Re: Hard drive



Hi, ITmad.

It's not clear from your two messages just what you are trying to do. My impression is that you are doing what many users do every day: upgrade to a larger HD. The easiest way to do this usually is to first use the (Ghost or similar) software that comes with your new HD to copy everything from your old HD to your new one. Then remove your old HD completely and leave it out while you do an "in-place upgrade" of WinXP on your new HD, installed as the Primary Master. Finally, if you like, you can add the old HD as a secondary HD and use Disk Management to reconfigure it to suit your new arrangement.

If you simply plug in your new preformatted HD as a secondary drive to your existing system (an entirely natural and intuitive approach, by the way), copy all files from your old HD to it, then move it to the primary slot and try to reboot...you get the results you got. :>( Because most Copy utilities work well on files, but they don't do the other things that need to be done, such as mark the partition on the new HD as Active (bootable), create the proper boot sector on it and copy the 3 required system files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini). And most copy utilities won't copy the Registry from the currently-booted WinXP, either.

If that is what you did, then you should be able to clean it up by unplugging your old HD, plugging in your 80 GB HD as primary master, set your computer to boot from CD, and follow the instructions in this KB article:

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341

Follow the steps for Method 2 and note that you do NOT press "R" for Repair the first time it is offered, in Step 3. Press Enter here and press "R" when you get to Step 5. This will completely reinstall WinXP itself, but will preserve your installed applications and data and most of your tweaks.

AFTER your computer is booting into WinXP from the new HD, then you can the old one as a secondary.

What newsreader are you using, ITmad? It would help keep these messages in context if you would be sure to quote the previous thread-to-date in each new post, as I've done here. (I'm using Outlook Express.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP

"ITmad" <ITmad.1n9whb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ITmad.1n9whb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It is an old Windows 95 machine with a MS6116 VER:1.1 motherboard, now running Windows XP Home. the current format is FAT32 and when i try to boot from the 80GB hard drive, formated as NTFS it comes up with : NOT FOUND ANY [Active Partition] in HDD. and when i format it as FAT it says that NTLDR is missing?

ITmad


R. C. White wrote:
*Hi, ITmad.

Have you found Win2K's Disk Management tool?  At the Run prompt,
enter:
diskmgmt.msc

Using Disk Management, you can create partitions on that new HD, then
assign
a drive letter, then format each partition as either FAT or NTFS.
(Win2K
will not format partitions larger than 32 GB as FAT32, but the
capacity is
practically unlimited for NTFS.)  Win2K "mixes and matches" FAT and
NTFS
drives seamlessly, as easily as it mixes floppies, CD/DVDs, etc.

Of course, you should be sure that your new HD is properly jumpered
and
cabled and, if necessary, enabled in your computer's BIOS.

If you tell us more about your system (make and model of your
computer, or
the motherboard if you built it yourself; make and model of
HDs/controllers;
Win2K version and SP level; etc.) we might have some more specific
suggestions for you.

RC

"ITmad" <ITmad.1n2ht3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ITmad.1n2ht3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> i have resently got a 80gb hard drive and when i plug it in it is
not
> seen as by existing hard drive is FAT32 and the new one is NTFS
what
> can i do?
>
>
>
> --
> ITmad *



--
ITmad

.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Multiple Hard Drives, various Partitions?
    ... You'll find a good article called "Choosing between NTFS, FAT, and FAT32". ... Has very limited constraints on file size as well as partition size. ... All of my internal drives are NTFS, so I'm not sure how XP ... Maybe format them NTFS for the reason that the NTFS file ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Formatting a 200GB hard disk using FAT32
    ... Win2K/XP can happily use the whole partition. ... See these pages from the online versions of the Win2K Pro and WinXP Pro ... Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems ... >>> I am using a WIN2K Pro computer to format the drive. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.file_system)
  • Re: Formatting a 200GB hard disk using FAT32
    ... Win2K/XP can happily use the whole partition. ... See these pages from the online versions of the Win2K Pro and WinXP Pro ... Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems ... >>> I am using a WIN2K Pro computer to format the drive. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: NTFS vs FAT32
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