I am attempting to repair a friend's PC and could do with some help and/or advice (bearing in mind that I'm not an expert and would appreciate answers in layman's terms please!). To start with, his SATA drive, running Windows XP, picked up some viruses and will now not boot up. (He wasn't aware that he needed antivirus software). I have removed the virused drive and have installed a clean IDE HDD instead, also running Windows XP (and Norton Antivirus!). Can I reconnect his SATA drive (his MOBO is configured for both IDE and SATA drives) and try to access it through Windows on the IDE drive? He has some information on the SATA drive that I'd like to try and recover for him before I do anything else. If I try this, will I have problems booting to the IDE drive first - seeing as both drives have Windows on them? Also, I have no idea what viruses are on the SATA drive and was wondering whether anyone knows if viruses can "jump" from one drive to another - i.e. from the SATA to the IDE? Sorry if this sounds a bit novice-like but if I don't ask, I won't know :-) I'd like to point out that my friend bought his PC from someone else who didn't give him any backup CD's although he does have the MOBO disc (that's something I guess!). So, as for reformatting and reinstalling his original Windows XP onto his SATA drive - it can't be done as I have no CD. My plan is to recover what I can from the SATA drive (hopefully without transporting any viruses to the other HDD) and then reformatting the SATA drive so it's then clean and can be used as a backup drive. Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

A bit confusing here... as you state that you have installed a clean HDD on the EIDE channel with XP and norton.....you then say that re-installation is not possible because he has no CD... ??? how did you install XP on the IEDE drive without a CD?? XP has to be installed on the machine it was intended for. You cannot just take a hdd with xp installed from another computer and expect it to work... **************** In order to boot the EIDE controller first you need to change it in the BIOS so as to boot to the EIDE channel as 2nd choice... Remove the boot of the sata drive from the boot order....I don't think it will boot up as the SATA controller will need to have the drivers installed during set-up (mobo dependent there)....The drivers for the SATA controller can be installed later on the EIDE hdd but note that you will not be able to boot the SATA drive till it is set-up properly using the F6 method of installation....you will be able to access the drive from the EIDE drive after the driver is installed. Malware and viruses can not jump partitions or drives on its own....but it is easy to transfer them from one to the other as part of an attached file.... Why does the sata drive not boot! what errors does it give if any. Have you tried to boot to safe mode? Operating Costs = the cost of operating a business Profits = revenues over and above the operating costs. Taxes = operating costs mandated by gov. TaxPayer = what you are called by the gov.

Hi and thanks for your speedy reply. Apologies for my confusing post, I tried to keep it as consise as possible without going into every detail. Firstly, the clean install on the IDE drive is mine. I had a spare HDD and my own Windows XP CD (just to get my friend's PC up and running to see if I can repair it). What is the F6 method of installation and where do I get drivers for the SATA drive? I assumed because the SATA drive was originally installed on the Motherboard it would work - I obviously assumed wrong and completely in the dark (first time I've worked with a SATA drive as you can tell!). I've no idea why the SATA drive won't boot, I'm guessing it because of the viruses. It'll get as far as the BIOS screen but no further, the screen just goes blank - Safe Mode is not an option and there are no error messages.

I hope that you didn't activate the xp install? you can do what you are doing as long as the installation has not been activated....if you do it becomes a pirated affair unless you used the same COA(license) from the sticker on the computer it is installed in. ******************************** Curiosity....what makes you think it is virus related if it can't boot up? Enter the bios and see if it is even reading that the drive is installed. If the drive is not showing it could be that the drive is bad or that the drivers are corrupted or that the SATA controller is disabled....which could be the case if the default settings were loaded in the BIOS by someone not knowing what they were doing. remove the EIDE drive and reinstall the sata drive You must check the settings in the BIOS or if there is a BOOT order file when it posts at first boot-up...make sure the boot order is 1st...CDROM/DVD 2nd SCSI or SATA/RAID disable those others if more are listed! save and exit and see if it noew sees the SATA drive and tries to boot! ************************************ The SATA controller is set up separetly than the IEDE controller. Special drivers must be installed during the installation of the operating system...This is done by pressing the F6 key when prompted during set-up (right after...press any key to boot to CD prompt) The drivers are gotten from the manufacturers website or motherboard drivers CD and must be loaded to a bootable floppy or CD depending on what configuration is in that computer....usually there is an installation note covering the SATA drivers download/instal. Operating Costs = the cost of operating a business Profits = revenues over and above the operating costs. Taxes = operating costs mandated by gov. TaxPayer = what you are called by the gov.

Thanks again for your prompt reply and no, I haven't activated Windows, hence the need to sort out my friend's PC promptly so that I may remove my HDD and XP. Thanks for the advice on where to get the drivers for the SATA drive - at least I have the Motherboard disc :-) As for the viruses on the SATA drive, these were all found before I was asked to help. I know there are various trojans and spyware and someone else attempted to repair them - hence the now non-booting drive. I do know that the BIOS wasn't changed and the SATA drive attempted to boot, but wouldn't. I will check the settings as per your advice though and try again. I will attempt a repair of the SATA drive and have advised my friend to purchase a new Windows XP CD AND Norton!

Tell him not to buy norton! Norton is too intrusive and there are plenty of various free programs that will do a better job. Operating Costs = the cost of operating a business Profits = revenues over and above the operating costs. Taxes = operating costs mandated by gov. TaxPayer = what you are called by the gov.