Reformat, clean install, swap hds???

[xp-novice]

I am a novice with windows. I have ME installed on a 20
GB drive (C drive) that came with the Dell. Last month I
installed an 80 GB drive which got the name of E drive. I
installed XP on it. I wanted to insure that things would
go smoothly in XP before committing to it for good. I
don't know why I took so long in coming over. I love it.

Now for my dilemma. I want to get rid of ME for good. I
would also like the 80 gig to be my C drive (if not too
difficult to do).

Can I just reposition the drives in the case or must they
be reformatted to change their names?

If it is too much work getting the 80 gig to be the C
then how do I go about getting XP (with all my settings
and files) over to the 20 gig?

Please be patient, I am an expert Mac guy but have only
been delving into the Windows world over the last year.
Call me a beggining intermediate.

Rick

[bonzai]

How to Make Your 80 GB your C:

1) Copy your c:\boot.ini to e:\boot.ini. Edit your e:\boot.ini system file. Look closely where your Windows paths are pointed to and which Windows is the default.

Make sure your 'default' line under [boot loader] will now point drive c:\ (the line really means first hard drive 1st partition) so that the line looks like this:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

Also make sure your Windows XP will now point to drive c:\ also like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

After you done editing, save it back to e:\boot.ini.

2.) Take apart your computer, remove your 20 GB so that you make your 80 GB the primary drive.

3) Boot up your computer and make sure your 80 GB is recognized as primary in BIOS.

4) Boot up into your XP CDROM and go into Recovery Console. At the command line interface, enter the command 'fixboot' or 'fixmbr' so that it fixes c:\. Also copy the file 'ntldr' from your XP CD to your c:\.

5) Reboot and you should load into Windows

[xp-novice]

Thank you bonzai, but before I begin can I ask you a couple questions? As I noted in my original post I am a novice so a few of these things are tough for me to grasp.

From my experience when you mean copy, you mean open c:\boot.ini in something like Notepad, copy the text and then open e:\boot.ini and paste it there, am I correct?

Then you say "look closely where your Windows paths are pointed" but I don't understand this. Won't the text point to the WINDOWS on the old e:drive? Maybe I could use some more leadership in this area, for instance, how do I point Windows XP to drive c:\? Where is that done?

I understand the other steps but when can I put the 20 gig drive back in as a slave? (I do need to change the master/slave settings also, right?)

And if this isn't long enough, when I reboot the 20 gig drive I would like to reformat it so it is erased completely of Windows ME. I only want to use it for storage. I don't know the commands for this procedure either.

I appreciate your time in helping me.

Rick

[bonzai]

To copy, I mean to open Windows Explorer. Right click on the file c:\boot.ini and hit copy. Then go to your e:\ drive, and paste it there. Then you can open e:\boot.ini with Notepad and edit it.

Now study this file closely. Notice the path entry for your Windows XP. Assuming that XP is currently on your 2nd hard drive, which is a slave, and is installed on your 1st partition, then your path entry should look something like this with rdisk(1)partition(1).

Now, our goal is to move XP so that it becomes the first hard drive 1st partition. So now, you must change 2 lines in that file - the one that points to your XP operating system and the one that specifies your default operating system. The goal is that your rdisk value is now rdisk(0). Look at my first post to see the exact entry.

Once you finished editing, save it. Then you are free to switch your hard drives around. Yes you will have to make XP the master and ME the slave. When you done with this part, go back to my first post to continue to see what to do from there.

When your XP is finally up and running, we'll then talk about formatting your ME drive as it is alot of info and should take it one step at a time.

[xp-novice]

The boot.ini file from Drive c:\ is shown below:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

If I understand you correctly I just need to swap the two operating systems like so:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"

[bonzai]

No no. This is exactly what it should look like. All you need to do is change the rdisk value.

[boot loader]
timeout=8
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
E:\="Microsoft Windows ME"

[xp-novice]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'll do this tomorrow, so will be back for the reformat lesson then.

Rick

P.S. I thought of one more question. You said "Copy your c:\boot.ini to e:\boot.ini" in your first post. Is there already a boot.ini file there on e:\? In other words, will I get one of those messages, 'Do you want to replace..."?

