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I just got a new computer and I used Partition Magic to copy the partition from my old hard drive onto my new hard drive. One thing I noticed is that Partition Magic will copy data partitions but the hard drive (at least in my experiences) are missing a MBR. So I repaired the installation via the OS CD and upgraded it to SP2 via another CD. I took out the old hard drive, booted up the computer and ... nothing, just a blank screen with a flashing cursor. I hooked up the old hard drive again and the computer booted up just fine. I used Partition Magic to swap the drive letters so the old hard drive became drive "E" and the new one became drive "C", (I unhid the new hard drive's partition early on in the installation process) I set the new hard drive's partition to active. I noticed partition magic would set it to active and reboot, set it to active again and reboot and over and over again until I told it to knock it off and just boot the darn computer. I opened the program and noticed it was indeed active but so was the "E" drive (the old drive). I couldn't find a function to set the "E" drive to unactive and I couldn't figure out how to hide the "E" drive's partition as the option was greyed out.
I opened the games folder in the start menu so I could delete the usual "Internet Checkers" and "Internet Backgammon" and stuff but when it opened I noticed the file path in the title bar was E:\Whateverfilepath instead of C:\Whateverfilepath so I opened the device manager and looked at the driver details for many of my devices and noticed that the computer was loading all the drivers off the old hard drive instead of the new "C" drive. I installed them on the new hard drive for a reason after all. I then opened up partition magic again and noticed that the old "E" drive was listed as "Disk 1" and the new "C" drive was listed as "Disk 2". I opened the disk defragmenter and saw the same darn thing. "E" drive first "C" drive second. I can open the "C" drive in the my computer thing and can take a look at it's contents, I can even open files from it. My system Bios even recognizes it so I know it's hooked up right, I have all the drivers on both disks....GRR
Now that all that's said my question is as follows. How the hell do I get the computer to let go of the old hard drive, shut it's stupid pie hole and use the new hard drive so I can remove the old one? The computer won't boot from the new SATA "C" drive and thus won't let me remove the old IDE drive from the system case.
Certifiably Crazy
You need to use a disk cloning application. Copying partitions just wont do it as it will create another MBR based on the partitions copied, not on the original MBR from the old disk. Most disk manufactures provide cloning software to do exactly what you are require.
Seagate's DiskWizard is particularly good but I am not sure but I think you need at least one Seagate drive in the system for it to work.
One other things. Drive letters are allocated by the Operating System. Changing drive letters with something like Partition magic is only a temporary arrangement, especially with the boot and system drives. The OS will allocate its own driver letters next time it boots.
Stuart
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Hi
freeware hdclone seems to work tho is limitedhttp://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=418&page=8
the best hdd to hdd clone ive used relibly is acronis True image, simple disk to disk
on screen instuctions even tell you when to switch drives.see menu at base of link for other options
regards
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You state that you can't boot from the SATA drive. Jast assigning a drive as C does not mean it will be the boot drive. You need to set the boot sequence in your BIOS.
Michael J
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If you were not using the SATA hard drive connection previously, the driver for it may not have been installed. The driver must be installed in order for you to be able to boot from a SATA drive. In that case you must run the Repair Setup procedure again from the OS CD, and load the driver for the SATA very early in the initial loading files from the CD sequence, when it asks you to press a key to load a third party SCSI driver. You will need a floppy with the SATA driver on it, or you will need to point it to the proper folder where that driver is on your mboard CD. You will be asked to insert the floppy or the CD again later on in the Repair Setup.
If you're not sure whether the SATA driver is already installed, install it again.In any case:
If there are any hidden partitions on the new hard drive, it is advisable to unhide them with Partition Magic - you must unhide one if it is the first one, or if that is where the copy of Windows is.
Run the Repair Setup procedure from the OS CD with only the new hard drive connected, and you will end up with it's copy of Windows as the C drive, and it should boot no problem after the Repair Setup is finished. You will probably need to run the SP2 upgrade install again as well, after doing that.
