Inaccessable_boot_device in NT machine

appcom

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Jun 1, 2009
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Hi, I got a problem in Windows NT 4.0.
I connect a hard disk taken from a windows NT server to a windows XP machine for cloning.
After re-connect back to windows NT server, I got the message "inaccessible_boot_device".
From there, I can't boot up the machine anymore.

When I connect the problem hard disk to another NT machine, I enter to Disk Administrator to view, the problem disk show Unknown in stead of NTFS.

How can I get bootable again without re-install or re-format it.

Regards.
Eric

 

Pointertovoid

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Dec 31, 2008
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A few possible paths:

- Of course, you've already checked that the Bios and disk health checkers see your disk properly.

- Ntfs differs between Nt4 and Xp. I could imagine the copy you made using Xp uses the newer Ntfs that Nt4 can't read. I can hardly imagine that Xp modified the Ntfs of the original volume.

- To boot Nt5 on a disk, you must connect it to the same port every time. Could it be the same on Nt4?

- Did you try to boot your Nt4 on the other machine? This may alter your Nt4.

- Nt4 and W2kSp0 accept several volumes on a removable drive, but W2kSp4 and Xp don't and they destroy the partition table if you connect a removable drive to them... Is that your case?

- Can Xp still read your disk? Re-installing Nt4 isn't that tragic (if you're used to and have everything available...), keeping your data is probably more important. Then you might install Nt4 on another disk and copy the data from the old disk through a network to the Xp machine.

- On W2k, the installation Cd allows to repair the boot process without touching the rest of the installation. Could this exist with Nt4?

- Maybe a bootable Linux Cd would help check and transfer the contents of your Nt4 Hdd to another Hdd, as Linux reads and writes Ntfs now.

- Do you have one or two spare hdd? Something dirt-cheap from eBay, very useful for experimentation and repairs. A good 40GB 7200rpm Pata costs about 20€.