"Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I forgot to mention that:
>C:boot.ini implies you have "C" HD(0) as first boot device on computer BIOS.
>H:boot.ini implies you have "H" HD(1) as first boot device in computer BIOS.

Thanks for both your replies. It's late here, so I'll get back into
this tomorrow, but meanwhile want to point out one misunderstanding
you have: the third disk, disk2, is *not* an 'IDE' drive. As I think I
said in my OP, my PC already had 2 60GB IDE hard drives. I also have a
DVD writer and a CD writer, so all 4 slots are taken. So, as
mentioned, the other 200GB is cabled from a newly added PCI card.
("That's the 200GB added a few weeks ago via an extra PCI card").

IOW, HD(2), or disk2, which contains a copy of XP OS on partition E
and a large (178GB) partition D for data etc, is from the new PCI
card, not from the main motherboard.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Thu 10 November 2005, 23:48 UK time

Your supplied gif file in OP does not reference your CD/DVD.
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus1.gif
Actually, it is insignificant.
Your current configuration has?
HD(0) pri master "C" drive 60 gig
HD(1) pri slave "H" drive 200 gig
HD(2) Master on PCI card "E" drive 200 gig

Your DVD/CD has to be on MB Secondary controller.

"E" drive ribboned to PCI Card as Master?

Are both 200 gig HDD identical?
Are they ATA100/133 or what?
What kind of PCI card is it? ATA100/133?

Are you going to run both 200 gig HDD from PCI card controller or MB
controller?

So you could have 4 HDDs or more. I don't know how many controllers are on
PCI card. 2 on MB Primary controller and 2 or more on PCI Card.

From what I can see, bott.ini considers rdisk(2) "E" drive as HD(2). just
another drive.

So let me know how you are going to put this thing together!!






--
Dennis S.
I''m from Illinois. I hope I helped you. Good Luck.


"Terry Pinnell" wrote:

> "Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >I forgot to mention that:
> >C:boot.ini implies you have "C" HD(0) as first boot device on computer BIOS.
> >H:boot.ini implies you have "H" HD(1) as first boot device in computer BIOS.
>
> Thanks for both your replies. It's late here, so I'll get back into
> this tomorrow, but meanwhile want to point out one misunderstanding
> you have: the third disk, disk2, is *not* an 'IDE' drive. As I think I
> said in my OP, my PC already had 2 60GB IDE hard drives. I also have a
> DVD writer and a CD writer, so all 4 slots are taken. So, as
> mentioned, the other 200GB is cabled from a newly added PCI card.
> ("That's the 200GB added a few weeks ago via an extra PCI card").
>
> IOW, HD(2), or disk2, which contains a copy of XP OS on partition E
> and a large (178GB) partition D for data etc, is from the new PCI
> card, not from the main motherboard.
>
> --
> Terry, West Sussex, UK
> Thu 10 November 2005, 23:48 UK time
>

"Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Your supplied gif file in OP does not reference your CD/DVD.
>http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus1.gif
>Actually, it is insignificant.

Agreed, they are irrelevant to current discussion. That's why I only
showed the 3 HDs. But to be sure of clarity, here is the full picture:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus2.gif

>Your current configuration has?
>HD(0) pri master "C" drive 60 gig

Correct. 60GB HD, 3 yrs old, OK. Contains C (XP OS) and F (previously
used for backups, but unnecessary in future). As explained, do not
want to keep this drive, if I can remove it safely.
BTW, I'm not sure it's safe to label it "C" drive? I'm sure I've seen
some instance when XP seemed to change a drive letter *to* C, from
some previous letter. This seems to happen (but rarely) when XP boots
from a new copy of the OS, but I'm not sure about it.

>HD(1) pri slave "H" drive 200 gig

Correct. 2 weeks old, OK. Contains H (XP OS) and J (intended in future
mainly for backups, images, etc.)

