winxp install question

[saimike]

i have win2k on my current 80gb, and have a 160gb as a 2nd drive. can i boot off the 80gb, and install winxp on the 160gb? is there anything i need to do to prevent the winxp installer from wiping out my 80gb? thanks!

 

[astartz]

Doing this is very easy. Put the XP cd in and boot from the CD. You will be asked where do you want to instal XP to. Just pick the second Hard drive. Just to be safe if you pick the first hard drive the installer will warn you about installing to os's on one drive.

 

[saimike]

thanks! i tried it and it seems to work ... i'll know for sure tonight when i get back from work. looks like this may be my ticket out of my winxp install problems -- with the maxtor ata133 card/160gb hdd, winxp installer would see the partitions and know that it is ntfs etc, but it would spew out an err msg saying that winxp cant copy files to it. really weird ...

 

[saimike]

well, it looks like i'll need the 80gb in hde0 so that i can dualboot into winxp on the 160gb on scsi (ata133 card).

is there anyway i can boot directly to the 160gb? when i remove all drives but the 160gb, it tells me that my 'nt loader' is missing. is it possible to manually install the ntloader onto my 160gb? thanks!

ps, in case u missed my agony with the ata133 card, i cant just boot into winxp install with only the 160gb installed. somehow, winxp installer would recognise the partitions BUT refuse to install -- ie. i nv see the screen where i'm asked to format the partitions.

 

[sak]

i am not sure exactly what u want to do here..

do u want 2 OS's on 2 seperate drives. or u just want one OS(XP i presume) on the 160gb drive..?

 

[orion7144]

I think you should remove your 80gig and install to the 160. When XP starts the install it will ask if you have any 3rd party drivers (RAID etc.) to install. Hit F2 (If I remember correctly). It will say this at the bottom of the screen. Then stick in the floppy with the drivers. Then follow the instructions. Using the ATA card is like using RAID during WinXP setup.

 

[saimike]

hey guys,

what i really want is to put my old 80gb into storage (or as a 2nd drive for data), and work off the 160gb.

if u look here, u'll be able to see what i've done so far. initially, my prob was with partitionining and formating the 160gb. but i was able to finally do that with maxblast3. however, winxp/2k installers will see the partition (and note that its ntfs), but would spit out an error msg abt not being able to copy files onto the 160gb. ie. i would not see this screen

orion, as u can see, i've tried what u said and failed, f6 and all.

sak, all i really want is the 160gb on its own, and i'll reformat the old 80gb to work as a 2nd drive.

thanks a bunch everyone.

 

[sak]

ok then follow what Orion told u to do..thats all. i think that will work. looks like ur MObo dosent support drives more than 137GB like others so u have to install the drivers for the ATA card.

 

[Wallysaurus]

I haven't read all of both posts, so if I'm repeating something, I'm sorry. Because Windows sees another OS installation it will try to do a dual boot install. That is why you get the error message you pasted in this thread and why you are getting the ntloader can't be found message. Whenever you install a second OS, it has to place the ntloader and boot.ini files on the partition that it perceives to have the "first" OS installed on it. By removing the first installation completely you will allow the files to be installed on the drive you want them to be installed on.

Another way to acheive the same results would be to use an app like Partition Magic or System Commander to make the partition on the original drive "not active".

 

[saimike]

Originally posted by: Wallysaurus
I haven't read all of both posts, so if I'm repeating something, I'm sorry. Because Windows sees another OS installation it will try to do a dual boot install. That is why you get the error message you pasted in this thread and why you are getting the ntloader can't be found message. Whenever you install a second OS, it has to place the ntloader and boot.ini files on the partition that it perceives to have the "first" OS installed on it. By removing the first installation completely you will allow the files to be installed on the drive you want them to be installed on.

Another way to acheive the same results would be to use an app like Partition Magic or System Commander to make the partition on the original drive "not active".

hey wallysarus,

if i use partition magic etc to make the partition on the original drive "not active", can i remove the original drive from, or use it as a 2nd drive? ie. does it still need to be present? is there any programs that can place ntloader and boot.ini files a designated drive?

 

[saimike]

Originally posted by: sak
ok then follow what Orion told u to do..thats all. i think that will work. looks like ur MObo dosent support drives more than 137GB like others so u have to install the drivers for the ATA card.

sak,

i already tried what orion said. it failed. winxp/win2k installer sees the partitions, but will not let me format the drive even, let alone install. like u said, it should work, but unfortunately it doesnt. i've been at this for a while now and its very frustrating.

 

[Wallysaurus]

saimike,
If made inactive, you will be able to leave the drive in the PC and then later if you want to you can re-format and re-partition it or you can just leave it like it is.

 

[saimike]

Originally posted by: Wallysaurus
saimike,
If made inactive, you will be able to leave the drive in the PC and then later if you want to you can re-format and re-partition it or you can just leave it like it is.

cool! how about ntloader/boot.ini files? will the 160gb need it if i deactivate the old 4gb, or will partition magic take care of that?

 

[Wallysaurus]

The whole idea of de-activating your original primary partition is so that Windows will install the necessary boot files on the new drive. Ntloader, boot.ini, and a couple of other files have to be installed on the boot drive. By making the original boot partition "inactive" you are forcing Windows to install the necessary boot files to the correct partition.