[bonzai]

Currently, there should be no e:\boot.ini, which is where your XP is at right now.

[xp-novice]

OK the process has begun but I have run into a snag. After reaching Restore Console and figuring out which 'Windows installation' I wanted to log onto (1 not c).

I tried 'fixboot' but it returned the message "FIXBOOT cannot find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid.

Then I tried 'fixmbr' and things began to happen. It began with "This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record. FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed. blah, blah, blah. I answered 'yes' to writing a new MBR. (hope that was the right thing to do) It finished with "The new master boot record has been successfully written." Followed by another C prompt. I don't know how to reboot from here (remember I am not a Windows person)

ALSO- - -you said to copy the file 'ntldr' from the XP CD at this point. How do I do that via this prompt view?

P.S. It looks like I am almost there. When do I reconnect the 20 gig?

[bonzai]

what drive is your CD drive? e: or f: ? Either way fit it to your needs. Type this command:

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\


You can reconnect your 20GB as a slave whenever you feel like.

[xp-novice]

OK, I rebooted but I get "Primary hard disk drive 1 not found."

I'm confused, is the primary drive 0 or 1? When originally asked running the Recovery Console "Which windows installation I wanted to log onto" I chose 1 (0 returned "Invalid selection") to run the 'fixmbr' prompt. I only have one drive in at the time (the 20 gig is not connected).

And yes the 80 gig is recognized as the primary drive 0 when I F2'd into the BIOS. Drive 1 shows 'unrecognized.'

[xp-novice]

Since the Setup Utillity said that the Primary Drive 1 was 'not recognized' (of course it wouldn't, there is nothing there) I selected 'off.' I then rebooted but now all I get is "strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility."

Please don't abandon me now!!!

I'm desperate.

[bonzai]

Hmm? Your BIOS can't find your hard drive now? Why don't you set them to auto. You made the 80gig the Master right.

[xp-novice]

Yes, I have the 80 gig set up as master and according to Western Digital that means pins 5-6 jumpered. The 20 gig is set to slave with pins 3-4 jumpered.

Set to auto? Do you mean in the Setup Utility?

I have and primary drive 0 returns 'Hard Drive' (which is the 80 gig) and primary drive 1 returns 'unknown device.'

I've decided to deal with one problem at a time so have removed the 20gig. I set the 80 gig, according to company instructions as the only hard drive installed, to jump 4-6.

It still won't boot. Is it possible that since the 80 gig was originally the e:\ drive that I misinterpreted something you said in your instructions? My understanding was that everything 'e' should have been redirected to 'c' pathways using the FIXMBR command. Is this correct?

[xp-novice]

Also, the Setup Utility is recognizing the Primary Drive 0 as the 80 gig. Doesn't this stand to reason that it recognizes the drive? I guess what you are saying is that the BIOS (don't have a clue what that is) does not see our new boot.ini file. Right?

Could the boot.ini file be incorrect now that I don't have the 20 gig installed?

[xp-novice]

One thing that nags me a little is when I attempted the 'fixmbr' command I got a message beginning with "This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record. FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed." Was this normal to see or a real warning that I had done something wrong in the boot.ini file? I assumed it was looking at the boot.ini file and saying "Whoa, you have all your paths set to an 'e' drive, are you sure you know what you are doing?

Right or wrong?

[xp-novice]

This may sound like a really dumb question to you but 'where exactly was I suppose to put that boot.ini file on the 80 gig?' I just dropped it on the hard drive icon (assuming this was the root level). Was it suppose to go into a different folder?

Am I overloading you with questions?

P.S. I need to go to the gym and work off a little stress. I will be back in about an hour. I hope to hear from you by then.

[bonzai]

Yeah, supposed to be at the root.

[xp-novice]

I will go to the gym later. Do you have any answers to my other posts? Any suggestions? Or am I headed to a PC repair shop?

[xp-novice]

I found an answer to one of my questions about running 'fixmbr' at a Microsoft site: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;266745

The end result was:

Writing new master boot record on physical drive
\Device\Harddisk0\Partition0.
The new master boot record has been successfully written.

Should have been OK then.

Not what?

[xp-novice]

Disregard all the above.

I spent $60 and had someone help me fix it.

Thanks anyway.