Setting up new hard drive or....

I have a 30 GB hard drive that has Windows millennium on C: and XP on D:

I'm running out of space. Is there a way to delete Windows millennium?

If not, can I setup a new harddrive using another computer and then install it into my regular computer when I get it "tweaked" the way I like it?

The second computer is a emachine running a Celeron processor if that makes a difference.

You don't need another pc to setup a new hardrive for your computer. If you install it as slave, you can partition it and format it as you see fit per partition ie FAT32 for some and NTFS for others.

While you are at it, you can relocate virtual memory, My Documents, your email storage area, so on a so forth, until much of the cramped space is gone from the older drive.

I'm using 2 drives right now and have C: thru P: for partitions. The 2 drives have a primary partition with an OS, so if one gets corrupted, I can change settings in BIOS and boot to the alternate one. There's other ways to do it but it wasn't a plan to install the second drive this way. I liked it and left it alone.

My first drive has
C: Win ME
D: Data
E: Programs
F: WinXP

and then I have a "slave" that I backup D: and a few other things to.

But I guess I can disconnect "slave" and setup the new harddrive and switch back and forth until I get it the way I want it.

i just don't won't to be rushed and I don't won't to have "down" time.

To answer your question - you can get rid of WinME but dont get rid of everything on the C partition. Delete all the folders on C but leave all the files in the root of C (particularly boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com). Then just edit out the line referencing WinME in boot.ini and the dual boot menu should disappear at startup.

Having done that you can resize C if you have the appropriate software such as PM. If you simply delete or format C you will lose the ability to boot to WinXP. Running a repair installation of WinXP might then get things back (not guaranteed) but it is best to retain the original number and type of partitions even if their sizes are now different.

The other approach is to buy a new larger disk and then either using that drive's utility software (or software such as ghost or drive image) clone the existing drive into the new one and then reallocate its unused space.

Backup all the important stuff before you begin - though it sounds like you would do this in any case.

Do you want to keep ME?

If so, get the new drive.

Install it as the primary drive on the secondary IDE channel.

Using the manufacturers software, setup, partition and format the new drive. Then transder the entire contents of the old drive to the new drive.

Remove the old drive and replace ith with the new drive.

If all is working, you can then add the old drive as the slave on the primary IDE channel and use it for storage....

If I buy a new drive, is there an easy way to switch back and forth from my old to new and new to old until I get things as I want them or do I have to change the cables to accomplish that.

Still back to the "I just don't won't to be rushed and I don't won't to have "down" time" theme.

Thanks for all the info.

Absolutely.

Any of the above suggestions will leave you able to boot into the original 2 OS'es UNTIL you decide when it is time to format the original one. Which will be after you clone it to the newer one so actually it (newer one) is still the original setup, just different size and drive.

Which leads me to my next question.

Please see the following post http://64.4.46.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=396d08b5b80ae2cc55b7c597a4aa70ef&lat=1085843548&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fdiscussions%2evirtualdr%2 ecom%2fshowthread%2ephp%3fthreadid%3d153991%26goto %3dnewpost

Can you tell me if I need the "Disk mgr?

Your last link results in:- "Your email message has been idle and this link has become inactive. To access the link, close this window and return to your Message. Then click the browser's Refresh button or close your message and reopen it."



...is there an easy way to switch back and forth from my old to new and new to old?...
There are various approaches.
(a)As long as your bios allows you to choose the hard drive to boot from (and you have a spare IDE connector) you can enter setup and simply change the boot drive.
(b)You could install a swap drive tray and then it is very easy to switch the physical hard drives in the tray.
(c)You could install a Trios (http://www.explosivelabs.com/reviews/romtec_hddselector/)
(d)Its also possible (as far as Win2K/XP are concerned) to modify boot.ini to boot from both the physically installed hard drives.
(e)You could also use a third party boot manager.

Here's the post:

Drive Image - Disk mgr?

I get the following message when trying to run Drive Image:

"Error 91 Disk Manager has been detected on drive %lu

If you no longer need to use Disk Manager on your hard drive, you can fix Error 91 by removing the Disk Manager signature from the Master Boot Record (MBR)."

I have 5 partitions running XP & ME.

See http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/primus/id2747.html for details about the error message.

How have you been dual booting and have you been using Boot Magic or another Disk Manager at any time?

Could you elaborate on "I have 5 partitions running XP & ME" since earlier you outlined four partitions with an OS on just two of them.

Sorry for the lack of details. Only have 4 partitions.

Master drive Maxtor 30GB has
C: Win Me
D: Data
E: Programs
F:Win XP

Slave drive Maxtor 120 GB

I used Partition Magic to create partitions and dual boot from XP, not BootMagic.

No one has ever been able to tell me if I need the Disk Mgr.

The page from Symantec outlines one method of first backing-up the first "head" and then running fdisk /cmbr 1 which for the master drive is the same as just running fdisk /mbr from true dos or of running fixmbr from the command prompt of the recovery console in Win2K or WinXP. Both of these commands recreate the first portion (the first 446 bytes) of the mbr (aka sector 0) of what symantec refer to as the first "head". Since they are only referring to the first 63 sectors I think they should more correctly refer to the first track, since a head is one whole side of a hdd platter.

