CAn I get back into ME after swapping HD's on the IDE channel and installing XP?

[kevman]

Hello,


This is what I did. I had WinME on my 20gig drive which was the primary master on the first IDE channel.

Then I went and bought a faster 60gig drive, and swapped the 20gig to the secondary IDE channel (Still a master) and put the new one on the primary IDE and installed a fresh install of XP Pro on it. The problem is that XP does not recognize the ME on the other drive even with the bootcfg, utility. I have found no way of getting back into WinME. I think that it might be a matter of some boot files (bootsect.dos??) I even modified the boot.ini file on the new HD to point to the secondary for WinME but that doesn't work either. Is there anyway I can fix up this situation? If anyone can help let me know! The only reason I need to get back into ME is for remote access for work.

Thanks

Kevin

 

[johnlog]

Your main hard drive should be set as the master and the second hard drive as the slave. If both are set as master windows only sees the first drive.

 

[kevman]

<< Your main hard drive should be set as the master and the second hard drive as the slave. If both are set as master windows only sees the first drive. >>



But if both drives are on seperate IDE channels, I can leave both as Master's right? so technically that should not be a problem.

 

[skyking]

A quick fix for today is to go into BIOS and select "boot from HDD ?", whichever drive ME is on. Other than that, you will have to wait for the experts to step up and help.

 

[corkyg]

I use a hardware solution to achieve an easily controllable either or boot system.

I installed two removable ATA 100 racks, and put my XP drive in one and the ME drive in the other. They are both on the same IDE channel. The are both set to CS and the ATA 66/100 80 ribbon cable is CS capable.

When I want to run XP, I turn the top drive on and the bottom drive off (each removable rack has a key switch on the outside.) To run ME I reverse the drives. You can also do it with one removeable rack and two trays. Put the ME drive in one tray and the XP in the other and swap trays. That is where CS pays off . . . when swapping drives and positions, not jumpers need be changed.

 

[kevman]

<< I use a hardware solution to achieve an easily controllable either or boot system.

I installed two removable ATA 100 racks, and put my XP drive in one and the ME drive in the other. They are both on the same IDE channel. The are both set to CS and the ATA 66/100 80 ribbon cable is CS capable.

When I want to run XP, I turn the top drive on and the bottom drive off (each removable rack has a key switch on the outside.) To run ME I reverse the drives. You can also do it with one removeable rack and two trays. Put the ME drive in one tray and the XP in the other and swap trays. That is where CS pays off . . . when swapping drives and positions, not jumpers need be changed. >>



Where can I get the removable ATA 100 racks? Do they come in ATA 133?

 

[kevman]

anyone else have any ideas?

 

[snake253]

Computer geeks sells the removable rack Compgeek
Another hardware alternative is to install both drives on the same IDE channel. Set both of them to master, and remove the power cable from the drive you don't plan to use. If you are into to soldering, you could install a switch to turn on the power to the drive you want to use.

If you want to reinstall WinXP, you can make the old drive primary and the new drive secondary. During installation, WinXP will ask you where you want to install the WinXP, you can select the new 60GB drive. This way during the boot process, a menu will come up to let you select whether you want to run ME or XP.

 

[kevman]

<< Computer geeks sells the removable rack Compgeek
Another hardware alternative is to install both drives on the same IDE channel. Set both of them to master, and remove the power cable from the drive you don't plan to use. If you are into to soldering, you could install a switch to turn on the power to the drive you want to use.

If you want to reinstall WinXP, you can make the old drive primary and the new drive secondary. During installation, WinXP will ask you where you want to install the WinXP, you can select the new 60GB drive. This way during the boot process, a menu will come up to let you select whether you want to run ME or XP. >>




Thanks man!

 

[johnlog]

Just checked: Computer geeks sells the removable rack (Compgeek)

They are selling those racks for $7.49 which is quite low priced. I wonder if anyone has tried using those racks and if they are reliable or not?

I have two hard drive racks now but on one of them the keylock does not work. It just spins around and I need a replacement. I found out those racks must be the same model on a computer or sometimes they do not communicate with each other correctly. :frown: