#%&*ing Partition (Drive)! PLZ HELP!

Akashio · Post by **Akashio** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 9:29 pm

I just got a 250GB SATA-II HDD, installed it, and decided--to make my editing programs run faster--that I would copy my bootup partition onto this new drive, delete the old partition, and boot up like a happy clam.

Well that's what I did with Partition Magic 8.0 and things have gone horribly wrong.

It seems that now I can't boot up at all. I'm sure I made this new (copied) partition primary and active in Partition Magic 8.0! Obviously though, my computer does not agree with me. What can I do? (FYI, when I select the new drive to boot up, the BIOS says, "NTDLR is missing, press Crtl-Alt-Del to restart")

I've tried using fdisk, but when I go into the "set active partition" menu, although it shows two partitions (one of them the copied bootup), it says "no partitions available to set active." I guess all my drives are NTFS, but still, there is an "A" before the copied bootup partition! Doesn't that mean it IS active?

I've even tried re-installing windows. It doesn't work! It says every partition is not Windows XP-compatible! Even when I delete an empty, formated partition and ask XP to install there, it even rejects that!

Can anyone help me with this? I REALLY need my computer! Don't let a fellow nerd commit suicide!

Beefy_Suavo · Post by **Beefy_Suavo** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 10:11 pm

I never used Partition Magic, so I'm not familiar with it.

Is your SATA controller built-in to the motherboard or is it an add-on PCI card?

Did Partition Magic copy just the partition, or did it copy the master boot record as well?

If the master boot record is corrupted, you can tell fdisk to replace it by using the mbr switch.

Example:
a:\fdisk.exe /mbr

Akashio · Post by **Akashio** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:08 pm

I just did that and it still tells me I'm missing the NTLDR file... even tho I've copied it from an XP disk to both C: and C:\WINDOWS\ using the recovery console

BTW, my SATA controller is built in on an A8N-SLI Deluxe sporting an Athlon 64 3500+

bum · Post by **bum** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:06 am

If your puting an os onto a hard disk, simply moving it across is bound to get you in alot of trouble. Best to just do a fresh install (and make sure to allways do a full format instead of a quick format).

Zero1 · Post by **Zero1** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:59 pm

Did you remember to change the HD boot priority in the BIOS?

V13tB0i · Post by **V13tB0i** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 5:16 pm

Umm.... check the jump packs. If that 250 GB hard drive is a secondary, make sure the jumper socket is in the second. If your 250 GB hard drive is a primary, put it in the first socket.

jbone · Post by **jbone** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:17 pm

Short answer: You are fucked.

Windows NT is very picky about where it is installed. You can not "move" the partition to a new drive of a different type on a different controller/channel, because it will always think it is on its original partition/drive. Thus, if you try to move it in the way you did, it will choke and die.

You can try booting off your Windows CD and going through the full "repair" routine, but it might not actually fix what's wrong. You may need to reinstall Windows.

Good news is that, as long as you don't reformat the drive (just install Windows onto the old partition), you shouldn't lose any information. You'll just need to reinstall all your programs.

Akashio · Post by **Akashio** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:35 pm

ok, I'm sadly game for installing a fresh XP OS, but like I said earlier, my XP CD says that every partition I have is "not Windows XP-compatible"

What can I do? Can I format a partition with fdisk? will that work?

Beefy_Suavo · Post by **Beefy_Suavo** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:59 pm

jbone wrote:Windows NT is very picky about where it is installed. You can not "move" the partition to a new drive of a different type on a different controller/channel, because it will always think it is on its original partition/drive.

True, this has to do with the boot.ini file. It is still telling Windows XP to look for the operating system files on your old hard drive controller.

Akashio wrote:ok, I'm sadly game for installing a fresh XP OS, but like I said earlier, my XP CD says that every partition I have is "not Windows XP-compatible"

What can I do? Can I format a partition with fdisk? will that work?

When you boot with the XP CD, and it shows you the partitions, does it give you the option to delete the partition? Sadly that will delete all your data. Can you put the old drive back in, reinstall Windows on it, and use it to copy the files you want saved off the SATA drive?

Also when you first boot off the Windows XP CD, it says "Press F6 to install a 3rd party RAID or SCSI driver." Try using that to install the drivers for the SATA controller to see if Windows setup will then recognize the partitions on the SATA drive.

Akashio · Post by **Akashio** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 10:02 pm

Hmmm ok

1. I did delete a partition and asked windows to install on it also. It still says it is not XP-compatible. Could this be because I am using a packaged DELL cd of XP and do not have a Dell mobo? (I only have an XP upgrade CD, so I'm using the full Dell version.)

2. I tried the F6 SCSI/RAID drivers thing and it refuses to recognize that I am pressing F6. It has no problem recognizing F2 for automated repair blah (sadly I never made a floppy for automated repair).

3. Is there any way to edit the boot.ini in the recovery console? Everytime I type, "C:\Windows\>edit boot.ini", it says it cannot recognize that command.

I AM SO TIRED OF BORROWING SOMEONE'S COMPUTER TO MAKE DISTRESS CALLS TO THE HELPFUL PEOPLE HERE. But I love the helpful people. I really appreciate you guys' continued help.