Boot/Hard Drive issue

[gstope]

I got something bad in my computer and have been trying to correct the problem. I have two 80 gb hard drives. I tried to reformat using the windows xp cd but it would not reformat the whole drive or zero the drive as I have read about on this forum. I was going to use the dban boot image to erase the hard drive and start everything all over again.

I copied all of the files that I needed to the 2nd hard drive D: and then prior to booting using the dban disc, I removed the D: drive from my system. As I try to start up the system, my computer will not boot with out the 2nd hard drive. I was wanting to verify that I have the right disk with my data before I reformat anything. The only way I can get the computer to load windows is to have both hard drives installed.

I also took the second hard drive to another computer to see if I could see the contents of the D: hard drive. When I installed this disk on the 2nd computer, I get an OS error message and nothing else. I used the 2nd ide connector for the extra hard drive.

The interesting thing I see is that I cannot boot on one computer with this hard drive and I have to have the hard drive to boot on the original computer.

On the original computer, I have installed zone alarm, avast and avg antivirus programs.

Any suggestions on what to try or why this is happening would be appreciated.

[EzyStvy]

Sounds like you need to go into the BIOS and change the Boot Sequence to boot off the cd drive first.

[gstope]

I can get into the bios to boot from the cd drive but I want to make sure that i am able to read what is on the second hard drive. I just want to reformat the first hard drive C: and keep the contents of the second hard drive D:

I read a comment that GLC made in another thread that sugesseted removing the second hard driive. Upon more reading, I found that the dban program can/will reformat all hard drives in the computer. I really do not want to do that as I want to keep the contents of the D: drive but I am afraid that i will not be able to read the data on that drive if I reformat the C: because there is something installed that requires the C and D hard drives to be matched?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by gstope I can get into the bios to boot from the cd drive but I want to make sure that i am able to read what is on the second hard drive. I just want to reformat the first hard drive C: and keep the contents of the second hard drive D:

Be sure to disconnect the D: drive from the motherboard before you format/zero-fill.

Originally Posted by gstope I read a comment that GLC made in another thread that sugesseted removing the second hard driive. Upon more reading, I found that the dban program can/will reformat all hard drives in the computer.

DBan doesn't format the hard drive, it zero-fills it...the two processes are totally different.

Originally Posted by gstope I really do not want to do that as I want to keep the contents of the D: drive but I am afraid that i will not be able to read the data on that drive if I reformat the C: because there is something installed that requires the C and D hard drives to be matched?

No, the only time there would be a minor problem is if you install programs to D: as well as use D: as data storage. If you did that then you wouldn't be able to use the programs on D: after you did a format/reinstall on C:...you would have to reinstall all the programs that are installed on D: in order for them to work again.

But if your D: drive is strickly for data storage then there'll be no problems...the drives work independently from each other.

Cricket

[glc]

To use DBAN, you do not boot into Windows, you boot with a floppy or CD. Disconnect the drive you don't want to format, leave the one you do connected, and boot with the DBAN floppy or CD. Leave the data drive disconnected till you get Windows reinstalled on the other drive.

[gstope]

Thanks for the replies Cricket and glc.

I understand what you have told me. The questions I have is how come I cannot start my computer with the D: drive disconnected? Does windows install on both the C and D drives?

My thinking is that I should be able to start my computer by disconnecting the D: drive but I cannot do this and I am concerned. The reason I wanted to do this is to make sure I pulled the right drive as the C and D drives are identical and I can only tell the difference by the jumper (master/slave) settings. I want to make sure that I reformat the correct drive.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by gstope I understand what you have told me. The questions I have is how come I cannot start my computer with the D: drive disconnected? Does windows install on both the C and D drives?

No, it's a precaution against user error. You don't want to accidentally format or zero-fill the wrong HDD. Even I do this and I've been working on computers for 10 years...it's just a precaution in case I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing...don't want to lose anyone's data.

Originally Posted by gstope My thinking is that I should be able to start my computer by disconnecting the D: drive but I cannot do this and I am concerned. The reason I wanted to do this is to make sure I pulled the right drive as the C and D drives are identical and I can only tell the difference by the jumper (master/slave) settings. I want to make sure that I reformat the correct drive.

Are the jumpers set to master/slave or CS (cable select)? If CS, the hard drive on the end of the cable is the master or C: drive (black connector) and the hard drive on the middle connector is the slave or D: drive (grey connector).

If the hard drives are using the master/slave settings then it should be easy to figure out which is which.

Cricket

[gstope]

The jumpers are set as master and slave.

When I pull the slave hard drive and try to start the computer I get a disk boot failure insert system disk error?

What would cause that?

[glc]

You cannot jumper a WD to either master or slave if there is not a second drive on the cable. You must either remove the jumper for single operation or jumper the drives CS (cable select) which is the RIGHT way to do it when you have a 80 wire Ultra ATA cable. The master goes on the end, the slave goes on the middle.

[gstope]

Thanks glc, I'll try that when I get home tomorrow. I did not know that about the single operation of the wd hard drives. I'll let you know how that works.

[gstope]

That was it glc. I removed the jumper and was able to start my computer and check that I have the right drive to zero. Now comes the fun part, using DBAN.

Thanks for the assistance.

[gstope]

Well, everything worked. I just forgot about all of the Windows updates and the time it takes. Everything seems to be working. Time will tell.

Thanks again for the assistance!