Another ntldr problem

Another ntldr problem and I hope to get some directions on how to resolve, as each ntldr problem I read seems to have a different solution. Here’s some background information:

Disk 0: PATA 30 GB – C: (Main Drive) which has MCE 2005 and all applications.
Disk 1: PATA 120GB – has 2 partitions: D: (Data Drive) and E: (Backup Drive). I keep My Documents folder and other data files in my D drive and some of the old backup files in my E drive.
Disk 3: SATA 250GB – G: (Vista) with Vista
System is dual booted with default set to MCE.

My C drive is almost full (28.5GB), thus I want to create a new partition in the SATA drive and move my existing C drive to this new partition. So here’s what I have done:

In Disk Director Suite 10, I performed a “copy partition” which created a new Primary Active partition in the SATA drive, assigned a letter to this drive as H, named it as New Main, and copied all files from my C drive to the new H drive after several reboots by Acronis. Once the process was done, everything seemed to be back to normal, except that now I have an exact copy of my C drive in the H drive.

My next logical step obviously was to go back out to Bios Setup and change the CMOS to 1. disable my C drive; and 2. rearrange the boot sequence to boot from the SATA drive so that the computer will now boot from the H drive. After this, I went back in and got the missing NTLDR message… After searching around, I tried to fix the error by booting to Recovery Console using the XP/MCE Setup CD and running several commands including fixboot, fixmbr, bootcfg /rebuild, etc. and still got the same error message.

What did I miss? It seems like I have followed everything by the book. By the way, to make the situation worse, I only have one computer at home so I can’t just work on the system and check out the internet for solutions at the same time. Anything I read at work, I have to print them out, then follow the direction when I get home with hope that it will work and not screw up the system too badly. If it doesn’t work, I will have to wait for the next day to and try again…

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

masterng,

See "What's Wrong with the Microsoft Way?"

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/principles.htm

I think it covers your situation.

 

Thank you for your quick response. Somehow my work computer blocks this site. I'll try to stop by my friend's home later today to check it out.

 

masterng,

You may want to consider downloading and creating a Knoppix Live CD. You can get it here.

That way, you can boot your computer from the cd into Knoppix, access the internet, check the forum, download files, etc. even if your computer won't boot from the hard drive. (This is assuming that Knoppix works correctly on your computer.)

 

BartPE/ Reatogo XPE as well. Isn't it fascinating. Accessing the internet without a HD.

 

Thanks Brian. Very interesting article. So as a work around, I have deleted the new partition, and rebooted into Acronis using Acronis boot disk, and copied the partition from there with hope that the "old XP will not see the new partition, and the new XP will not see the old XP partition." Still no go... I don't have the ntldr error, but the computer couldn't get past the white scrolling bar along the bottom...

 

masterng,

I don't use the Microsoft Way of multi-booting but I understood Dan to mean that you "can't" do what you are attempting and maintain the dual boot. Easy to do if you use the Third-Party Way. Sorry. I hope I'm wrong.

You should be able to copy your Win XP to the SATA HD and get it to boot.

Maybe a silly question but does the original WinXP have SATA drivers installed?

 

I haven't copied a partition using DD but the general principles for partition cloning are to

copy into unallocated space (so a partition isn't seen before the copy is made)

don't assign a drive letter (let the new OS sort this out on first boot)

disconnect the old HD before the first boot to the new HD.

 

Hi Brian,
I think my bootdisk may have this driver included. As a mater of fact, once in the recovery console, I could browse my computer and see all harddrives including the SATA drive.

I did just that last night excepted that I didn't physically disconnect the old drive, instead I went to Bios to disable it there and changed the boot sequence to seek for SATA drive first. Still got the ntldr error, so I booted into recovery console again, ran a few commands to delete the boot.ini and rebuild it by bootcfg /rebuild. After a long wait, I got an error message with something like it can't complete the scan of a harddrive...

 

I am not microsoft crazy (linux is also very good for many operations), but if you install multiple windows from scratch they will not break down. No need to reinstall as they are solid as granite. I am still using windows ME and have never reinstalled, period. At work (a major University, with all of their research and hospital records, still uses ME!! with NO problems; this is the year 2007!!).

I have XP reinstalls for cleaning purposes only (utilities are mostly junk). Acronis does not do much better than microsoft if you are informed.

Propaganda aside, microsoft is better than you might expect-- just follow their recommendations to the letter. Of course you must be able to read and understand microsofts way of writing, which assumes that you are computer knowledgeable. Do not write off microsoft just because they don't write technical papers that are difficult. Acronis writes their manuals in an almost incomprehensible way. Microsoft at least has multiple articles to read and this is a way to understand them.

Acronis has only this forum without which it would be unable to cope with the multiple problems that crop up with the many different mechanical computer systems that present UNIQUE problems.

You must understand that using acronis requires a person to be a POWER USER in many or if not most cases, to perform the operations they say are easily done by the average user. On top of this acronis does not allow for an isolated partition in a multiboot situation.

OSS is far from allowing isolation, just use the microsoft utility "diskpart" and you will see that microsoft knows the letter, the size and the operating system to the point of being able to rebuild a correct boot.ini file of hidden partitions after a crash on many computers! Is this isolation? No it is only a claim to it.

Isolation is an imaginary myth that the uniformed strive for. To get true isolation you need a mechanical system of switches that disable hard drives from a control console. This costs thousands of dollars which only institutions can afford.

Acronis does provide 50 dollars worth of software if you are the few in which it works 100% correctly. If not you need this forum.

 

If you want TRUE ISOLATION, you can just use removable drive trays. They only cost a few bucks and are very easy to use. There are also "switches" that can be used that don't cost "thousands" of dollars.

 

masterng,

Thanks for all the details. It's weird. Why don't you now try the image/restore route? But what you tried should have worked.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=182824#24

Actually, at the ntldr error stage, it would be interesting to see what DD says about the partition slots and the boot.ini.

 

Amazing how prices on HARD DRIVE SWITCHES have dropped. 180 bucks to boot two OS's in isolation is cheap if this is paramount to your philosophy of computing.

For my setup it would require two of the more expensive 400/410 units to boot 5 to 7 OS's = $506 US. Plus $800 US for 4 enterprise drives on sale = 1,306 total US dollars for booting independently. Much cheaper than 5 years ago. (A steep decline in prices that remind me of my first VCR which cost approx $800 and the newest one for the garage cost only $42!)

1306$ more or less.

I think I'll stick with my present method.

My apologies to masterng for the tangential posts. Trigger happy on some subjects.

Won't happen again.