>HD(2) Master on PCI card "E" drive 200 gig

Correct. Brand new. Contains E (XP OS) and D (main data disk)

Disk 3 is my CF Card Reader, L.

Disk 4 is my SD Card Reader, K.

>Your DVD/CD has to be on MB Secondary controller.

Correct. CD-ROM 0 is Secondary Master (DVD writer)

CD-ROM 1 is Secondary Slave (CD writer)

>"E" drive ribboned to PCI Card as Master?

Correct, as above.

>Are both 200 gig HDD identical?

Yes. ("I eventually succeeded in getting OS copies also into
partitions on the 2 identical 200GB HDs.")

>Are they ATA100/133 or what?

Yes. Both Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB IDE ATA/133 16MB, model 6L200P0

>What kind of PCI card is it? ATA100/133?

A Highpoint Rocket 133, here:
http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/r133.htm
Not sure if it's relevant, especially if I succeed in making it
redundant by moving this Disk 2 to the Disk 0 position. I was
surprised to find the word 'SCSI' appear in Device Manager after I
installed it, with these entries
SCSI and RAID controllers
- D347PRT SCSI Controller
- HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller

>Are you going to run both 200 gig HDD from PCI card controller or MB
>controller?

For simplicity I want to achieve the latter, getting rid of the PCI
card. Just proving very elusive <g>.

>So you could have 4 HDDs or more. I don't know how many controllers are on
>PCI card. 2 on MB Primary controller and 2 or more on PCI Card.

Theoretically correct - but physically no space! During the boot
process, the PCI thing comes up at an early stage, pausing in case I
want to go to BIOS, displaying something like
Primary... Maxtor 6L200P0
No drive
No drive
No drive

>From what I can see, boot.ini considers rdisk(2) "E" drive as HD(2). just
>another drive.

Yes, but that wasn't the difference I was asking for clarification
about. ("But *which* boot.ini is used to control booting? This file,
H:\boot.ini, dated a little earlier at 09/11/2005 10:11
has default at HD0 partition 1.")

>So let me know how you are going to put this thing together!!

Er - I was rather hoping to get help on that right here! ("Can the
experts here suggest a safe way of achieving that please?")

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Yes, but that wasn't the difference I was asking for clarification
> about. ("But *which* boot.ini is used to control booting? This file,
> H:\boot.ini, dated a little earlier at 09/11/2005 10:11
> has default at HD0 partition 1.")

I already answered this question.
The boot order in BIOS determines which "Boot.ini" is used.

I forgot to mention that:
C:boot.ini implies you have "C" HD(0) as first boot device on computer BIOS.
H:boot.ini implies you have "H" HD(1) as first boot device in computer BIOS.


The configuration and the correct boot.ini is all contained in the very
last reply to your post. Not going to retype or cut and paste here
--

--
Dennis S.
I''m from Illinois. I hope I helped you. Good Luck.


"Terry Pinnell" wrote:

