Dual booting, new hard disk and NTLDR etc

[ukdave]

Hi all

Little bit complicated this one - sorry! I have got myself into a bit of a muddle I think and it is getting beyond me. Let me explain please...

A few weeks ago I formatted and installed 2 operating systems on 2 hard disks. Dual booted with Win 98SE on first disk and Win 2000 Professional on the first partition of the other one. The second partition of that disk is just for STORAGE. All going fine and then SMART came up and indicated that DISK FAILURE was imminent on the first hard disk. Forum indicated that I should back up and replace hard disk like NOW...

OK, took advice so far and purchased hard disk and backed up what I can on to CD-ROMs. Now as I was doing all this I came across somewhere (can't recall) this thing about 2 files - (a) NTLDR and (b) NTDETECT.COM

They seem to be the necessary files somewhere on disk one that enable me to have the double boot menu choice and therefore reach Win 2000. Perhaps?... or have I got this wrong! Is it BOOT.INI?

Can I therefore copy those 2 files onto a CD-ROM and then when my new disk is formatted - copy these to the hard disk plus BOOT.INI and just carry on loading up Win 2000 as I do at present. In effect just for this discussion, leaving that first hard disk just for storage.

Or is the above just too simple and the bottom line being - I am going to lose my current configuration of Win 2000 completely, and have to start again. This time just install Win 2000 on the new hard disk and using the currently second one for storage.

Apologies for the back and fro points of the above. It just lets you know how I am getting out of my depth and am in need of someone with technical know how to explain my next moves!

Personally I would like to leave that second disk exactly as it is - no alterations. Then use my new disk as additional storage. I think somewhere there is a boot area (is it called MBR?) I have to include instructions to boot up to Win 2000 in the first place.

This other file BOOT.INI - would I have to copy and edit this so as the references to C:\ = "Microsoft Windows" were deleted leaving only references to Win 2000 and so on...? Here's a copy of that file.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=signature(8b743ae6)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
signature(8b743ae6)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows"

Finally I believe I read somewhere something to the effect that my Win 2000 Original CD-ROM can repair booting problems. Would that be possible. Could I boot up from CD-ROM and have it "see" the second hard disk and put necessary files on the first disk for loading.

Gosh - I know this is difficult. But for a beginner...like me it is "bewildering". I am sure there are better words others could find...!! But that is why I joined the Forum in August this year - to learn, and so far it has been really helpful to me. In fact just trying to keep this older computer going OK so I can keep on this Forum that alone is teaching me a lot. Hopefully when I begin to put the parts together of my new one, this learning will prove to be invaluable and stand me in good stead.

Anyway as usual - to all you that solve most things - many many thanks for even just READING THIS.
David

[GaryRouth]

You have a couple of ways to go, depending on whether or not you want to keep Win98 in the picture.

If you want to keep a dual-boot with Win98, using the new drive to replace the older one (currently sending the error warnings) - you can
1) take a chance and just use the Disk Copy utility to transfer you current setup on the older drive to the new one [this might fail if the drive is not operating well enough] (most new hard drives will come with such a utility on a CD, or you can download the tools from the manufacturer's website)
2) install Win98 fresh on either all or a portion of your new drive, then boot with your Win2000 disk and use the "fixboot" utility to find your two Windows systems and correctly setup the boot.ini file for you. If you're not familiar with the "fixboot" routine and the Recovery Console, you could also just boot from the Win2000 CD and type "R" for "repair" = and try selecting the "Emergency Repair", which includes the fixboot routine as part of its work. Either of these strategies should yield your multiboot system again.

If you want to leave behind Win98, and go with just Win2000 and lots and lots of storage, you can just boot with the Win2000 CD, run a repair installation (which should place the Win2000 bootloader and hardware detect files on your Win2000 system drive [NTLDR and NTDetect] ) and then add your new drive whenever you're ready as an extra NTFS drive.... Win2000 can detect, partition, and format it for you (you'll use it's Disk Management tools).

