Starting Over - Need instruction

[mrman]

OK. Here is what I want to do.

I have a 20GB HDD that my XP is on. I have a 80GB that misc files are on.

I want to make the 80GB the primary with the OS and have the 20 GB as additional storage.

Where do I start? I don't want to xfer the old OS with an image since it is time st start out fresh. Are there physical things I need to do, i.e. change jumpers?

I have many software tools like Partition Magic to help out.

I'm looking to start this project Sat night and wanted to have some info before I go down.

Thanks

[Dr.Gibbs]

All you have to do is use the Windows XP setup software to create a 20 GB partition on the 20 GB drive, and an 80 GB partition on the 80 GB drive. This will erase everything on both drives. You can then select the 80 GB drive as the system volume.

If you want the 80 GB drive to be C:\, then make sure it's set to be the master on IDE0.

[mrman]

I am ok with clearing the 20GB, but not the 80 GB. It has my backups, data, music, software, etc.

Physically, I need to swap the IDE cables that these drives are connected to so that the 80GB is now on IDE0..correct?

then, I can use the XP setup software to make the first partition (an empty one that I make) the C:\, install XP, then later format the 20GB....correct?

[Dr.Gibbs]

The 80 GB drive should be the master on IDE0 if you want it to be C:\, since Windows assigns drive letters in order (IDE0-M, IDE0-S, IDE1-M, IDE1-S). So, yeah, you'll have to swap the cables if it's not already there.

I'm pretty sure Windows XP's setup will allow you to create more than one partition. If this is true, you could format the 20 GB drive and create your OS partition on the 80 GB drive at the same time. This would probably be better, actually... that way, you'll never have two copies of XP installed at the same time.

If you have a way to back your stuff up, you should do it before you try anything

[ahmedalmatook]

I understand that your 20Gig is a master drive, what about your 80Gig, is it secondary master or primary slave?
if secondary master then swapping the IDE cable will be fine, but if primary slave, then you need to take it out and look at the jumper connection of the hard drive at the back of the HDD "it should be near the IDE connection port of the HDD"
you will need to set the 80Gig HDD as a master.
Regards
Ahmed

[mrman]

OK.
Note first: I am using a promise 100 card. I have both HDD on it, with the cd-rom and cd-rw/zip on the MOBO .

I have switched jumpers on the HDD's and rebooted with the XP disk. It correctly sees the 80GB as the first drive with the first partition as C. Unfortunately it will not let me install on this partition. It says that

this disk does not contain a Windows XP-Compatible partition

How do I make it compatible. The instructions tell my to return to the screen above and create an XP- compatible partion, but when I return, there is no option to create it.

It asks me to delete it and create a new one. I deleted c: and recreated the free space. It now says new (raw) but not NTFS as the other partions do.

Any Ideas? stuck here.

mr man

[SuperSparks]

Now that you've done that you should be able to partition and fromat during XP Setup. But if you still can't then boot up with the XP disc and go to the Recovery Console. At the command prompt create a partition using "Diskpart /add" then format it with "Format C: /fs:ntfs". Have a good read of this first:

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console

[mrman]

Thanks. I tried the format c: and it changed to ntfs yet it wiped all data in all 4 partitions. was it supposed to do that? that is very painful

And if that wasn't bad enough, I am still getting the same response, saying it is not a XP-compatible partition.

I tried fixboot c: but that didn't work either.

other ideas?

[ahmedalmatook]

HI

Black Viper have the information for you on a very easy step by step methode.
hope it helps
Ahmed

[mrman]

Thanks for the link, but it is not working. www.blackviper.com does not work either.

I have narrowed it down to what I think is a simple problem. I need the 80GB main partition to be a system partition. It is a c drive, and is bootable, but not a system drive.

Right now, the old 20GB HDD partition is the system drive. Thus, if I switch jumpers and make the 80GB the Master, it gives me a boot error.
However, if I leave the 20GB as the master, it give ma 2 XP boot options. Both work fine as far as I can tell.

How do you make a drive a system drive? Can you do it in DISKPART?

Other info:
When in the original XP, the disk management names both partitions as active.
When in the new XP, the disk management names the 20 GB (which is C) the system while the new partition is Boot.

[ahmedalmatook]

Thanks for the link, but it is not working

it is working, I have just tried it one more time

[mrman]

OK here iswhere I am now.

I used my Seagate install SW to transfer files from the 20GB to the 80GB, which allowed it to be a system drive. I then rebooted and switched jumpers.

Now here's the weird part, it still booted to the 20GB and it was the C drive, even though it is not the master. So, I unplugged the 20GB, and it now boots to the 80GB just fine, but it is a D drive. I HAVE NO C drive at all.

Disk manager will not let you change a drive letter on a system drive.

Any Ideas? It plays havoc with future installs when you do not have a C

Thanks,
Tim