If the last two bytes of the mbr are not 55AA then running fdisk /mbr etc will also zero the partition tables and make the disk unbootable. That can, btw, be the danger of using fdisk /mbr etc to "remove" a boot sector virus from one's pc.

Drive Managers/Overlays function, like boot sector viruses, by modifying the mbr. In doing this they usually also additionally write stuff to some of the following 62 sectors which are normally composed only of zeros. It would seem that DI has read that there is such information in these following sectors and generated the response. It is not clear if this is just a warning or whether it refuses to work.

If you want to see what is going on then download TinyHexer (http://www.mirkes.de/en/freeware/tinyhex.php) and then from File | Disk | Open Drive highlight //./PHYSICALDRIVE0 and enter the value 63 in the number of sectors to load at a time. After maximising the internal window you should then be able to scroll through the first 63 sectors (sectors 0to62 decimal or 0x00to0x3E hex. As long as bytes 511 and 512 (or 0x1FE and 0x1FF hex) are 55 AA then it should be quite safe to run fdisk /mbr or the other equivalent commands.

You can also save those 63 sectors by saving as a file of any name of your own choosing. You can also edit/zero the last 62 sectors that follow the 55 AA marker manually if you so desire. Tiny Hexer doesnt let you edit/write by default - so if you want to do this you must first go to the help menu and find Writing to disk (FAQ) from the Index sub-menu. There is a small registry edit that follows to enable writing to the drive. To then write to the drive just type in the values you want and then from File | Disk choose Write Changes and then OK the confirmation dialog. Be sure of what you are doing - this is a very powerful, if tiny, tool.

Just out of curiosity I downloaded the Tiny Hexer Utility you mention and indeed I found the last two bytes on Sector 0(511 & 512)designated as 55AA. Perhaps this explains then why I've used the Fixmbr command in the Recovery Console numerous times without the drive becoming unbootable(though it failed to accomplish the task I wanted so did a repair/install). With another drive however I once issued virtually the same command(without knowledge of whether or not the drive had a virus or not, this being an experiment with a utility program in Mike Meyers' A+ Certification book)and this made it unbootable(it kept saying "type in the name of the command interpreter")and then said the himem.sys, command.com +one other file which I can't remember the name of were corrupted. Needless to say that pretty much ended the life of that drive!

Do you need Disk mgr to dual boot from XP w/o using any third party software?

Or should my question be do I need Disk mgr or how do I know if I need it.

Quantax
If the 55 AA bytes dont exist at the end of the MBR, then fixmbr, etc would zero the partition tables and "effectively" create a new unpartitioned hdd. If you can find where the partition(s) are located physically on the drive it is possible to edit the partition tables with a hex or other partition utility so that the drive functions normally once again.

thewolfe re "do I need Disk mgr or how do I know if I need it"
In all probability you don't - especially if you are getting a normal WinXP dual boot menu presented to you at startup. If this is the case ntldr will be reading boot.ini and be controlling the boot-up and not a third party disk manager. It makes sense to make a back up of the first track using the symantec utility or tiny hexer since you can then get back to where you are now.

Only you know how important your data and partition structures are so how you back things up is your baby. Have you tried running DI from the rescue floppies? One other approach would be to reverse the two hard drives and then install a temporary installation of an OS onto the current slave, install DI onto it and then run DI from that drive to image the partitions you want to back-up from the current master before returning to your current setup and "experimenting" with fdisk /mbr or fixmbr.

Paul....

Well, sad to say, that drive got tossed out several months back after this happened. But does Tiny Hexer explain just how the partition table could be edited to make it bootable?(I haven't taken the time to read about the details in it).

Thanks for all the info.

I bought a 120 GB Maxtor at Fry's for $60 so I'll run this system and add the new HD in place of the "Slave" temporarily until I get the new one like I want it and then switch to the new one and maybe keep the old one intact for emergencies.

Quantax. You can use Tiny Hexer just like any other hex editor but it is a "relatively simple" utility and doesn't have any easy ways to edit such partition information. To use Tiny Hexer for such a purpose you would need to understand the difference between big and little endian hex values and be comfortable with translating between binary and hexadecimal and decimal. This is particularly true with the CHS values which are not all multiples of 8bit values. I just like Tiny Hexer because of its simplicity and the fact that it is freeware and because it seems to work very well. It can also be installed on a BartPE rescue CD, which is how I came across it in the first place.

There are quite a few utilities that can allow you to edit such structures using ordinary decimal input. WinHex, DskProbe (which comes with the Win2K installation CD) and PowerQuest's PartIn programs being just three for starters.

You still need to first find the partition boot sectors on the drive and note their positions and formats; (one single partition would obviously be the easiest scenario). One way of doing this, for example, is to search for the 55 AA markers at the end of each sector on the drive, since these mark the end of the first partition boot sector for each partition just as with the master boot record.

You still need to understand partition structures and so on so here is a little homework to be going on with:-

The Master Boot Record (MBR) and Why it is Necessary?
http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/master_boot_record.htm

Exploring the Partition Tables
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/ptedit.htm

An Examination of the Windows 2000 and Windows XP MBR
http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/asm/mbr/Win2kmbr.htm
or the Google Cache of the Same (http://tinyurl.com/yqhjk) if the site cant be accessed.

;)