Hi, ITmad.
It's not clear from your two messages just what you are trying to do. My
impression is that you are doing what many users do every day: upgrade to a
larger HD. The easiest way to do this usually is to first use the (Ghost or
similar) software that comes with your new HD to copy everything from your
old HD to your new one. Then remove your old HD completely and leave it out
while you do an "in-place upgrade" of WinXP on your new HD, installed as the
Primary Master. Finally, if you like, you can add the old HD as a secondary
HD and use Disk Management to reconfigure it to suit your new arrangement.
If you simply plug in your new preformatted HD as a secondary drive to your
existing system (an entirely natural and intuitive approach, by the way),
copy all files from your old HD to it, then move it to the primary slot and
try to reboot...you get the results you got. :>( Because most Copy
utilities work well on files, but they don't do the other things that need
to be done, such as mark the partition on the new HD as Active (bootable),
create the proper boot sector on it and copy the 3 required system files
(NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini). And most copy utilities won't copy the
Registry from the currently-booted WinXP, either.
If that is what you did, then you should be able to clean it up by
unplugging your old HD, plugging in your 80 GB HD as primary master, set
your computer to boot from CD, and follow the instructions in this KB
article:
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341
Follow the steps for Method 2 and note that you do NOT press "R" for Repair
the first time it is offered, in Step 3. Press Enter here and press "R"
when you get to Step 5. This will completely reinstall WinXP itself, but
will preserve your installed applications and data and most of your tweaks.
AFTER your computer is booting into WinXP from the new HD, then you can the
old one as a secondary.
What newsreader are you using, ITmad? It would help keep these messages in
context if you would be sure to quote the previous thread-to-date in each
new post, as I've done here. (I'm using Outlook Express.)
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
ITmad said:
It is an old Windows 95 machine with a MS6116 VER:1.1 motherboard, now
running Windows XP Home. the current format is FAT32 and when i try to
boot from the 80GB hard drive, formated as NTFS it comes up with : NOT
FOUND ANY [Active Partition] in HDD. and when i format it as FAT it
says that NTLDR is missing?
ITmad
R. C. White said:
*Hi, ITmad.
Have you found Win2K's Disk Management tool? At the Run prompt,
enter:
diskmgmt.msc
Using Disk Management, you can create partitions on that new HD, then
assign
a drive letter, then format each partition as either FAT or NTFS.
(Win2K
will not format partitions larger than 32 GB as FAT32, but the
capacity is
practically unlimited for NTFS.) Win2K "mixes and matches" FAT and
NTFS
drives seamlessly, as easily as it mixes floppies, CD/DVDs, etc.
Of course, you should be sure that your new HD is properly jumpered
and
cabled and, if necessary, enabled in your computer's BIOS.
If you tell us more about your system (make and model of your
computer, or
the motherboard if you built it yourself; make and model of
HDs/controllers;
Win2K version and SP level; etc.) we might have some more specific
suggestions for you.
RC