......What I mean by the Repair Setup:
This is the second repair method available when booting from the OS CD.
The following was made for XP Pro, but what you see and do for XP Home is identical or very similar.how to do an XP Repair Setup, step by step:
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htm
.......Background info:
XP (and 2000, and later) uses drive letter assignment rules that are different from what Partition Magic and Win ME and previous 9x operating system use. What drive letters you assign in Partition Magic has no relation to the way XP (or 2000) does that.
XP and 2000 tend to assign drive letter settings in the order in which the drives were added to the Windows configuration. The easiest way to get your new drive recognized as C is to take the old C drive out of the equation by disconnecting it (at least it's data cable connection) while running the Repair Setup again.
(If you want to use the old C drive as a backup C, you can set your bios boot order to boot it first.)You must be using Partition Magic 7.x, or possibly 6.x, in order for it to properly handle a hard drive or a hard drive partition of more than 64gb (in Windows; about 68.5gb manufacturer's size). If the hard drive or hard drive partition is larger than that Partition Magic will not deal with that properly.
I know from experience XP (and 2000) doesn't know how to deal with Partition Magic's hidden partitions. Sometimes you must un-hide them. XP and 2000 can recognize and deal with more than one primary partition on a hard drive, other than the extended partition - however only one can be active at any one time.
"...but the hard drive (at least in my experiences) are missing a MBR. "
A hard drive always has a mbr. Partition Magic sometimes modifies the mbr. Most of the time Partition Magic modifies the mbr in a standard manner, but if any partition is marked hidden by Partition Magic, XP may not interpret the mbr properly, especially if the hidden one is the first partition on a hard drive.Partition Magic 7.0 has lots of bugs. If you use the Windows version of it, it is recommended you download and install the huge patch for it, from the Symantec web site.
If you use the Dos version of it (you can make a set of floppies), you should not partition the entire drive - you should do as XP itself does, and leave 8mb, or as close as you can get to 8mb, unpartitioned at the end of the drive. If you don't do that XP will complain in certain circumstances, and some hard drive utilities will indicate something is wrong with the single partition if there is only one, or the last partition on the drive if there is more than one, but they may not identify what is specifically wrong.Whatever utility you use to copy an XP (or 2000) Windows partition to another drive, the new copy will not be bootable (like it would be if you had copied a Win ME or 9x Windows partition)until it is connected as master, and at least the Recovery Console has been used (the first Repair method when booting fron the OS CD) to run ay least fixboot on it, and possibly fixmbr.
When you run the Repair Setup, the second method of repairing Windows available when booting from the OS CD, the bootability and the mbr are automatically made the way XP wants them.
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Response # 3
I've been into the bios more times than I can count.
Responses #1 & 2
What's the difference between Partition Magic and a disk cloning program? I've successfully used Partition Magic before from one IDE drive to the next, just not from an IDE to a SATA.
Response # 4
I copied the partition from the IDE to the SATA and unhid it. Then I switched drive letters, ran the Repair Setup, reinstalled SP2 and installed all the drivers. The SATA driver is on the disk. I didn't install it when I ran the Repair Setup but I did install it so the OS should recognize it. I didn't however go into the Recovery Console and do the FixMBR or Fixboot commands though. Besides that, I don't have a floppy drive, just a CDRW/DVDRW drive.
My old hard drive's partition is the active partition but I can't make it unactive. My new hard drive I can make active and unactive but the old one is stuck on active.
I did forget to leave 8mb free on the disk now that you mention it.
From here on out I'd like to use the Recovery Console and not the Repair Setup as I'm getting tired of reactivating windows.
Certifiably Crazy
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Clarifications:
You must be using Partition Magic 7.x, or possibly 6.x, in order for it to properly handle a hard drive or a hard drive partition of more than 64gb (in Windows; about 68.5gb manufacturer's size). If the hard drive or hard drive partition is larger than that an older version of Partition Magic will not deal with that properly.(If you want to use the old C drive as a backup C, after you have run the Repair Setup and have installed the SP2 updates again on the new drive, you can connect the old C drive to the computer, and when you need to boot it you can set your bios boot order to boot it first.)
.....You must load the drivers from the mboard CD, especially the chipset drivers, after you have run the Repair Setup, if you have not already done so, so that the Windows installation recognizes the new mboard properly. Or you could load the drivers, or newer drivers if they are available, on the web site of the mboard manufacturer for your model.
If your bios Setup is set to Auto detect all hard/CD/DVD drives, you don't need to do anything special in the bios when you have just the new hard drive connected. If you re-connect the old hard drive later, or connect another hard drive, you will probably need to specify in the bios Setup boot order that the SATA drive is to boot before other hard drives. Floppy - CD drive - Sata drive is a good all purpose boot order if you can set it that way.
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I got into the bios and changed the hard drive order around so now the new hard drive should be number one now.
I also resized the partition soasto leave 8mb blank at the end of the drive.
I've bought a brand new floppy drive and tried the Repair Setup. It asked me to press F6 to install third party SATA or RAID drivers. I did so and tried to repair the installation. It went through the usual delete files, copy files, reboot... But when it's supposed to reboot and bring up the spiffy GUI installation part, it rebooted like normal but instead of bringing up the GUI it just gave me that all too familiar blank screen and blinking cursor. So I can't even use the Repair Setup. I'm thinking I might be stuck with an IDE hard drive forever. I just hope it doesn't become unsupported someday.
And yes I'm using Partition Magic 8.0 and like I said earlier, ALL the nessessary drivers have been installed on both drives. And I've done all that is possible with the system BIOS.
I'm now completely out of ideas. I just hope someone else out there has a few left.
Certifiably Crazy
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Try the other method of repairing Windows.
Set the bios Setup boot order to boot from a CD before a hard drive if it is not already setup that way.
With ONLY your new hard drive connected:
Insert the Windows CD in a drive.
Reboot.
When it prompts you to press a key or make a choice to boot with the CD, choose the CD.Setup will load a bunch of files - this usually takes a couple of minutes.
At the end of that initial loading, there will be a screen that asks if you want to continue with Setup or Repair you Windows installation - choose Repair - I believe by pressing R.You will go to a Dos like screen. This is the Command Console.
You will be asked to choose the Windows installation you want to repair - choose it.
There will be a line displayed that says
Password.
If there are no stars - *'s - beside the line on the right, you have no password - just press Enter
If there are *'s beside the line on the right, the password is the same one you use as administrator for that Windows installation - same case (upper or lower case characters), etc.type: fixboot (Enter) at the prompt that appears.
type: fixmbr (Enter)type: exit
the computer will reboot.Do not load the CD when the choice appears.
Your hard drive should boot normally.
You can remove the Windows CD at that point.
.........
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Hi
xp will only boot if the hardware ID are correct im not sure PM can do this its not clear at all.
XP keeps an ID somewhere on the drive and this ID has to be reset when cloning ,not copying, the disk. Products such as Norton Ghost and Acronis True Image can reset this ID appropriately. A straight d>d won't do that
.http://ghost.radified.com/ghost_4.htm
regards
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1stepbeyond: HUH?
Jaenak:
I re-read some of your posts and I have a few questions.Had the "old" IDE hard drive been set up on this new compuer, or is it from your previous computer, set according to your "old" mboard and hardware?
On which computer did you copy the IDE drive partition to the SATA drive - the old or the new computer?
You said:
"So I repaired the installation via the OS CD and upgraded it to SP2 via another CD."Which XP installation did you repair - the one on the IDE drive, or the one on the SATA drive?
