urgent help needed - how to make a hard drive bootable

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urgent help needed - how to make a hard drive bootable

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cynik

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I got 2 hard drives, and 2 windows on em, first (old) one is used for internet and storage. divided into 2 partitions, first one (C:) is just a 10gb partition with windows on it and the second (D:) for storage. the second hard drive is 1 partition (E:) and its used for apps and audio

the old one is dying and keeps rebooting, after reboot bios often doesnt even recognise it, after checking it there are deff. bad sectors on it

so at times I cant boot the other one at all

I know the thing is with the boot.ini, but it is on C:

when I unplug the first one I get the message about how theres no bootable drives so XP can't load

I need to make the new E: bootable, but there is already XP on it....

is there a way of making it bootable without reinstalling everything again ???
could it be that if I simply copy the boot.ini to the new drive it would make it bootable??? seems risky and I dont want to fuck up everything

please answer fast

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This post has been edited 6 time(s), it was last edited by cynik: 28-06-2008 19:55.

28-06-2008 19:44

cynik

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comeon peeps..... please tell me I don't have to reinstall everything

thats such a pain in these hot days

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28-06-2008 20:35

Krisch Krisch is a male

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Im not a big head in this but i think if your new HD has an installed windows You have to set the jumpers to primary master and it will boot from that in case the first is unplugged. If its plugged you should try to change the boot source (or something like) in BIOS to the new HD.
I hope i could help.

28-06-2008 22:33

cynik

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theres no jumpers on it since its a sata. try again

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29-06-2008 00:44

thechronic thechronic is a male

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If you think the drive is dying you should back up all data on it asap, a cranky drive can die any moment and the data can be lost irretrievably.

Best thing you can do is to boot the PC using a linux live CD (eg Ubuntu) - download the iso, burn it on a CD and boot the computer using the CD. You might need to go into the BIOS to change the boot priority to be able to boot from CD-ROM. You will get a working environment which you can use to back up the drive to eg an external USB drive (or your E: drive) and save your precious data.
Then buy a new drive, reinstall Windows and retrieve your data from the backup.

The second best thing you can do is to actually boot the drive using a boot toolkit. I always use Super Grub Disk to try to fix computers that don't boot. It's a bit confusing to use first time but it lets you boot any partition, as well as fix or overwrite broken / corrupt boot sectors for Windows and Linux. Same procedure, download iso, burn it, boot from CD-ROM.
Then continue using the drive until it breaks down completely and lose all your data.

It does sound like you will have to get a new drive and reinstall in the near future. Doing a reinstall every 6 or 12 months is good for you, it's like getting a new computer for free Smile

Good luck!

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29-06-2008 02:40

thechronic thechronic is a male

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Now that I have properly read your post:

you can use Super Grub Disk to make your E: drive bootable Big Grin

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29-06-2008 02:52

Muad'Dib Muad'Dib is a male

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quote:

Originally posted by thechronic
...
It does sound like you will have to get a new drive and reinstall in the near future. Doing a reinstall every 6 or 12 months is good for you, it's like getting a new computer for free Smile

...

Hmm, I almost never format the whole drive and reinstall everything, and I don't suffer from performance issues either. But I guess cleaning, organizing and defragmenting really pays off. Big Grin

@cynik: you can edit your boot.ini file to make it boot from e:, or just turn off the bad hard drive, and switch the second one as Master. If it boots, then attach the first one as Slave.

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29-06-2008 13:57

cynik

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what the hell lol. I boot that super grub but what are all those options? is there an easy solution to making my hd bootable? posting from my fone lol

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29-06-2008 15:51

cynik

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no, I couldn't make it boot but I found a workaround Big Grin

I used an external usb drive to backup stuff from the first drive

its being used now only because its bootable and lets me select the XP from the working hd, where in windows I disabled the IDE controller altogether so windows doesnt even know it's there once it loads, all that to prevent it even accessing it thus causing reboots and blocks

so now I have a situation where the windows I use for apps is connected to the internet which is not really good but it will hold until I get a new drive

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30-06-2008 01:15

CULTURE BOY CULTURE BOY is a male

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boil the kettle ( or a pan of water if at hand ) then pour over said hard drive.

sorry mate.

no help lol Big Grin

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30-06-2008 02:22

thechronic thechronic is a male

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quote:

Originally posted by cynik
what the hell lol. I boot that super grub but what are all those options? is there an easy solution to making my hd bootable? posting from my fone lol

Super Grub is the easiest solution I know.

- Choose your language ("English Super Grub Disk")
- Choose which OS you want to fix ("Windows")

Then you have the following options which should be clear:
- Fix Boot of Windows
- Boot Windows
- Boot Windows from 2nd Hard Disk
- Activate Partition of Windows

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02-07-2008 08:52

cynik

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yeah, later on I found those but it don't work for some reason. it recognises my windows installation but when I choose any of the options like "repair..." it says its an "invalid device" Confused

fresh reinstal is going to have to happen.........

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02-07-2008 13:06

drumnbass.be forum » Drumnbass scene » Offtopic banter » urgent help needed - how to make a hard drive bootable