Botched hard drive upgrade

[Guest]

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

In the process of upgrading my hard drive, I did something that
resulted in the following:

1. I am unable to boot the PC when I remove the original hard drive
(the original C: drive which had the bootstrap and was the system
drive, now labeled Y. Under My Computer, the drive is labeled in
blue for some reason.

2. My new C: has been mapped as a virtual drive as well (G.

I'd like to be able to remove Y: and get rid of G: while making sure
all the references to G: are moved to C:

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

 

[Guest]

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

Superuser wrote:
> In the process of upgrading my hard drive, I did something that
> resulted in the following:
>
> 1. I am unable to boot the PC when I remove the original hard drive
> (the original C: drive which had the bootstrap and was the system
> drive, now labeled Y. Under My Computer, the drive is labeled in
> blue for some reason.
>
> 2. My new C: has been mapped as a virtual drive as well (G.
>
> I'd like to be able to remove Y: and get rid of G: while making sure
> all the references to G: are moved to C:
>
> Any help would be hugely appreciated!

Sounds more like you didn't really upgrade properly - but you did not tell
us much about this supposed upgrade.
It would be most helpful if you would come back and give us more details.

We can assume a few things.

- You have an external drive (USB hard drive, internal or external ZIP or
other removable drive (not CD/DVD), etc) connected to the system.

- You either used some sort of cloning software to clone your original boot
drive to the new drive (but for some reason, did not remove the original
drive after making the image and before applying it to the new drive..)

or

- You left the original drive in, but changed it physically to slave and
attempted to install a clean version of Windows XP onto the new hard drive
with the old hard drive still in.

There's other possibilities - like you started playing with the drive
letters, thinking you could just "make" a new C:, etc..
Please com back and clarify what you did so we can help you correct your
issue.

The "blue" color just means you have compressed files on the drive.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

 

[Guest]

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

"Superuser" <peter.hsing@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1126938685.598906.256600@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> In the process of upgrading my hard drive, I did something that
> resulted in the following:
>
> 1. I am unable to boot the PC when I remove the original hard drive
> (the original C: drive which had the bootstrap and was the system
> drive, now labeled Y. Under My Computer, the drive is labeled in
> blue for some reason.
>
> 2. My new C: has been mapped as a virtual drive as well (G.
>
> I'd like to be able to remove Y: and get rid of G: while making sure
> all the references to G: are moved to C:
>
> Any help would be hugely appreciated!
>

You need to tell us a lot more:
- How exactly did you "upgrade" your disk?
- What partitions did you have before the upgrade?
- What resided on which partiton?
- What partitions do you have on the new drive?
- Do you wish to keep both disks connected?
- What is the contents of the hidden files g:\boot.ini and y:\boot.ini?

 

[Guest]

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

Thanks to both of you for replying

I do not have a USB drive, Zip, or non-CD/DVD removable drive on the
system

I used Acronis' True Image software to create a clone of Y (original
C/source) ("C1") on the new drive (new C/destination) ("C2").

Some add'l info:
C1/Y (source) and Z are SCSI drives
C2/C (destination) and D are normal drives
G is basically a link to C2 (same physical drive, different logical
drive letter)

I disconnected C1 after copying, before rebooting. Didn't set the
jumpers correctly and/or didn't set up the boot sequence correctly in
the BIOS. I think I reconnected the C1 just to try to get my PC running
again. Then it gets a bit blurry b/c I tried a few things before
setting the jumper and BIOS correctly.

Hopefully this is a bit more helpful (and I'm not hosed). I'm really
hoping that there's an easy way of mapping G back as C2 ("unlinking"
while having the references to G cascade automagically to C) and moving
the bootstrap from Y to C2

 

[Guest]

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

> If I read your posts correctly than you copied your old drives C:, D: and Z: to the new disk, using Acronis. They now appear as drives D:, Y: and Z:

Just to clarify, old C/C1 -> Y, D is still D, Z is still Z

> - The contents of Y:\boot.ini. You say that it does not exist.
I think it does. What do you get when you run "notepad y:\boot.ini"?
Not sure why I can't find y:\boot.ini in a search, but I did what you
asked and here are the contents:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Server" /fastdetect

> - The location of the Windows system folder. Start a Command Prompt, then type set systemroot
What do you get?

SystemRoot=G:\Windows

> - Is the machine connected to a network? If yes, do you have another WinXP/2000 PC connectd to the same network?

Yes

> - Is this a desktop? If yes, do you have another WinXP/2000 desktop?

Yes desktop, no only another laptop


Thanks again!

