Configuring XP on Two Drives

[itzbinnice]

OK guys take it easy on me, I've been whipped enough trying to build this pos machine, funny, I think I'm beginning to like it.

Heres the facts, machine is P4/1.66mg 640 ram with 2 drives.

1) 60 gig with XP Pro 1 partition of NTFS all files/programs installed

2) 13 gig with XP Pro 1 partition of Fat32 all files/programs installed

1 CDRW on secondary Ide as Master

1 Cd Rom on secondary Ide as Slave

At the moment I have the 60 gig connected as the only drive

on the primary with jumper, the 13 gig is not connected.

Both the CD's are connected and work properly.

What I would like to do is install the second (13 Gig) as the slave, with the 60 gig as the Primary (bios set up to boot from the 60 gig).

I am concerned that there may be a confilct since they both have XP installed, even though different file systems.. I had this problem with Win ME and it sometimes wrote the restore files to both drives.I ended up having to put one of the drives on the secondary ide and configuring as slave.

Is it possible to have both these drives on the primary ide and have the ability from the start menu to choose which one I want to boot from? The primary is on a 80 pin cable, should I set up as master and slave, or use cable select?

I intend to only use the the 13 gig as a backup system in the event the 60 gig goes down. Don't intend to move files although I believe I can import the fat 32 to NTFS but not the reverse.

[Conan]

I've read somewhere that in order to accomplish that you need to edit the Boot.ini file. As to what exactly to edit in the file, I'm sorry I don't know.

[itzbinnice]

Conan,

Yeah the boot.ini will need a line added for sure to identify the 13 gig drive which will be (D), I don't have a clue as to what the exact command I will need. Thanks for your reply

[zErO]

Okay what u wont to do is once u connect ur second hard drive, check u cmos to make sure that it is set as slave(if not change the jumpers on the drive). Then go into ur first xp installation and go contol panel/system/advanced....../startup and recovery/settings/edit and insert the text file shown below (in red)into ur boot.ini so that it should look similar to this

[boot loader]

timeout=0

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect[/color:377cf70714]

save the file and u can verify its path by going start/run/msconfig...once u get the system config utility choose boot.ini/check all paths

I find this easier then editing the boot.ini in dos:D

[itzbinnice]

Unimatrix

Thanks for the command, I needed that to proceed. Would you recommend not using the cable select jumpers and put the 60 gig as master and the 13 gig as slave. I'm not familiar with the cable select mode, but I do know you need the 80 pin cable to function which I have.

Your instructions are easy. Below is my Boot.ini with your pasted below it. I noticed the my timeout setting is at 30 sec where yours is at 0, I'll change mine to 0 and it should boot faster I would assume. Funny, when I pasted your instructions I lost the red font.

One more question, with the below boot.ini how will I identify which drive is which since the operating systems are the same, looks like it does not identify drives, I would assume the 13 gig (slave) would be on the second line of choices. Does the "Dows" command identify it somehow?

MY BOOT.INI

[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 Professional" /fastdetect

YOUR INSTRUCTIONS

[boot loader]

timeout=0

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)WIN

DOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

[zErO]

Its up to u which u set as ur master personally I would use the larger one as my master cause I would do the majority of my work on it.

My boot loader timeout is set to (0) cause I dont need it to display the operating systems choice at boot up....I have xp on my master drive set as default and W2K on the slave, if I want to access my second drive on boot up I hit the F8 key on boot

u can fix this by checking ur settings contol panel/system/advanced....../startup and recovery/settings

Yep to ur last question, if u look at the text file below u will see that rdisk(1)in the second one has the (1) which indicates the second drive.....the number that follows indicates which is which:cool:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS

multi(0)disk(0)[b:429642369c]rdisk(1)[/b:429642369c]partition(1)WINDOWS

[tomcat82453]

itzbinnice,

If you want to be able to boot up on those two drives, I suggest that you install a mobile rack. Place both drives in its own rack, set them as masters and just put in whichever you want to boot from. I do this method 'cause I am still using Win98SE, Win2kPro, and WinXP pro. Works great!

Tom

[itzbinnice]

Tomcat,

Thanks for the suggestion, I do have one mobile rack which I had used in the past. I don't want to use two since it will take up two drive bays. I prefer to leave both drives in the case and free up the two bays. I'm certain it can be configured, but exactly how I'm unsure of.

[itzbinnice]

Unimatrix

Followed your directions, it was a breeze. Both drives are working and I can boot from either one. When I finish tweaking both I will do set mine up as yours, with the 60 gig as my main, boot time delay to 0, and when needed hit F8, should I need to boot from the 13 gig.

Have one more question for you, I find it strange that the second hard drive always appears as local drive F, with the CDRW as D secondary primary Ide, and CD as E secondary Ide slave.

I was always under the impression that hard drives have prioity and would always appear as C and D, how does the second hard drive end up as F? I have the 60 gig set as master on primary Ide, and the 13 gig as slave on the primary ide. I'm wondering if has something to do with the 80 pin cable, should I switch it to a 40 pin?

Thank you for all your help and education, it is genuinely appreciated.

[zErO]

U can change the drive letters by going control panel/Computer management/....storage/disk management

which will show u all u hard drives/particians/cd roms.....(put a disk in each of ur cd drives cause they wont show up, doesnt matter what disks as long as there is something on it). To change the drive letter click the one u want to change and then right click on it and u will see (change drive letter and path)

eg. cd drive (D) right click/change drive letter and path/change...

then change the drive letter to (G).....because u will need to shift them back to make the drive letter (D) available

so u can then do the same to ur second hard drive (F) and change it to (D)...and so on and so on depending on how u want ur cd drives

[itzbinnice]

Unimatrix

Thanks for the instructions, I had changed the cable to the 40 pin but it didn't change the drive settings. I will follow your instructions.

[itzbinnice]

Changed the letters on the 60 gig (NTFS), no problem.

Rebooted to the 13 gig(Fat32) but would not let me change the drive letter from F to D. Suspect Fat32 unable to change the volume label on a NTFS partition. Oh well, no big deal since I will be using the 60 gig the majority of the time and that will set up correctly.