Re: Setting active drive/partition in XP

• From: "Miescha" <Miescha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 21:24:27 -0800

Kieth and Steve N:  Thanks for the warning and info.  Sounds like the drive 
listed as 'system' is also active and so working correctly.

As for copying using the software that came with the drive, I've tried this 
in the past without success (I thought this is why so many large IS 
departments used Ghost to deploy setups to large numbers of PCs).

Anyway, I did try the software that came with both the Maxtor drive and the 
Western Digital drive.  Copies seemed to work/go fine, but when the drive is 
transferred to the intended 'target' it still won't boot.  The POST goes fine 
and the 'starting windows xp' flashes past and then it jumps to a blue 
background with a shrunken XP logo (like the one shown during 
logoff/shutdown).  

I keep wondering if this is a problem with the cd-key/authentication of the 
xp software (or office or ......).  I have valid codes for each machine I 
intend to run, but I have never gotten XP to boot so I dont' know when it 
would prompt me for the new cd-key (if at all).  Though the machines are all 
SUPPOSED to be identical, perhaps there are minor differences that are not 
apparent and the authentication process is detecting this and freezing the 
boot (or maybe I'm just trying too hard to figure this out :-).

Any thoughts are appreciated.

"Steve N." wrote:

> Miescha wrote:
> 
> > Just to be clear (as I am new to XP as stated) should my hard drive be listed 
> > as 'active' in the drive management console or is 'system' correct?  This is 
> > the only drive and only partition on the sytem.
> 
> A bit of confusion... each drive has an active partition, the system 
> partition will be active and system.
> 
> > 
> > Also, if using XCOPY as suggested, will the MBR also be copied to the second 
> > drive?
> 
> No, and don't listen to Andrew E., he doesn't know what he's talking 
> about and proves it here on a regular basis. You cannot use XCOPY to 
> copy an entire active system drive, it will miss every system file in 
> use and a lot more. You can use the hard disk manucturer's utility for 
> doing this, though. They usually ship with a new boxed drive, if not you 
> can download from their website.
> 
> Steve N.
> 
> > 
> > Many thanks.
> > 
> > "Andrew E." wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >>  Xp doesnt run with FDISK.Try installing xp cd,boot to xp cd,at menu select r
> >> for recovery,select 1 for disk C: press enter for password,then type:CHKDSK 
> >>C: /R
> >>  After type:EXIT  Let xp start up.If the OS is damaged,boot to xp cd,select
> >> install xp,repair this copy.If youre pcs are identical w/o any 
> >>variations,you can
> >> install 2nd drive from other machine,set as slave,format the drive,then go 
> >>to run,
> >> type:XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r  Agree to all in the DOS window,when the
> >> DOS window exits,youre thru,C: and all its contents are on other drive,move 
> >>to
> >> other pc.Also,D: being slave,but if asigned diffrent letter then use that.
> >> 
> >>
> >>"Miescha" wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>I'm new to XP pro, but not computers overall.  Our small company is preparing 
> >>>to move from WIN 2K pro to XP pro.  I set up and "played" with one of our new 
> >>>PCs using XP pro and all the various software we use.  After little more than 
> >>>a week, I'm happy with XP pro and confident the system is stable and fully 
> >>>'updated' (for now).
> >>>
> >>>In an attempt to deploy the setup to the other PCs, I connected a second 
> >>>hard drive and used Symantec's Norton Ghost 10 (part of SystemWorks 2006) to 
> >>>"copy my hard drive" to the second 'target' drive from the first 'source' 
> >>>drive.  I selected the options to copy the MBR and set the 'target' drive as 
> >>>active.  After completion, I shut down and removed the 'target' drive.  
> >>>
> >>>Upon installing the 'target' drive to one of the new PCs (all identical 
> >>>machines with identical or nearly identical hardware to the 'source' machine) 
> >>>all did not work well - the POST went fine and the 'starting windows' 
> >>>appeared but then the machine froze on what looked like the shut down/log out 
> >>>screen of XP (blue background with small XP logo).  That is a question for 
> >>>another time perhaps.
> >>>
> >>>The problem at the moment is that when I put the second 'target' drive back 
> >>>in the original 'source' PC, it is still listed as the active drive and the 
> >>>'source' drive is listed only as a 'system' drive.  The disk management 
> >>>console with not let me change this (the 'make partition active choice is 
> >>>greyed out).  What am I missing?  In this state, XP will not let me format 
> >>>the 'target' drive and Ghost 10 will not let me duplicate the 'source' drive 
> >>>to the 'target' and format in the process b/c it is the current active drive. 
> >>> I also tried to change the active setting using DISKPART inside XP and FDISK 
> >>>from a WIN98 boot disk - no luck with either (although FDISK shows the 
> >>>'source' disk as the active disk when it is the only disk connected).
> >>>
> >>>Any thoughts?
> 
.

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