Moving an XP Pro installation to a new hard drive

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi All,

I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in the
first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was intended
to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS Office work. I
happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build this machine, and the
biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.

A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems. I
bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that came
with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I pulled
the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable select,
actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't boot.
Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and fixboot. I
stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a fixmbr, and then
fixboot.

Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh. Tried
"fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted the
machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and says "not
found."

So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive and
just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that works.
But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the system drive
has some free space on it. How do I do this?

Thanks for any help!

Sincerely,
-Josh

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

First off,the WDigital utility wont copy xp 99% of the time,actually its
worth-
less in xp.If the 4gb hd is ok,install as master,install the wd as slave on
the
same ide chain,on start-up,enter the BIOS,install xp cd,boot to xp cd (adjust
in BIOS if needed),then boot to cd,recovery,typeiskPart In DiskPart delete
the partition for the wd drive,create one,then press Esc,then type:FORMAT D:
/FS:ntfs D:being wd,when its thru type:EXIT Let xp start,then go to run,
type:XCOPY C:\*.* D: /c/h/e/k/r In the DOS window agree to all,when its
thru,youre done,shutdown computer,switch the jumpers on hds.D: being wd,
but the letter is substitutable,remember xp doesnt copy very well,if thiers
a
problem,boot to cd,select,repair this copy of xp.

"Joshua Beall" wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in the
> first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was intended
> to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS Office work. I
> happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build this machine, and the
> biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.
>
> A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems. I
> bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that came
> with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I pulled
> the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable select,
> actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't boot.
> Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and fixboot. I
> stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a fixmbr, and then
> fixboot.
>
> Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
> find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh. Tried
> "fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted the
> machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and says "not
> found."
>
> So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive and
> just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that works.
> But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the system drive
> has some free space on it. How do I do this?
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Sincerely,
> -Josh
>
>
>

 

[Rock]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Joshua Beall wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in the
> first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was intended
> to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS Office work. I
> happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build this machine, and the
> biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.
>
> A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems. I
> bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that came
> with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I pulled
> the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable select,
> actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't boot.
> Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and fixboot. I
> stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a fixmbr, and then
> fixboot.
>
> Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
> find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh. Tried
> "fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted the
> machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and says "not
> found."
>
> So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive and
> just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that works.
> But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the system drive
> has some free space on it. How do I do this?
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Sincerely,
> -Josh

Do a repair installation. See this link. Note that you will loose all
updates and service packs and have to reinstall them, depending on what
SP version your CD is. http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Well, I actually got it working, but now I have a different sort of problem.
While struggling to get things working, I managed to add 2 duplicate entries
in the boot menu. So now you are provided with a list of 3 operatings
systems to choose from when starting the machine: XP Pro, XP Pro, or Windows
XP Professional.

How do I get rid of two XP Pro boot entries? I added them using "bootcfg
/add" and "bootcfg /rebuild" while logged into the recovery console. But I
looked at the other options for bootcfg, and none of them *deletes* an
entry. How do I do that?

-Josh

"Joshua Beall" <jbeall@donotspam.remove.me.heraldic.us> wrote in message
news:52zgd.3313$vJ.155@trnddc02...
> Hi All,
>
> I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in
> the first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was
> intended to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS
> Office work. I happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build this
> machine, and the biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.
>
> A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems.
> I bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that came
> with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I
> pulled the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable select,
> actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't
> boot. Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and
> fixboot. I stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a
> fixmbr, and then fixboot.
>
> Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
> find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh.
> Tried "fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted
> the machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and says
> "not found."
>
> So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive
> and just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that
> works. But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the
> system drive has some free space on it. How do I do this?
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Sincerely,
> -Josh
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

The easiest way I know of is to open up boot.ini (a hidden file on the boot
drive's root directory - you have to have "show hidden files" selected in
the folder options) with Notepad and remove the offending lines. Make a copy
of the original boot.ini file or rename it (saving it as boot.old or
boot.001 or something like that) before or right after you open it in
Notepad, just in case something goes wrong. *Make sure* your backup file is
there, open the boot file, take the extra lines out, make sure it looks OK
and then save it as boot.ini. Microsoft has info on its website about
boot.ini.