> "Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Your supplied gif file in OP does not reference your CD/DVD.
> >http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus1.gif
> >Actually, it is insignificant.
>
> Agreed, they are irrelevant to current discussion. That's why I only
> showed the 3 HDs. But to be sure of clarity, here is the full picture:
> http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus2.gif
>
> >Your current configuration has?
> >HD(0) pri master "C" drive 60 gig
>
> Correct. 60GB HD, 3 yrs old, OK. Contains C (XP OS) and F (previously
> used for backups, but unnecessary in future). As explained, do not
> want to keep this drive, if I can remove it safely.
> BTW, I'm not sure it's safe to label it "C" drive? I'm sure I've seen
> some instance when XP seemed to change a drive letter *to* C, from
> some previous letter. This seems to happen (but rarely) when XP boots
> from a new copy of the OS, but I'm not sure about it.
>
> >HD(1) pri slave "H" drive 200 gig
>
> Correct. 2 weeks old, OK. Contains H (XP OS) and J (intended in future
> mainly for backups, images, etc.)
>
> >HD(2) Master on PCI card "E" drive 200 gig
>
> Correct. Brand new. Contains E (XP OS) and D (main data disk)
>
> Disk 3 is my CF Card Reader, L.
>
> Disk 4 is my SD Card Reader, K.
>
> >Your DVD/CD has to be on MB Secondary controller.
>
> Correct. CD-ROM 0 is Secondary Master (DVD writer)
>
> CD-ROM 1 is Secondary Slave (CD writer)
>
> >"E" drive ribboned to PCI Card as Master?
>
> Correct, as above.
>
> >Are both 200 gig HDD identical?
>
> Yes. ("I eventually succeeded in getting OS copies also into
> partitions on the 2 identical 200GB HDs.")
>
> >Are they ATA100/133 or what?
>
> Yes. Both Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB IDE ATA/133 16MB, model 6L200P0
>
> >What kind of PCI card is it? ATA100/133?
>
> A Highpoint Rocket 133, here:
> http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/r133.htm
> Not sure if it's relevant, especially if I succeed in making it
> redundant by moving this Disk 2 to the Disk 0 position. I was
> surprised to find the word 'SCSI' appear in Device Manager after I
> installed it, with these entries
> SCSI and RAID controllers
> - D347PRT SCSI Controller
> - HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller
>
> >Are you going to run both 200 gig HDD from PCI card controller or MB
> >controller?
>
> For simplicity I want to achieve the latter, getting rid of the PCI
> card. Just proving very elusive <g>.
>
> >So you could have 4 HDDs or more. I don't know how many controllers are on
> >PCI card. 2 on MB Primary controller and 2 or more on PCI Card.
>
> Theoretically correct - but physically no space! During the boot
> process, the PCI thing comes up at an early stage, pausing in case I
> want to go to BIOS, displaying something like
> Primary... Maxtor 6L200P0
> No drive
> No drive
> No drive
>
> >From what I can see, boot.ini considers rdisk(2) "E" drive as HD(2). just
> >another drive.
>
> Yes, but that wasn't the difference I was asking for clarification
> about. ("But *which* boot.ini is used to control booting? This file,
> H:\boot.ini, dated a little earlier at 09/11/2005 10:11
> has default at HD0 partition 1.")
>
> >So let me know how you are going to put this thing together!!
>
> Er - I was rather hoping to get help on that right here! ("Can the
> experts here suggest a safe way of achieving that please?")
>
> --
> Terry, West Sussex, UK
>

I don't know why you don't want to use PCI card controllers instead of MB
controllers.
MB controllers are probably ATA 33/66/100
PCI card controller ATA 133
So is your HDDs.

--
Dennis S.
I''m from Illinois. I hope I helped you. Good Luck.


"Terry Pinnell" wrote:

