Bonobo

Where is the boot loader located? Is it on disk 0 or disk 1? Or on a
removable media? If you post here I will think about how best to solve your
problem, which I now understand, and reply tomorrow.

--
Uncle John
"Bonobo" <Bonobo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2FC82D84-2FFA-4EAE-86E4-A3282F707AC0@microsoft.com...
>I do appreciate all the comments that have been given so far. I've taken
> into consideration all the issues raised.
>
> Will try to answer some of Uncle John's concerns within his post. See
> below.
>
> "Uncle John" wrote:
>
>> Pegasus
>>
>> I believe you misunderstood me, I said
>>
>> " Casper XP or Acronis True Image do routinely copy or clone the old
>> drive C
>> to the new drive D. It will boot and Windows will of course call the new
>> drive D and call the old drive C ........."
>>
>> That is, if the original system disk is
>> " Disk 0 'D' " and the new disk is
>> " Disk1 'C' "
>
> The original system disk is Disk0 'C' ; which is a 40GB WD with Win98SE
> that
> is on the way 'South'
> Disk1 'D'; is a 80GB WD with XP Pro.
>
> The system is set for dual booting; I can select Win98, XP or Recovery
> Console. Both drives are formatted Fat32.
>
>> the drive letter "D" will be maintained if the new disk is booted as the
>> new
>> system disk the drive letters will be reversed. In the management
>> Console
>> you will then see
>> "Disk 1 'D'
>> "Disk 0 'C' "
>>
>> To go further and change the Drive letter of the [new] System Disk to 'C'
>> I
>> would need use software that usually works involving the change of mount
>> points and registry addresses which is very time consuming and not 100%
>> certain: I only do this if the drive letter had been corrupted already.
>>
>
> I've seen a post (can't recall where) that states that there is some
> utility
> that will allow 'Find & Replace' on enties in the Registry. Given some of
> the other problems Pegasus has outlined, not sure if this will entirely
> fix
> all the problems.
>
> Would like to know if anyone has had experience with this sort of utility.
>
>
>> Since neither of us saw the original post we do not know why the poster
>> was
>> trying to change the drive letter so may this technical chat is
>> irrelevant!
>> --
>
> In a nutshell, I would like to wind up with C: being XP on a 160GB drive
> (New), the current XP disk (which is D to be used as additional storage
> (after everything has been moved to the new disk and cleaned up to see all
> current programs and Registry entries as belonging on C. This takes the
> current C: (which is on the way South) out of the equation.
>
> Didn't think it would be this difficult, but learning everyhour. Again,
> thanks for all the feedback and if there are others who have gone through
> this, would really appreciate hearning about your experience.
>
> Bonobo1
>
>
>> Uncle John
>> "Pegasus" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
>> news:eQOy3FA%23FHA.1312@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> >I did not see the "very" original post, hence my reply to what
>> > appears to be the first respondent.
>> >
>> > I have never ever seen a successful move of a Windows
>> > installation from one drive to another, unless the drive
>> > letter was maintainted (which is, in fact, possible). There
>> > are three reasons:
>> > - The registry is full of references to the original drive letter.
>> > They would have to be fixed, without inadvertently altering
>> > strings that do not relate to drive letters (e.g. altering
>> > "Office:smarttags" to "Officc:smarttags").
>> > - There are a number of binary references in the registry to
>> > the system drive letter. They must be changed too, without
>> > inadvertent corruption.
>> > - There are also some disk files that contain drive letter references.
>> >
>> > Now I'm not dogmatic about this. When I see a reasonable number
>> > of independent reports from competent posters that products like
>> > TrueImage can do it reliably then I'll accept it. Your claim is one
>> > solitary report - perhaps there will be more.
>> >
>> >
>> > "Uncle John" <unclejohn@uselesnospam.com> wrote in message
>> > news:#gbbtz$9FHA.2676@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>> >> Pegasus
>> >> Is the original post, which I do not see, talking about changing
>> >> drives
>> >> or
>> >> drive letters?
>> >> Of course it is easy simple to move System from Windows Drive "D" to
>> >> "C"
>> >> provided the user remembers that Windows does not assign drive letter
>> >> in
>> > the
>> >> same order as the bios.
>> >>
>> >> Casper XP or Acronis True Image do routinely copy or clone the old
>> >> drive
>> > C
>> >> to the new drive D. It will boot and Windows will of course call the
>> >> new
>> >> drive D and call the old drive C but underneath the GUI it knows that
>> >> what
>> >> it says it what it means, a bit like Alice in Wonderland!