Cleiber


"Joshua Beall" <jbeall@donotspam.remove.me.heraldic.us> wrote in message
news:J3Agd.121$7W.111@trnddc08...
> Well, I actually got it working, but now I have a different sort of
problem.
> While struggling to get things working, I managed to add 2 duplicate
entries
> in the boot menu. So now you are provided with a list of 3 operatings
> systems to choose from when starting the machine: XP Pro, XP Pro, or
Windows
> XP Professional.
>
> How do I get rid of two XP Pro boot entries? I added them using "bootcfg
> /add" and "bootcfg /rebuild" while logged into the recovery console. But
I
> looked at the other options for bootcfg, and none of them *deletes* an
> entry. How do I do that?
>
> -Josh
>
> "Joshua Beall" <jbeall@donotspam.remove.me.heraldic.us> wrote in message
> news:52zgd.3313$vJ.155@trnddc02...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in
> > the first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was
> > intended to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS
> > Office work. I happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build
this
> > machine, and the biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.
> >
> > A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems.
> > I bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that
came
> > with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I
> > pulled the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable
select,
> > actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't
> > boot. Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and
> > fixboot. I stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a
> > fixmbr, and then fixboot.
> >
> > Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
> > find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh.
> > Tried "fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted
> > the machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and
says
> > "not found."
> >
> > So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive
> > and just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that
> > works. But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the
> > system drive has some free space on it. How do I do this?
> >
> > Thanks for any help!
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > -Josh
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

"Joshua Beall" <jbeall@donotspam.remove.me.heraldic.us> wrote:

>Well, I actually got it working, but now I have a different sort of problem.
>While struggling to get things working, I managed to add 2 duplicate entries
>in the boot menu. So now you are provided with a list of 3 operatings
>systems to choose from when starting the machine: XP Pro, XP Pro, or Windows
>XP Professional.
>
>How do I get rid of two XP Pro boot entries? I added them using "bootcfg
>/add" and "bootcfg /rebuild" while logged into the recovery console. But I
>looked at the other options for bootcfg, and none of them *deletes* an
>entry. How do I do that?
>

Use Start - Run - MSCONFG
Go to the BOOT.INI tab and click on the "Check all boot paths" button.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

For hundreds of thousands of people that have used Dataligeguard tools to
set up a new larger hard drive and the thousands that have tried the wrong
way by using XCOPY command I say to you,

BOLONGA.

SJ
"Andrew E." <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote in message
news:54049B31-AF42-4FD6-809A-44D7A9877214@microsoft.com...
> First off,the WDigital utility wont copy xp 99% of the time,actually its
> worth-
> less in xp.If the 4gb hd is ok,install as master,install the wd as slave
> on
> the
> same ide chain,on start-up,enter the BIOS,install xp cd,boot to xp cd
> (adjust
> in BIOS if needed),then boot to cd,recovery,typeiskPart In DiskPart
> delete
> the partition for the wd drive,create one,then press Esc,then type:FORMAT
> D:
> /FS:ntfs D:being wd,when its thru type:EXIT Let xp start,then go to
> run,
> type:XCOPY C:\*.* D: /c/h/e/k/r In the DOS window agree to all,when its
> thru,youre done,shutdown computer,switch the jumpers on hds.D: being wd,
> but the letter is substitutable,remember xp doesnt copy very well,if
> thiers
> a
> problem,boot to cd,select,repair this copy of xp.
>
> "Joshua Beall" wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in
>> the
>> first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was
>> intended
>> to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS Office work.
>> I
>> happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build this machine, and
>> the
>> biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.
>>
>> A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems.
>> I
>> bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that came
>> with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I
>> pulled
>> the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable select,
>> actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't
>> boot.
>> Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and fixboot. I
>> stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a fixmbr, and
>> then
>> fixboot.
>>
>> Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
>> find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh.
>> Tried
>> "fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted the
>> machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and says
>> "not
>> found."
>>
>> So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive
>> and
>> just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that
>> works.
>> But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the system
>> drive
>> has some free space on it. How do I do this?
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> -Josh
>>
>>
>>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Dataligeguard version 11 is needed.
The knolodgebase on the WD site has specific instructions.
It even matters if you have 2 WD's or 1 with a non-WD as to the other on the
cable. (do not install the EZ BIOS) If your computer's BIOS will not alow an
80 GB partition, you are hosed. Install clean.