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Hi T&W
oops i just twigged what he's done. ignore my prev posts
as i understand post 1 he is trying to copy his (ide) xp install to a new sata hard drive, it wont boot, no suprise , he needs a fresh install on the new sata drive to be able to load the 3rd party sata driver.i dont think cloning would work either.
regards
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"he needs a fresh install on the new sata drive to be able to load the 3rd party sata driver."
Not necessarily. He should be able to load that driver and run the Repair Setup, as in response 4, without having to wipe out his present installation on the new drive. Doing that will also accomodate his windows installation to the new mboard and other hardware, if the drive he copied was not previously set up on the new mboard.That's providing his XP is SP1 or later if the new hard drive is > 128gb.
What isn't clear from Jaenak's posts is whether the copy of his XP partition on the new hard drive is a copy of Windows as it was on another computer with another mboard. If that's the case the copy will not boot because the old hardware is too different from the new hardware.
Another thing is Jaenak hasn't said what size his new hard drive is. If his Win XP on version on the new hard drive is not at least SP1, or has not been updated to at least SP1, and the new hard drive is larger than 128gb (137gb manufacturer's size), he's going to have problems trying to get that copy of Windows to work.
Whether you call it cloning or copying an XP partition to a new drive, I have used hard drive manufacturers utilities to do that, and when you re-connect the new drive as primary master, it will not boot, even if that was done on the same computer.
If the new hard drive is on the same computer, using the same mboard as the original C drive was installed on, if you do the procedure it Response 8, the new hard drive will then boot just fine.
If the new hard drive is NOT on the same mboard as the original C drive was installed on, then doing the Repair Setup procedure in response 4 will yield you a booting Windows that is accomodated to the new mboard.If you use Partition Magic to copy the XP partition, it is a similar situation but a little trickier - if you have any partitions marked as hidden by Partition Magic, especially the first one, XP can't deal with that.
If you use Partition Magic, or a hard drive manufacturer's utility, to copy a Win9x to ME partition, it will yield you a booting Windows when the new drive is made primary, master. It is only 2000, XP, and later that will not boot in that situation, without at least going through the procedure in response 8.
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My IDE drive was from my previous PC and was configured according to that. Then I put it on my new one and installed all the patches and stuff and then tried to copy it to the SATA drive. (Which is 120GB BTW) I tried to do the recovery console and the repair windows functions but to no avail. I can access the drive and all the stuff seems to be the same but everything important (I.E. system driver file paths) point to the IDE drive. Which sounds like what was said in Response #9. The computer takes the file paths and alters them to point to the correct hardware I.D. despite the fact that I didn't want it to. That whole idea about reseting a hardware I.D. is something I didn't even know about.
What I'm thinking about doing is holding onto my IDE drive until I can collect my pennies for a copy of Windows Xp Pro cause the copy I have of XP Home is old, an OEM version and I've already tried activating it many times so I figure why the hell not. I'm gonna try to get a copy of Windows XP Pro, install it on the SATA drive and look for a program that can back-up my files and settings from the IDE drive to the SATA drive. But back-ups isn't something I'm very accustomed to so I'm gonna have to start comparing programs to see which one to buy. From now on, I've learned, back-up don't duplicate partitions. It's nothing but unnecissary headaches.
Thanks for the help everyone, seriously!
Certifiably Crazy
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Thanks for providing some more info.
So, if I understand your situation correctly:
- the size of the SATA hard drive is under 128gb (in Windows), so even though you have an old XP Home CD that might not recognize drives larger than 128gb, it's 120gb (manufacturer's) size is recognized fine by your mboard and by Windows (Windows will see it as it's binary size - less than 120gb).
- the IDE drive was originally set up on another computer, but the IDE drive was already running on the new mboard - that entails that it was already recognizing the different hardware on the new mboard - therefore the so-called "hardware ID" mentioned by others is not the problem here.
- you say you can access the contents of the SATA drive fine.