. . . Gary

[ukdave]

Originally Posted by GaryRouth If you want to leave behind Win98, and go with just Win2000 and lots and lots of storage, you can just boot with the Win2000 CD, run a repair installation (which should place the Win2000 bootloader and hardware detect files on your Win2000 system drive [NTLDR and NTDetect] ) and then add your new drive whenever you're ready as an extra NTFS drive.... Win2000 can detect, partition, and format it for you (you'll use it's Disk Management tools).. . . Gary

Gary - Many thanks for such a detailed answer. It helps a great deal.
The quote extract above is the one I want to go with - so can you please clarify something for me.

Where you say "add your new drive whenever you're ready as an extra NTFS drive....". I am using FAT32. This NTFS is it something I should be using as I am not clear about these file systems.

So to summarize. Do I first, remove my current Primary Master hard disk that is giving me a problem? Now that just leaves the Primary Slave disk containing Win 2000. Do I have then to alter the jumper position on the disk (where it is currently jumpered as Slave) to Master; also must I connect it to the IDE connector being previously used by the faulty disk and then follow your instructions above.

Grateful for your help on this and thanks for everything.
....David

[GaryRouth]

Yes, seems like this would be a good order of things:

1) Remove the older, failing drive from the system
2) Make your current Win2000 the Primary Master (if you jumper with Master/Slave, set the jumper to Master; if you jumper with Cable Select, set the jumper to the Cable Select setting, and connect to the last plug on your 80wire IDE cable [farthest from the motherboard]).
3) Boot from the Win2000 CD - and choose "R" for "repair". This should setup the Win2000 partition as active and create a usable boot.ini and Master Boot Record (mbr).
You'll no longer see any boot menu, since you'll only have one operating system. The computer should boot straight into Win2000.
4) When the time comes to add your new drive, you can format it with either FAT32 or NTFS. FAT32 is usually used for dual-boot situations, so that Win9x systems can "see" data on the Win2k/XP partition. NTFS is Win2000's native file system, and there are some advantages - less performance loss as very large drives fill up, and some extra security features. You can set it up either way, really - and you can convert FAT32 to NTFS without loss of data, simply by using the Disk Management tools included with Windows 2000. You can't easily go back to FAT32 after converting to NTFS, though - because the NTFS adds attributes that FAT32 doesn't have.

If the new drive is mostly going to be storage for large media collections, you could make it the Primary Slave - assuming that you might have a CD or DVD burner/player that is the Secondary Master (for better performance on stressful burns or movie playback).

Have fun with your new drive - they are so whisper quiet these days you can't tell they're there.
. . . Gary

[ukdave]

Originally Posted by GaryRouth ......... You'll no longer see any boot menu, since you'll only have one operating system. The computer should boot straight into Win2000. 4) When the time comes to add your new drive, you can format it with either FAT32 or NTFS. FAT32 is usually used for dual-boot situations, so that Win9x systems can "see" data on the Win2k/XP partition. NTFS is Win2000's native file system, and there are some advantages - less performance loss as very large drives fill up, and some extra security features. You can set it up either way, really - and you can convert FAT32 to NTFS without loss of data, simply by using the Disk Management tools included with Windows 2000. You can't easily go back to FAT32 after converting to NTFS, though - because the NTFS adds attributes that FAT32 doesn't have. If the new drive is mostly going to be storage for large media collections, you could make it the Primary Slave - assuming that you might have a CD or DVD burner/player that is the Secondary Master (for better performance on stressful burns or movie playback). Have fun with your new drive - they are so whisper quiet these days you can't tell they're there. . . . Gary

Brilliant response Gary. Fully understood and will follow all your helpful instructions. Printed it all off to deal with a little later. Thanks for coming back so soon. I hope this will help others that come to read and maybe find themselves in a similar situation at some future time.

Once again. Thanks a lot.
....David