Boot Sector.

[ryan954]

I recently built a new pc. I bought a brand new 80GB SATA hard drive and took the 20GB IDE hard drive from my old PC. I installed Windows XP Pro on the 80GB hard drive. The boot sector, due to the 20GB already having the boot sector from my old PC, was written to the 20GB drive. I now want to remove the 20GB hard drive and leave in just the 80GB hard drive, but since the boot secotr is on the 20GB, the computer does not boot to Windows XP Pro on the 80GB hard drive. Is there a way to transfer the boot sector from the 20GB to the 80GB? I am not real familiar with the boot sector, so the easiest way you can give me to do this procedure would be appreciated.

 

[flexy]

i dont know what you mean with 'transferring' the boot-sector. What i do is use PartitionMagic and set the partition/drive i wanna boot onto as 'active'. Use a tool like partitionmagic (or fdisk), and set the primary partition of the new boot HD as 'active'. should work.

 

[DragonFire]

The easiest way would be to disconnect the 20GB drive and reinstall XP onto the 80GB. Once XP is installed you can reconnect the 20GB.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: DragonFire
The easiest way would be to disconnect the 20GB drive and reinstall XP onto the 80GB. Once XP is installed you can reconnect the 20GB.

see above. he says he already installed it on the 80G. Why do it twice when all he needs is to set the HD/new partition as active ?

Edit: There is also a very good free tool called "BootIt NG" which allows a lot of partition-work and AFAIK also creating a bootsector and stuff.

BootIt NG

 

[ryan954]

What do I do when using fdisk? This will work if I set the partion that Windows XP Pro is installed on as active on the 80GB using fdisk? I then can take out the 20GB and the computer will boot to Windows XP Pro, correct?

 

[flexy]

yes. If this wont work (for any reason)..try that "bootit ng" program...eg create a floppy disk with it and then create the boot-record on the 80gig HD on it.

fdisk usage guide (i ONLY use partition magic, lol, i did not use fdisk in ages...)

http://www.blackviper.com/Arti.../images/image1_15.html

be sure to set fdisk "current fixed drive" to the right drive number, eg. press 4 for looking at the info to make sure its on the right HD...then set 'active' pressing "2"..and/or read this guide there for more info on fdisk.

Edit: it should boot with or without the 20gig nevertheless ebcause only ONE drive, the boot drive can be active at one time. If everything works ok botting on the 80 gig then you should be able to remove the 20G.

 

[DragonFire]

If XP is still installed on the 20GB drive, bootup into windows with the SATA drive installed. Right click on the My Computer Icon, choose Manage, find Disk Management to the left. Pick the 80GB drive, right click on the drive in the listing and then make partition active.