Re: 2 drives needed to boot - how to fix

I observe the same on my own machine, presumably because
I use a non-Windows master boot record. I recommend you
start by restoring the MBR with one of the two methods
I previously mentioned.


"John66" <John66@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:F263CF34-42EB-4408-8E76-8F625B566593@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pegasus: I tried to change my disk (0) partion to active. However, the
option of 'mark partion as active' is greyed out. I am unable to activate
or
de-activate anything. Is there something I must do to enable this option
or
is there a certain procedure to follow?

Thanks again.

"Pegasus" wrote:

I don't know xxclone but I wonder if it played around with
your active partition. Run diskmgmt.msc from the Run box
to set the boot partition of disk(0) active. This will probably
fix your problem. If it does not then you may have to restore
the Master Boot Record, either by using the method suggested
by Andy or else by booting the machine with your WinXP
CD and following these steps:
- Select "Repair"
- Select "Recovery Console"
- Log on
- Type these commands:
fixmbr
fixboot

When cloning a disk with a cloning program then you must
avoid having both disks connected during the first boot after
the cloning operation.


"John66" <John66@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C9C8749D-0223-41C7-BFC3-CACA99338A08@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you all for your suggestions!

In answer to the questions asked by Pegasus:

If I can remember correctly, I think I made a clone of my disk using
xxclone. I remember I tried a couple of different ways to clone the
entire
hard drive (4 partitions) and had problems doing all 4 at once. I had
to
do
them one at a time. I just don't remember exactly what I did - it has
been
too long.

If I can get the system to boot fro the master (original) disk I can
try
an
clone things again and then keep the clone updated - any suggestions on
doing
this? Is a clone/backup not the best thing to do?

Disk 0 is my primary (master) drive. Disk 1 is the cloned version which
I
am
using for my backup. So my old disk is my master disk.

I checked out disk managment and found that disk 0 has a partion that
says
'system' and another partition that says 'boot'. On disk 1 (the clone)
there
is a partion that says 'active'.

When I tried to boot the master disk by itself, it really didn't get
very
far. I only saw a black screen that flashed white text with
'NTDetect.......'
error message and then the PC would reboot. I will have to get back to
you
on
the exact message - I apologize as I realize this would help a lot. I
need
to
wait for another process to complete before I can reboot ( a backup in
case I
make a mess of this).

The boot.ini file says:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect

My hard drive setup is a bit weird in the way it was originally set up,
so
partion 3 really is where the OS is located.

What I meant by 2 XP system folders is that if I have a clone of my
master
drive then I have 2 system folders. One on disk 0 and another on disk
1.

Thank you so much for your help,
John

"Pegasus" wrote:


"John66" <John66@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:575E0461-15FD-448A-8827-4D78809F7481@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm running XP pro and things seem to be fine. I thought I was being
'smart'
by adding a second hard drive to my system as a backup. I cloned my
primary
hard drive and have dutifully backed up changes to the cloned drive
thinkng
that should my primary drive fail I would be prepared with an
up-to-date
hard
drive I could immediately use.

Obviously I don't know what I'm doing because I just happened to
disconnect
my cloned drive and my system won't boot. After some trial and
error,
it
seems my system wants both hard drives to be able to boot.

Any suggestions on how to repair my master drive so it will boot by
itself?
Am I having issues because there are 2 XP system folders that could
be
found?
I did notice an error message of sorts flash by that said something
about
NTDetect - but thats all I see before it reboots itself.

If you have any suggestions on the best approach to backing up data
and
well
as the entire system --- I am all ears.

Thanks,
John

Some questions:
- How exactly did you clone the system partition?
- Which is your primary master disk - the old or the new disk?
- Is the system partition on the old disk still marked "active"?
- How far does the boot process go when booting with a single disk?
- What message do you seen when the boot process stalls? Press
the "Pause" key to freeze the boot process, and Enter to unfreeze
it.
- What is the contents of the hidden file c:\boot.ini?
- What exactly do you mean with "2 XP system folders"?








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