> "Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Your supplied gif file in OP does not reference your CD/DVD.
> >http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus1.gif
> >Actually, it is insignificant.
>
> Agreed, they are irrelevant to current discussion. That's why I only
> showed the 3 HDs. But to be sure of clarity, here is the full picture:
> http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/I...entStatus2.gif
>
> >Your current configuration has?
> >HD(0) pri master "C" drive 60 gig
>
> Correct. 60GB HD, 3 yrs old, OK. Contains C (XP OS) and F (previously
> used for backups, but unnecessary in future). As explained, do not
> want to keep this drive, if I can remove it safely.
> BTW, I'm not sure it's safe to label it "C" drive? I'm sure I've seen
> some instance when XP seemed to change a drive letter *to* C, from
> some previous letter. This seems to happen (but rarely) when XP boots
> from a new copy of the OS, but I'm not sure about it.
>
> >HD(1) pri slave "H" drive 200 gig
>
> Correct. 2 weeks old, OK. Contains H (XP OS) and J (intended in future
> mainly for backups, images, etc.)
>
> >HD(2) Master on PCI card "E" drive 200 gig
>
> Correct. Brand new. Contains E (XP OS) and D (main data disk)
>
> Disk 3 is my CF Card Reader, L.
>
> Disk 4 is my SD Card Reader, K.
>
> >Your DVD/CD has to be on MB Secondary controller.
>
> Correct. CD-ROM 0 is Secondary Master (DVD writer)
>
> CD-ROM 1 is Secondary Slave (CD writer)
>
> >"E" drive ribboned to PCI Card as Master?
>
> Correct, as above.
>
> >Are both 200 gig HDD identical?
>
> Yes. ("I eventually succeeded in getting OS copies also into
> partitions on the 2 identical 200GB HDs.")
>
> >Are they ATA100/133 or what?
>
> Yes. Both Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB IDE ATA/133 16MB, model 6L200P0
>
> >What kind of PCI card is it? ATA100/133?
>
> A Highpoint Rocket 133, here:
> http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/r133.htm
> Not sure if it's relevant, especially if I succeed in making it
> redundant by moving this Disk 2 to the Disk 0 position. I was
> surprised to find the word 'SCSI' appear in Device Manager after I
> installed it, with these entries
> SCSI and RAID controllers
> - D347PRT SCSI Controller
> - HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller
>
> >Are you going to run both 200 gig HDD from PCI card controller or MB
> >controller?
>
> For simplicity I want to achieve the latter, getting rid of the PCI
> card. Just proving very elusive <g>.
>
> >So you could have 4 HDDs or more. I don't know how many controllers are on
> >PCI card. 2 on MB Primary controller and 2 or more on PCI Card.
>
> Theoretically correct - but physically no space! During the boot
> process, the PCI thing comes up at an early stage, pausing in case I
> want to go to BIOS, displaying something like
> Primary... Maxtor 6L200P0
> No drive
> No drive
> No drive
>
> >From what I can see, boot.ini considers rdisk(2) "E" drive as HD(2). just
> >another drive.
>
> Yes, but that wasn't the difference I was asking for clarification
> about. ("But *which* boot.ini is used to control booting? This file,
> H:\boot.ini, dated a little earlier at 09/11/2005 10:11
> has default at HD0 partition 1.")
>
> >So let me know how you are going to put this thing together!!
>
> Er - I was rather hoping to get help on that right here! ("Can the
> experts here suggest a safe way of achieving that please?")
>
> --
> Terry, West Sussex, UK
>

Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

>- I eventually succeeded in getting OS copies also into partitions on
>the 2 identical 200GB HDs, using PowerQuest Drive Image. (That's the
>200GB added a few weeks ago via an extra PCI card; and the latest
>identical 200GB, bought as replacement for the faulty 60GB.)

Correction: I have so far only copied the OS to the H partition, not
E. In view of the problems I was having, I'm a little reluctant to
make that extra copy for the moment. Although of course that is
precisely the arrangement I had for over 3 years, with the two
original 60GB disks both having an XP OS partition as well as a data
partition. And that never gave me any problems at any time (apart from
those due to the bad blocks).

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

"Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I don't know why you don't want to use PCI card controllers instead of MB
>controllers.

Simplicity. And tidiness inside PC case.

>MB controllers are probably ATA 33/66/100
>PCI card controller ATA 133
>So is your HDDs.

From my last tests and general observation, I don't believe there's
any significant difference in performance. Large volume copying times
to/from PCI HD seem very similar to those to/from the MB-controlled
drives.

Given that I want to do it the way I described, anyone here have any
practical suggestions please?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Your H:\boot.ini references HD(2) in 2 ways:
1) recovery console "E" drive
2) HD(2) ie rdisk(2) XP Home #2 Disk=2

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #2 Disk=2
Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons

Your story is getting rather complex!!!

What is true? What is not?
What do you want to do?


--
Dennis S.
I''m from Illinois. I hope I helped you. Good Luck.


