Re: XP Home and XP Pro on two separate drives

"Peter Malling" <malling@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1151964673.828617.149340@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
: Tim,
: Thank you so much for your elaborate reply, Tim. It's very kind of
you.
:
: I've now changed around the cables, so that my 2 HDDs are on one
cable
: (80 wire, I think), while the CD and DVD drives are on the other
(40
: wire, I think).
:
: You recommend that I install XP Pro on the new drive, while the
old one
: is disconnected. Now, I can't do that. If I set up the new drive
as
: slave and boot from my old XP configuration (with the old drive as
: master), I can access data on new drive. The drive seems to be
working
: perfectly well. I partitioned and formated it through windows,
when it
: was connected via usb in an external box. And I copied some data
to it.
:
: But if I make the new drive the master (by the jumper), and
disconnect
: the old drive, and then boot from the XP Pro setup CD, the
computer
: hangs with a blank screen after it has shown the message "setup is
: inspecting your computers hardware configuration", and it doesn't
get
: to the blue setup screen. It clearly has something to do with the
new
: drive, because if no drives at all are connected, it will let me
: through to the blue setup menu.
:
: I have absolutely no idea what could cause this behavior. The
manual
: for the drive says that I should use the MaxBlast program to
partition
: and format the drive, but on the other hand, the manual also says:
"It
: is only necessary to use MaxBlast if Windows Setup is unable
: to recognize the full capacity of the drive due to BIOS and
: operating system limitations such as the 137 GB barrier ("Using
: a Drive Larger than 137 GB" on page 22).".
:
:
: Peter.
:
:
: Timothy Daniels wrote:
: > "Peter Malling" wrote:
: > > I had a drive with XP Home, which had become too small. So
: > > I purchased a new drive on which I'll install XP Pro. However,
: > > I still want to keep the XP Home disk until I'm pretty sure
that
: > > I've got all programs and settings I need transferred to the
: > > new disk. By default, the system should boot from the new
: > > XP Pro disk.
: > >
: > > The old disk is a 80 GB
: > > The new disk is a Maxtor 6L300R0 300 GB
: > >
: > > How should the jumper settings on the disks be, which should
: > > be master and which should be slave?
: >
: >
: > It doesn't matter. Just install the WinXP Pro on the new HD
: > while the old HD is disconnected.
: >
: > Here's how most BIOSs work: The HD boot order (i.e. HD
: > boot priority) has a its *default* in the case of IDE HDs:
: > Master, ch. 0,
: > Slave, ch. 0,
: > Master, ch. 1,
: > Slave, ch. 1.
: >
: > In the case of SATA HDs, the default HD boot order is just
: > their channel number order. Mixes of IDE and SATA usually
: > have the HD boot order overflow from IDE to SATA..
: >
: > Using this HD boot order, you can control which HD is
: > tested first for the presence of a Master Boot Record (MBR).
: > The 1st HD encountered with an MBR takes control and
: > and looks for the Primary partition marked "active". The
MBR
: > hands control to the Boot Sector on that partition. The
Boot
: > Sector then looks for the loader (ntldr) within its
partition, and
: > the boot loading proceeds under control of ntldr. In the
process
: > of booting, ntldr looks at a file called "boot.ini" that
tells it where
: > to find the folder for the OS - which may be on any
partition
: > on any HD in the system.
: >
: > During installation of WinXP, the installer looks around to
see
: > if there are any other partitions that are already present,
and
: > it names the installation partition according to what names
are
: > available. It also looks for OSes already installed. If it
finds none,
: > it builds a boot.ini file that lists only one OS - the one
that it is
: > currently installing - and it names its partition "C:".
: >
: > It's much simpler conceptually (and adheres to tradition) to
have
: > the running OS calls its own partition "C:". You can
accomplish
: > that by installing the OS in an isolated HD that has only a
single
: > partition at the time of installation.
: >
: > Now, assuming that you've installed the WinXP Pro in its own
: > isolated partition on the new HD, you can control which OS
: > starts up in one of two ways - by adjusting the HD boot
order in
: > the BIOS or by using the boot.ini file's dual-boot
configuration.
: >
: > Via the BIOS:
: >
: > Jumper the 2 HDs differently or put them on different
channels
: > so that they have different positions in the HD boot order.
The
: > HD with the highest priority will control the booting, and
since
: > the only OS seen during its installation was itself, the OS
on
: > that HD will be indicated by its boot.ini file. By
*default*, the
: > Master on ch. 0 will have the highest boot priority. If
there is
: > no HD as "Master", the "Slave" on ch 0 will have the highest
: > priority, etc. Then, to vary the HD boot order, go into the
BIOS
: > and adjust the HD boot order whenever you want to change
: > which HD boots.
: >
: > Via boot.ini
: >
: > You can edit the boot.ini file (at C:\boot.ini) with
Notepad. Under
: > the line "[operating systems]", there will be a single line
with an
: > entry that matches the line listed after "default=". That
single entry
: > is the entry for the OS that boots as default and it will
have a
: > parameter "rdisk(0)" in it. Just add another entry under
the
: > "[operating systems]" line that has "rdisk(1)" instead.
Also
: > change the value after "timeout" from 0 to some reasonable
: > timeout value such as "10" to give you 10 seconds to decide
: > which OS to select. Do that on both HDs. Then, at boot
time,
: > ntldr will present you with a menu having 2 selections
corresponding
: > to the 2 OSes. The OS on "the other" HD will always be the
: > 2nd entry in the list. On the HD containing the WinXP Home,
: > the 2nd entry will be for WinXP Pro. On the HD containing
the
: > WinXP Pro, the 2nd entry will be for WinXP Home. You can
: > indicate this in the arbitrary text string after each entry
in boot.ini.
: >
: > You can edit the boot.ini file for either HD regardless of
which
: > OS is running. The partition of the running OS will be
"C:", and
: > the partition for the other OS will be "D:".
: >
: > You can also edit the boot.ini file for the currently
running OS by
: > clicking Start/Run/enter msconfig/select BOOT.INI tab. You
can
: > then edit the file manually, or by clicking "Check All Boot
Paths",
: > msconfig will do it automatically for you.
: >
: > *TimDaniels*
:


Your XP Pro should contain SP1 or SP2 along with your Motherboard
BIOS/CMOS being the most up to date in order to get beyond the 137GB
barrier and not to use the MaxBlast overlay program. FWIW - don't
use the MaxBlast software period, as the overlay just creates
additional I/O, thus slowing down through put, but if need be,
create a slipstreamed copy of WinXP Pro with perfreably SP2
included. AutoStreamer is a very good freeware software package to
help you integrate SP1 or SP2 into a Windows OS.

--


Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!

Google is your friend!
http://www.google.com


.

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