Where am i booting from?

Hi,

I have had the strangest experience.

My 160G Western Digital SATA Hard Disk which housed my OS, had some software issues. I had made an image two days ago on my 250G Seagate HDD and restored it to a spare 120G Hitachi PATA HDD.

This was done via True Image 8 in Windows.

Upon completion, i had set the Western Digital not to be bootable form the BIOS, and shifted the boot priority of the Hitachi PATA HDD above the WD (old HDD).

Upon booting, there were white bars at the bottom of the screen after the POST screen. Using my Windows XP Home Edition CD, i ran recovery console and ran fixmbr and bootcfg /rebuild, adding the installation on the new HDD.

After this, it was successful and i manged to logon to Windows.

Now, this is what puzzles me.

During restoration, i had set the Hitachi HDD (disk to be restored to) as ACTIVE and as G:.

1. I had imagined that after bootup, since i was booting from this drive (Hitachi, new HDD), it would become C:. Am i right? Because when i looked into explorer, my old HDD was still as C:. And My Documents, all pointed to the directory from C:?

2. Is it possible that you booted from 1 HDD but ran windows from another HDD? I am confused on this part. I.E, is it possible that i am running windows from G: (Hitachi) and yet the rest of the applications is running from C: (the old WD HDD)

3. I have noticed that if i disconnected my SATA WD HDD (the old HDD), i am unable to logon (no user account appears in the windows logon screen.)

4.While using the recovery console, the drives appear as C: and D:. Yet in windows they appear as C: and G:. Also, how i know which drive is C: and which is D: in the recovery console? Is there any way to set it?

Thanks for reading my post. I think i lack the appropriate knowledge to tackle the issue. Please advise me.

 

In an additional note,

1. I ran Disk Management and noted that:
Disk 0 -> refered to my new HDD (Hitachi)
Disk 1-> refered to my old HDD (WD)

2. QN: Is this Disk 0 and 1, the same numbering as used in the POST?

3. I suspect the boot.ini has a part to play. I have noticed that the boot.ini can be used to boot from another hard disk drive.

4. In any case, my boot.ini in G: (Hitachi, new HDD)is like this,
[boot loader]
timeout=30
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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /noguiboot /bootlogo


_________________________________________________________________

while the boot.ini in C: (WD, old HDD) is,

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="WD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 1" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /noguiboot /bootlogo
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 3"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 4"

The multiple entries were for me earlier to test which rdisk and which partition each HDD is?

I am still confused. Though, i think we only need to concentrate on the boot.ini in G: since the WD HDD is set unbootable in the BIOS.

 

Sorry, for so many posts in a short period.

Another point to note is that, the software issues that i had experienced in the old HDD
(like being unable to move/copy/cut/paste items,
items not appearing on the taskbar
windows key not working)

have disappeared.

Moreover, my previous settings such as
1. icon placement in start menu
2. icons on desktop
were reverted to my old image, i.e. the image residing on the new HDD.

Does that mean that the computer is indeed booting from the new HDD (Hitachi) yet Windows still reports the drive as G:?

 

Hi,

Upon using the computer for a period.

I have discovered indeed i am booting from G:

I.E.

iTunes, which stores its files in the my music folder, in this case, G: had old records of my iTunes library and the podcasts were all ununpdated.

My Documents refers to the G:

in the earlier post where i had commented My Documents resided on C:, was because i had chosen to use a shortcut on the desktop which was linked to C:.

I attempted to use the Disk Management tool to change the drive letter of C:, but i could not do so, as it was being used for the page file.

Any ideas?

Thanks once again.

 

Only way to be sure is to disconnect the original C drive. Open the case and just pull the power connector from the drive.

 

Hello Fold,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please be aware that we recommend you to unplug one of the hard drives prior to booting into Windows, since keeping both original and cloned hard drives connected might cause different boot, drive letter assignment or even logon problems.

Please also note that these problems are not related to Acronis software, but to some Windows peculiarities. If you have any questions on how to change the drive letter or location of a page file and the like then I would recommend you to contact Microsoft Support Team.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post them on this forum starting the new thread for each separate issue. We will certainly try to help you.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Hi Chutsman,

In my post i have mentioned that,

"3. I have noticed that if i disconnected my SATA WD HDD (the old HDD), i am unable to logon (no user account appears in the windows logon screen.)"

Thanks.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I understand that the problem may not pertain to the software.

However, in my earlier post, my 1st post, i noticed a pecuilar
scenario.


"3. I have noticed that if i disconnected my SATA WD HDD (the old HDD), i am unable to logon (no user account appears in the windows logon screen.)"