"Terry Pinnell" wrote:

> Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
> >- I eventually succeeded in getting OS copies also into partitions on
> >the 2 identical 200GB HDs, using PowerQuest Drive Image. (That's the
> >200GB added a few weeks ago via an extra PCI card; and the latest
> >identical 200GB, bought as replacement for the faulty 60GB.)
>
> Correction: I have so far only copied the OS to the H partition, not
> E. In view of the problems I was having, I'm a little reluctant to
> make that extra copy for the moment. Although of course that is
> precisely the arrangement I had for over 3 years, with the two
> original 60GB disks both having an XP OS partition as well as a data
> partition. And that never gave me any problems at any time (apart from
> those due to the bad blocks).
>
> --
> Terry, West Sussex, UK
>

"Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Your H:\boot.ini references HD(2) in 2 ways:
>1) recovery console "E" drive
>2) HD(2) ie rdisk(2) XP Home #2 Disk=2
>
>multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #2 Disk=2
>Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
>E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons

Not sure I follow, or how is that relevant to my questions?
I am booting to Disk 1, Partition 1. From the System Properties >
Advanced > Start Up dialog, boot.ini is shown as:

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #1 Disk=1
Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home Disk=0
Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console C" /cmdcons
E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons

That is identical to the file C:\boot.ini. Whereas the file
H:\boot.ini is:

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home Disk=0
Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #1 Disk=1
Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #2 Disk=2
Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console C" /cmdcons
E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons

That seems somehow counter-intuitive to me! Seems odd that the current
(and next) boot-up sequence is apparently based in the boot.ini file
on the *other* OS partition, not the one you are in. Anyway, it's
working OK...


>Your story is getting rather complex!!!

It's a complex situation <g>.

>What is true? What is not?
>What do you want to do?

Already described ad nauseam. If there's some specific issue you don't
understand (after reading my posts throroughly - you missed several
point earlier), I'll cheerfully elaborate.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Yes. You are booting to HD(1) only because that it is the default.
Select HD(O) Win XP Home 0, and you will boot to "C" drive.
You are using C:boot.ini.
your boot menu is sending you to HD(1) ie default.

Your BIOS and cables and jumpers are Set to HD(O) first. Therefore, you
reading C:\boot.ini!!

I still insist that WIN XP Home 2 is on "E" drive.

Look at "E" drive!!!
Is there a Windows directory?


--
Dennis S.
I''m from Illinois. I hope I helped you. Good Luck.


"Terry Pinnell" wrote:

> "Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Your H:\boot.ini references HD(2) in 2 ways:
> >1) recovery console "E" drive
> >2) HD(2) ie rdisk(2) XP Home #2 Disk=2
> >
> >multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #2 Disk=2
> >Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> >E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons
>
> Not sure I follow, or how is that relevant to my questions?
> I am booting to Disk 1, Partition 1. From the System Properties >
> Advanced > Start Up dialog, boot.ini is shown as:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=5
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOW S
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #1 Disk=1
> Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home Disk=0
> Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console C" /cmdcons
> E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons
>
> That is identical to the file C:\boot.ini. Whereas the file
> H:\boot.ini is:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=5
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home Disk=0
> Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #1 Disk=1
> Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home #2 Disk=2
> Partition=1" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
> C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console C" /cmdcons
> E:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Recovery Console E" /cmdcons
>
> That seems somehow counter-intuitive to me! Seems odd that the current
> (and next) boot-up sequence is apparently based in the boot.ini file
> on the *other* OS partition, not the one you are in. Anyway, it's
> working OK...
>
>
> >Your story is getting rather complex!!!
>
> It's a complex situation <g>.
>
> >What is true? What is not?
> >What do you want to do?
>
> Already described ad nauseam. If there's some specific issue you don't
> understand (after reading my posts throroughly - you missed several
> point earlier), I'll cheerfully elaborate.
>
> --
> Terry, West Sussex, UK
>