After the copy and reboot if you get a message, there are follow through
things to do.

1. Is a restore fix. RS.INF

2. A repair operation may be needed.

The most impoostant thing is the source disk must be in good shape.
Defraged, chkdsk /r, virus, adware (it's all there in the WD KB. It just
takes a bit of searching to stay on trck about what your particular case is
about.)

SJ
"Joshua Beall" <jbeall@donotspam.remove.me.heraldic.us> wrote in message
news:52zgd.3313$vJ.155@trnddc02...
> Hi All,
>
> I have a machine that has totally run out of space. It was a mistake in
> the first place to have such a small drive in there (4gb), but it was
> intended to be only used for web surfing, email, and possibly some MS
> Office work. I happened to have all the spare parts on hand to build this
> machine, and the biggest drive I had lying around was 4gb.
>
> A few years have passed, and now we're constantly having space problems.
> I bought an 80gb WD drive, slaved it in, and used the WD utility that came
> with the drive to copy the entire partition to the new drive. Then I
> pulled the old 4gb drive out, set the 80gb to be the master (cable select,
> actually - and it correctly shows up as the primary master). Wouldn't
> boot. Ok, not too surprising, I figured I would have to fixmbr and
> fixboot. I stuck the XP Pro CD in, loaded the recovery console, did a
> fixmbr, and then fixboot.
>
> Now things started to get hairy. I got an error stating "FIXBOOT cannot
> find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid". Uh oh.
> Tried "fixboot c:", and that reported success. However, when I rebooted
> the machine, it didn't work. Looks on IDE-0 for boot information and says
> "not found."
>
> So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive
> and just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that
> works. But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the
> system drive has some free space on it. How do I do this?
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Sincerely,
> -Josh
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

"Andrew E." <eckrichco@msn.com> wrote in message
news:54049B31-AF42-4FD6-809A-44D7A9877214@microsoft.com...

>...remember xp doesnt copy very well

...well not if you use xcopy.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Joshua Beall wrote:

>
>So, what now? Is there no way to copy everything over to the new drive and
>just chuck the old one? I can also leave it in as a slave, if that works.
>But I want to get the system running off the new drive, so the system drive
>has some free space on it. How do I do this?

Yes. Don't use the software that came with the drive. What I use is
BootIT NG, from http://www.BootitNG.com ($35 shareware - 30 day full
functional trial)

Download, to its own folder, extract from the zip, run the bootitng to
make a boot floppy.

With the new drive plugged in as slave/secondary, boot the floppy,
Cancel Install, entering maintenance, then click on Partition work.
Highlight your C:,Copy, then on left select the new drive (HD1),
highlight the Free Space in it (you may as first thing need to delete
whatever partition you have there now) and Paste.

Then highlight and resize up a bit. Don't make it too big, I would
suggest no more than 16GB for C:, but instead leave some free space so
as later to make a new separate partition it. That resize will also
change the cluster size of a FAT 32 drive, which this probably is

Now click on 'View MBR' and in it highlight the entry for this new C
partition and click the 'Set Active' Click 'Write Standard MBR' and
Apply.

Close out, swap the disks to make the new one the one that boots, and
reboot into XP.

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. Alexn@mvps.D8E8L.org (remove the D8 bit)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

"Ron Martell" <ron.martell@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e7n5o01l5bs2ti0r8p24gke4ofem33pofm@4ax.com...
> "Joshua Beall" <jbeall@donotspam.remove.me.heraldic.us> wrote:
>
>>How do I get rid of two XP Pro boot entries? I added them using "bootcfg
>>/add" and "bootcfg /rebuild" while logged into the recovery console. But
>>I
>>looked at the other options for bootcfg, and none of them *deletes* an
>>entry. How do I do that?
>>
>
> Use Start - Run - MSCONFG
> Go to the BOOT.INI tab and click on the "Check all boot paths" button.

Bingo, thanks everyone.