was copied to the new HD, I suspect the cloning
software left the third partition marked as active, so when your system
rebooted, it booted the only partition (of the three on it) marked as
bootable (F
. So now it boots, but because of the presence of the old HD
and other partitions on the new HD, and naming rules for partitions as I
previously outlined, whack!, your XP system boots as F:! (when in fact, you
really wanted C
.
Again, I'm speculating a lot here, but it seems a good possibility based on
your description. This is why I don't trust the software that comes w/
these drives. You also have to be VERY careful when you have multiple HDs,
particularly with multiple primary partitions, the drive letter assignments
are tricky, you need to know the rules/conventions to avoid problems.
That's why I HIGHLY recommended when using a second HD to make it ONLY an
extended partition, with logical volumes. Why? Because volumes are always
assigned drive letters AFTER all primaries. You can get away with having
primaries on BOTH HDs under one circumstance, namely, when there's only ONE
primary on each HD. Thus, HD0/Part0 is C, HD1/Part0 is D:. It's the
simplest case.
Anyway, if you want to avoid the drive letter assignment problems while
defining multiple primaries on the new HD, then remove the second HD for
now, it only complicates matters. At that point, your not really out of the
woods, your third partition on the first HD is now E:! The trick is to get
E: to be C:, which requires making sure that XP is the first partition.
So the simplest solution is to start over! Place the new HD on the second
IDE (or slave of primary IDE, doesn't matter). But forget the HD software,
probably crap. Instead, visit
http://www.bootitng.com and download BootIt
NG. Create the floppy, boot it, and when prompted to install, hit Cancel.
You'll be taken to the main menu, from which you can select the Partition
Manager. When you do, you'll see the new HD button in the top left (HD0)
and old HD (HD1). Select HD0 and delete all the stuff your previous
software cloned over to it (we're starting over). Now switch to HD1 (the
old HD) and Cut and Paste the partitions (in the same order!) from HD1 over
to HD0. If you wish to Resize them as you go, fine, nows as good a time as
any. Once all the partitions are copied, add any NEW partitions you wish to
Create on HD0 as well. Now make sure you have HD0 selected, and hit View
MBR. Make sure your XP partition is listed FIRST! And make sure it is
marked ACTIVE! And make sure any other partitions you copied or created are
listed as well, and in order. If not, do it now, you can update the MBR in
place, right there! Then hit Apply. Exit the partition manager, shutdown,
and remove the old HD. Finally, reboot. At this point you should have an
EXACT, bootable, duplicate of the old HD working off the new HD, except
perhaps you have new sizes.
If all is well, you can, if you like, reinstall the old HD on IDE #2 (or
slave on IDE #1), but please beware that the drive letter assignment of the
partitions on the first partition may shift again! Not the first partition
on HD0, that's ok, it will remain C:, but the others following it (if any)
might shift. It's hard to be definitive because XP sometimes overrides the
default/BIOS behavior, it might assign the XP partition on the old HD as the
last available drive letter if the other partitions on the first HD have
been previously assigned. Again, that's why it's best to keep any second HD
strictly for an extended partition w/ volumes, avoids all this mess. Unless
you have a compelling reason to do otherwise, I suggest leaving the old HD
off the system completely, consider it your backup. Perhaps in 30 days or
so, if all is well, you can use BootIt NG again, to clean it up, then use it
for data (remember, I recommend defining extended volumes on it, not
primaries!).
Don't be intimidated by the process, it's actually a lot easier to do than
explain. And it's perfectly safe, just as long as you never muck w/ the
contents of the old HD, just use it as a source. If you screw up somehow,
just start over, this process is non-destructive to your old HD (*if*,
again, you don't muck with it).
HTH
Jim
Gummby said:
I upgraded my hard-disk and it came with a utility to copy the old
hard-drive and partition contents onto the new drive (with partition sizes
of my choice). I partitioned the new 120 GB hard-drive into 60GB, 30GB, and
30GB and then used the utility to copy the old drives onto the new. I set
the old HD as a slave and rebooted the computer. I upgraded the
motherboard, video card, etc. while I was at it and XP noticed the changes
and I had to re-activate XP. OK, called the 1-888 number and re-activated.
XP re-identified some of the hardware as needing new drivers and guess what,
I had to re-activate again. OK, all done...just one problem. I removed the
old hard-drive and noticed Windows having some problems. So I check deeper
and find that XP set the drive with Windows XP on it to drive F: and I
looked into the registry and in many places it's looking for files on C:
that are no longer there because I don't have a C:. So, I found that I can
change the F: drive letter back to C: using the Computer Management utility,
Disk Management, right clcking on the F: drive and selecting "Change Drive
Letter and Paths...". However, much of the registry is now looking on F:
for stuff and I fear simply changing the drive letter will cause more
problems. So can I change F; to C; and will Windows XP fix all of the
registry links from F; to C; or will changing the drive letter cause more
problems? Do I painstakingly edit the registry so all associations to F:
are C: and then change the drive letter, or will editing the registry links
cause the system to lock up on me while I'm editing it? Thanks, Gummby