>> >>
>> >> With boot disk switching in the bios it can be tricky, without using
>> >> Explorer, to know which disk has booted unless some prominent new
>> >> object
>> > it
>> >> placed on the original desktop just before rebooting
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Uncle John
>> >> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:uJ2ISo99FHA.356@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> >> > It seems there is some misinformation in this thread. The basic
>> >> > facts
>> > are:
>> >> >
>> >> > a) If WinXP saw the light of the day on drive D: then it must always
>> >> > run off a drive letter D:. The reason is simple: The registry is
>> >> > full
>> >> > of references to drive D:, and if the system drive is C: all of a
>> >> > sudden
>> >> > then you will end up with a very unhappy Windows installation.
>> >> >
>> >> > b) It is possible to run Windows off the very first partition while
>> > still
>> >> > calling it "Drive C:". Unfortunately it is not an easy matter to
>> >> > arrange
>> >> > this, and the probability of a mistake is high, resulting in an
>> >> > unbootable system.
>> >> >
>> >> > To avoid this type of problem in future, use a proper boot loader
>> >> > such
>> >> > as XOSL. It's free. It lets you install any number of OSs on
>> >> > separate
>> >> > partitions, each visible as drive C:.
>> >> >
>> >> > You can resolve your current predicament as follows. It will give
>> >> > you
>> >> > a large boot disk which you can use to store your data, with WinXP
>> >> > still running off drive D:.
>> >> >
>> >> > 1. Install your 160 GByte disk temporarily as the secondary slave
>> >> > disk.
>> >> > 2. Launch WinXP.
>> >> > 3. Partition/format the 160 GByte disk.
>> >> > 4. Mark it as "active".
>> >> > 5. Copy these hidden files to it:
>> >> > c:\ntldr
>> >> > c:\ntdetect.com
>> >> > c:\boot.ini
>> >> > 6. Disconnect the 40 GByte disk.
>> >> > 7. Make the 160 GByte disk the primary master disk.
>> >> > 8. See if you can boot into WinXP.
>> >> > 9. If you can't, use your WinXP CD to boot into the Recovery
>> >> > Console,
>> >> > then issue these commands:
>> >> > fixboot
>> >> > fixmbr
>> >> >
>> >> > This is a safe path to follow, because you keep both existing disks
>> >> > intact.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > "BlÄckCaT" <BlckCaT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> > news:5E632732-55FD-49AF-BD54-4E3B12E4276A@microsoft.com...
>> >> >> Hello Bonobo,
>> >> >>
>> >> >> All that you want to do is possible, there are threads in these
>> >> >> forums
>> >> >> for
>> >> >> doing a repair install of Xp as well as how to go about swapping
>> >> >> hard
>> >> > drives
>> >> >> with Xp already installed.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Do a search on "Repair Install Xp" as well as swapping harddrives
>> >> >> with
>> >> >> Xp
>> >> >> already loaded on it ( I've gone through it a few months ago )
>> >> >> all
>> >> >> went
>> >> >> well the forums here are great....
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Cheers and good luck, you'll have no problems doing what you have
>> >> >> planned.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> "Bonobo" wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > Have somewhat of a problem and not quite sure how to go about
>> >> >> > solving
>> >> >> > it
>> >> > and
>> >> >> > remain legal.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Current system is:
>> >> >> > C:\ = Western Digital 40GB (Win98SE) - Going bad
>> >> >> > D:\ = Western Digital 80GB (XP Pro) - Used the most
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Current configuration is dual-booted. Very seldom do I use the
>> >> >> > Win98
>> >> > and
>> >> >> > have copied and save most of the files I'd want to keep. Both
>> >> >> > disk
>> > are
>> >> > FAT32.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > What I would like to wind up with in the end is:
>> >> >> > C:\ = Western Digital 160GB (With copied system from D: above)
>> >> >> > NEW
>> >> > Drive
>> >> >> > D:\ = Western Digital 80GB (Used for additional storage after
>> >> > everthing
>> >> >> > has been copied to the NEW C: and verified working correctly and
>> >> >> > old
>> > OS
>> >> >> > deleted).
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > This would then net the original C:\ (WD 40GB) gone.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > I've read in various post that one possible solution to the above
>> >> >> > is
>> > to
>> >> > use
>> >> >> > the Drive manufacturer's copy utility to make the move (if there
>> >> >> > is
>> >> > one).
>> >> >> > Assuming that one exist and it works, then my question becomes:
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > How will I get the Registry to know that programs now exist on C:
>> >> >> > rather
>> >> >> > than D:, and are there any other problems I might have to worry
>> >> >> > about.??
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > I'm sure this has been asked numerous of times, but I've looked
>> >> >> > and
>> >> >> > have
>> >> > not
>> >> >> > found an answer that really makes me comfortable with undertaking
>> >> >> > the
>> >> > task.
>> >> >> > It's not a matter of will the C: die, but when; and I'd like to
>> >> >> > make
>> >> >> > the
>> >> > move
>> >> >> > before it does.
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > Thanks for any assistance!
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>