I thought that when the one HDD didn't boot, the second one would. But first, the CONFIGURATION…
I started with a Western Digital 80GB HDD that was the C drive, naturally. I added a Seagate of the same size, and managed to make it the (primary, or "system") C-drive, while the WDC became the secondary drive. Both HDD are partitioned, with XP on both "system" partitions (C of the Seagate and D of the WDC are where XP is installed (no mirroring), while data drive E belongs to Seagate and data drive F belongs to WDC).
I added the Seagate about 1 ½ years ago, because I feared that the WDC might be approaching the end of its tether; it turned out to be the other way around, though, since I installed the Seagate, I have used it almost exclusively (I only use the WDC to copy files, and I keep it updated). Both, as indicated, are SATA drives, and the machine is a workhorse of a Dell Dimension 9200/ XPS 410.
I was running Windows Update last evening, which was taking forever (I turned it on and off 2-3 times). Finally I allowed a Java update, thinking I would return to the Windows Update later. Java got stuck in trying to configure itself on the Mozilla Plugin page – it would go neither forward or backward. I didn't want to force-close Firefox because I had a string of pages that I wanted to "keep", so I kept trying to close that piece of Java-s**t when finally I heard the whining sound that signals a grave HDD problem (maybe it ALWAYS means HDD failure!). I forced the machine shut, for fear of damage, waited until the monitor "pilot light" had turned orange, then powered it up again. The whining sound returned, so I forced it shut again.
After cleaning it this morning, I powered it up only to discover that the one HDD, the Seagate, or primary HDD, wasn't readable, plus it said "no boot device". It recommended I press F1 or F2. F1 looped to nowhere, while F2 took me to system startup/ BIOS, etc. There, I advanced port 0 (WDC) first to boot sequence position two (with CDROM at one), and when that didn't pay off, I returned and advanced it all the way to the top, but still with no luck (I still get the "F1, F2" startup page, and F1 loops still to nowhere). I was wondering if I should physically remove the damaged Seagate and put the apparently healthy WDC in its slot? Btw, in the Drives section there in F2 it says that SATA 1 is not present (in parentheses), while nothing (parentheses or not) is written in the same (right-hand) column for the SATA 0 and the SATA 3 drives, though the Sata 0 drive is named as the WDC HDD.
I have read around (today) that the reason why the boot sequence has dropped out (with the apparent death of the Seagate HDD, i.e., Drives C & E) is because THAT file happens to be located on the "system" drive, the now-broken Seagate HDD C Drive!
Any suggestions? (I prefer to let this stand for a day or so to collect, hopefully,many suggestions before deciding on which procedure-suggestion to follow.)
In your suggestion-replies, please don't speak "in shorthand" – please make everything EXPLICIT, as were you addressing a DUMMY (you would be on SAFE ground!).
Thanks!
ColdOnCanon
I started with a Western Digital 80GB HDD that was the C drive, naturally. I added a Seagate of the same size, and managed to make it the (primary, or "system") C-drive, while the WDC became the secondary drive. Both HDD are partitioned, with XP on both "system" partitions (C of the Seagate and D of the WDC are where XP is installed (no mirroring), while data drive E belongs to Seagate and data drive F belongs to WDC).
I added the Seagate about 1 ½ years ago, because I feared that the WDC might be approaching the end of its tether; it turned out to be the other way around, though, since I installed the Seagate, I have used it almost exclusively (I only use the WDC to copy files, and I keep it updated). Both, as indicated, are SATA drives, and the machine is a workhorse of a Dell Dimension 9200/ XPS 410.
I was running Windows Update last evening, which was taking forever (I turned it on and off 2-3 times). Finally I allowed a Java update, thinking I would return to the Windows Update later. Java got stuck in trying to configure itself on the Mozilla Plugin page – it would go neither forward or backward. I didn't want to force-close Firefox because I had a string of pages that I wanted to "keep", so I kept trying to close that piece of Java-s**t when finally I heard the whining sound that signals a grave HDD problem (maybe it ALWAYS means HDD failure!). I forced the machine shut, for fear of damage, waited until the monitor "pilot light" had turned orange, then powered it up again. The whining sound returned, so I forced it shut again.
After cleaning it this morning, I powered it up only to discover that the one HDD, the Seagate, or primary HDD, wasn't readable, plus it said "no boot device". It recommended I press F1 or F2. F1 looped to nowhere, while F2 took me to system startup/ BIOS, etc. There, I advanced port 0 (WDC) first to boot sequence position two (with CDROM at one), and when that didn't pay off, I returned and advanced it all the way to the top, but still with no luck (I still get the "F1, F2" startup page, and F1 loops still to nowhere). I was wondering if I should physically remove the damaged Seagate and put the apparently healthy WDC in its slot? Btw, in the Drives section there in F2 it says that SATA 1 is not present (in parentheses), while nothing (parentheses or not) is written in the same (right-hand) column for the SATA 0 and the SATA 3 drives, though the Sata 0 drive is named as the WDC HDD.
I have read around (today) that the reason why the boot sequence has dropped out (with the apparent death of the Seagate HDD, i.e., Drives C & E) is because THAT file happens to be located on the "system" drive, the now-broken Seagate HDD C Drive!
Any suggestions? (I prefer to let this stand for a day or so to collect, hopefully,many suggestions before deciding on which procedure-suggestion to follow.)
In your suggestion-replies, please don't speak "in shorthand" – please make everything EXPLICIT, as were you addressing a DUMMY (you would be on SAFE ground!).
Thanks!
ColdOnCanon