Reinstalled xp now c drive is d

[free322001]

Needed to reinstall windows XP. Did so. Logged back on, but it is working/downloading to from D: drive...

D: drive is my recovery drive! My C: drive was unchanged. computer gives me 2 Xp lines above safe mode to choose from when I log in. It defauls to D: (recovery). Whats going on? How can I reinstall on my c: drive? Help! I do not want to mess up my recovery drive.

Thanks

 

[Saga Lout]

D:\ might already be messed up but usually, Recovery Partitions are too small to hold an OS. Reinstall again and take more care over the choice of Partition. If only two show up and both have XP on them, the Recovery drive is already useless so delete both Partitions and reinstall on the whole disk. That takes the guesswork out of it.

Hopefully, you know you've still got one chance of recovering any files you had on the original installation. Post back if you want to know how before you do anything else.

 

[Hawkeye22]

This is why I like to disconnect all but the drive I want to install my OS onto then reconnect all other drives after I'm done installing the OS. Sure, it takes a little extra time, but it can save you from headaches down the road.

 

[Saga Lout]

Aha - I see you've been caught as well, Hawkeye. M$ does tend to go its own way in spite of what it says it's going to do - doesn't it?

 

[free322001]

This is why I like to disconnect all but the drive I want to install my OS onto then reconnect all other drives after I'm done installing the OS. Sure, it takes a little extra time, but it can save you from headaches down the road.

Hello
Just to note, my D: is not external but internal recovery partition. Nothing to disconnect.

 

[free322001]

D:\ might already be messed up but usually, Recovery Partitions are too small to hold an OS. Reinstall again and take more care over the choice of Partition. If only two show up and both have XP on them, the Recovery drive is already useless so delete both Partitions and reinstall on the whole disk. That takes the guesswork out of it.

Hopefully, you know you've still got one chance of recovering any files you had on the original installation. Post back if you want to know how before you do anything else.

Hi- Im still able to boot on C: but cannot insta;ll printer and have other errors and too much debris so need a fresh install. What do i want to save? Should i f* at boot and reinstall? I had used c:/windows/winnt32 as advised by someone who was probably wrong.

thanks for your help.

 

[Kevish]

Just backup your driver and everything else, format and re-create new partitions if you want to. Usually when windows is messed up like this, it is wiser to have a clean install to spare you from later headaches!

 

[Saga Lout]

Assuming that D:\ recovery is useless since the last install, delete all Partitions then split the drive in two and format. On a large disk, I usually create a third Partition of 8Gb just for the pagefile.sys. It speeds things up a bit, especially if you degraf pagefile once a month.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Hello
Just to note, my D: is not external but internal recovery partition. Nothing to disconnect.

This has nothing to do with an internal or external drive, just disconnect all but the drive you are installing the OS onto.

If D is a drive that is not a partition on the same drive as C, then yes you can disconnect it... just remove power from the drive and don't connect it back up until you are done installing the OS.

 

[free322001]

Thanks Hawkeye but as I stated, it is a partition.

 

[free322001]

Thanks guys, I have just reinstalled everything and will close thread.