That just leaves the problem of the contents of the partition on the IDE drive on the SATA not being able to boot into Windows.I have discovered in the last short while that there is another complication. Windows has a boot.ini file that specifies which partition should be booted - that is, it specifies which drive, which partition on a drive - e.g. for the first partion on the first drive, it would be at (location) 0, 0.
If you copy an XP Windows partition from one IDE drive to another, then disconnect the original master drive and connect the new drive as master at the same connection the original master drive was in, the partition (location) specified in boot.ini is correct. In that case, doing the Repair procedure in response 8 will get the IDE drive to boot, as long as the IDE drive that was copied was already running Windows XP on that mboard - if it wasn't already running on that mboard, then doing the Repair Setup procedure in response 4 will yield it booting and set to the new mboard.However, when you copy an IDE drive that was master on the primary IDE controller to an SATA drive, the partition (location)specified in boot.ini is NOT correct.
In that case, you need to correct the boot.ini file on the SATA drive.The way you do that is -
with ONLY your new SATA hard drive (of the hard drives) connected:Insert the Windows CD in a drive.
Reboot.
When it prompts you to press a key or make a choice to boot with the CD, choose the CD.Setup will load a bunch of files - this usually takes a couple of minutes.
According to your response 7, you have already loaded the SATA driver early in that sequence, so you shouldn't have to do that again.
At the end of that initial loading, there will be a screen that asks if you want to continue with Setup or Repair you Windows installation - choose Repair - by pressing R.You will go to a Dos like screen. This is the Command Console.
You will be asked to choose the Windows installation you want to repair - choose it.
There will be a line displayed that says
Password.
If there are no stars - *'s - beside the line on the right, you have no password - just press Enter
If there are *'s beside the line on the right, the password is the same one you use as administrator for that Windows installation - same case (upper or lower case characters), etc.At that point, you need to run bootcfg /rebuild
How to do that is described here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184Note: make sure you type something when you are prompted for a Load identifier - that is what will be displayed as a label for the partition - if you skip that, the partition will have no label.
After you have finished with that,
type: exit
the computer will reboot.Do not load the CD when the choice appears.
Your hard drive should boot normally.
You can remove the Windows CD at that point.
If multiple choices appear while booting asking you which Windows partition you want to boot, choose the first, top, one.
.........If that gets your SATA drive booting into Windows normally - it certainly should ....
I have noted that bootcfg /rebuild in Recovery Console does not remove previous Windows partition choices (locations) - it adds a new entry or entries above the previous ones, so that it (they) is (are) the first of the ones listed.
To get rid of the previous or useless entries
in boot.ini, you need to edit boot.ini.To do that, go to
Control Panel - System - Advanced
choose Startup and Recovery
in the top section click on EditIn your case, carefully remove the line(s) below the first entry under the [operating systems] line - that is, there must still be one line just under [operating systems].
The "bad" entry is probably
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)........When you are sure you have done that correctly, choose File - Save.
.........The drive letters, paths on the SATA drive should be fine, if your drive letter situation hasn't changed. The ones that were pointing to C will still be correct - the ones that were pointing to the CD drive at D, if you had only one partition on the IDE drive, or whatever drive letter the CD drive was if that wasn't the case, will still be correct.
However, if your previous drive letter situation was different from what it is now, you may have to re-install some programs that were installed from CD's.
......Getting a new XP CD will not help with the problems you are having - the situation has not changed - there are no updates on a new CD that would help.
If you don't need to use the few features in XP Pro that XP Home doesn't have, the only advantage in getting a new XP Pro CD is it will already have SP2 built into it, and a few more drivers for hardware and devices.
If you don't need to use the few features in XP Pro that XP Home doesn't have, but still insist on getting a new CD, save your money and get a new XP Home CD, which will also have SP2 built into it.If I were you I would keep using the CD you have, if you don't mind having to run the SP2 updates again when needed.
.....
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