 

[Guest]

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

Scsi drives have a different reference in boo.ini.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314081
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt
[operating systems]
scsi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\winnt = "Windows NT" /NODEBUG C:\ =
"Previous Operating System on C:\"
--
Ron Sommer

"Superuser" <peter.hsing@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127060243.056350.323540@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
>> If I read your posts correctly than you copied your old drives C:, D: and
>> Z: to the new disk, using Acronis. They now appear as drives D:, Y: and
>> Z:
>
> Just to clarify, old C/C1 -> Y, D is still D, Z is still Z
>
>> - The contents of Y:\boot.ini. You say that it does not exist.
> I think it does. What do you get when you run "notepad y:\boot.ini"?
> Not sure why I can't find y:\boot.ini in a search, but I did what you
> asked and here are the contents:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=3
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
> Professional" /fastdetect
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
> Server" /fastdetect
>
>> - The location of the Windows system folder. Start a Command Prompt,
>> then type set systemroot
> What do you get?
>
> SystemRoot=G:\Windows
>
>> - Is the machine connected to a network? If yes, do you have another
>> WinXP/2000 PC connectd to the same network?
>
> Yes
>
>> - Is this a desktop? If yes, do you have another WinXP/2000 desktop?
>
> Yes desktop, no only another laptop
>
>
> Thanks again!
>

 

[Guest]

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

I'll summarize the drive situation:

orig letter -> new letter
C Y
D D (unchg'ed)
Z Z (unchg'ed)
- (new disk C
- G (not a phys disk--a link to the new C)

I do have DVD and CD-ROM drives (E and F) installed as well.

I previously had W2K Server installed, but I thought I had wiped it out
when I installed WinXP on the machine.

I thought I had showed system files in windows explorer (and swear that
it's set to do that based on the settings that I see)

In regedit, I see the following \DosDevices:
A (floppy)
C (the new drive)
D (nothing's changed here)
E (CD burner)
F (CD-ROM)
G (appeared out of nowhere--it's mapped to C)
X (nothing as far as I can tell)
Y (old C)
Z (nothing's changed here)

The values for C and G are the same (not surprisingly, I guess).

Are you suggesting that I delete the entry I have for C and rename the
entry for G to C, i.e. 1) delete \DosDevices\C:; then, 2) rename
\DosDevices\G: to \DosDevices\C:?

 

[Guest]

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

"Superuser" <peter.hsing@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127094411.209707.115880@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> I'll summarize the drive situation:
>
> orig letter -> new letter
> C Y
> D D (unchg'ed)
> Z Z (unchg'ed)
> - (new disk C
> - G (not a phys disk--a link to the new C)
>
> I do have DVD and CD-ROM drives (E and F) installed as well.
>
> I previously had W2K Server installed, but I thought I had wiped it out
> when I installed WinXP on the machine.
>
> I thought I had showed system files in windows explorer (and swear that
> it's set to do that based on the settings that I see)

Show hidden files is another setting.
It is not the same as show system files.

What about the scsi entry that is missing from boot.ini?
--
Ron Sommer
>
> In regedit, I see the following \DosDevices:
> A (floppy)
> C (the new drive)
> D (nothing's changed here)
> E (CD burner)
> F (CD-ROM)
> G (appeared out of nowhere--it's mapped to C)
> X (nothing as far as I can tell)
> Y (old C)
> Z (nothing's changed here)
>
> The values for C and G are the same (not surprisingly, I guess).
>
> Are you suggesting that I delete the entry I have for C and rename the
> entry for G to C, i.e. 1) delete \DosDevices\C:; then, 2) rename
> \DosDevices\G: to \DosDevices\C:?
>

 

[Guest]

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

See below.


"Superuser" <peter.hsing@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127094411.209707.115880@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> I'll summarize the drive situation:
>
> orig letter -> new letter
> C Y
> D D (unchg'ed)
> Z Z (unchg'ed)
> - (new disk C
> - G (not a phys disk--a link to the new C)
>
> I do have DVD and CD-ROM drives (E and F) installed as well.
>
> I previously had W2K Server installed, but I thought I had wiped it out
> when I installed WinXP on the machine.

*** You still have an entry in boot.ini. Use notepad.exe to open
*** the file, then get rid of the unwanted entry.

> I thought I had showed system files in windows explorer (and swear that
> it's set to do that based on the settings that I see)
>
> In regedit, I see the following \DosDevices:
> A (floppy)
> C (the new drive)
> D (nothing's changed here)
> E (CD burner)
> F (CD-ROM)
> G (appeared out of nowhere--it's mapped to C)
> X (nothing as far as I can tell)
> Y (old C)
> Z (nothing's changed here)
>
> The values for C and G are the same (not surprisingly, I guess).
>
> Are you suggesting that I delete the entry I have for C and rename the
> entry for G to C, i.e. 1) delete \DosDevices\C:; then, 2) rename
> \DosDevices\G: to \DosDevices\C:?

*** Even simpler: Delete the entry for G:.
*** Delete Y: too. It refers to a drive that is not available unless you
*** connect the old disk as a slave disk (which you should not!).

 

[Guest]

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

Thanks for your help so far:

- Entry in boot.ini deleted
- G: and Y: entries deleted using regedit
- Y: drive (old c disconnected as well

After rebooting, losing Y seems to be ok; however, the G: drive still
exists (repopulated itself?)...any thoughts?

 

[Guest]

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

"Superuser" <peter.hsing@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1127204080.879110.303080@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks for your help so far:
>
> - Entry in boot.ini deleted
> - G: and Y: entries deleted using regedit
> - Y: drive (old c disconnected as well
>
> After rebooting, losing Y seems to be ok; however, the G: drive still
> exists (repopulated itself?)...any thoughts?

What is the current system drive? C:? G:?