if you plug in the new drive, with the old drive unplugged. Format it, install xp etc. Once it is all installed and working, turn pc off, plug in old drive. It will then be in my computer under d:\. Just make sure your hard drive priority in the bios is pointing to the new drive
Well now I'm completely stumped. Disconnected older drive. Connected new drive.
Tried booting windows on that. Same problem. I don't understand enough about secondary Windows installs and their relationship to the original install to understand if each install is completely independent of the other, or whether all subsequent OS installs relate back to the original in some way.
Very frustrated at this point. Seriously tempted to install a fresh install of windows on the new drive. I'll disconnect the old drive. Connect the new one. Run Windows CD. Follow instructions to wipe/format drive, and install a fresh copy of XP Home.
But only if someone else can't help with this.
Basic problem is,.........
Had a working operating system, up until I installed the second copy of XP Home on the new and separate hard drive. On system restart, left with DMI Pool Data sitting there doing nothing.
If I do a rebuild or recovery, does verifying DMI Pool Data take a long time to update the first time, or is it instant? Am I acting too hastily when this message appears?
The cursor just sits blinking at me..................................!!!
Ok now you have that drive by itself, you need to do the fixboot & fixmbr again as that drive doesnt have it stored on it. At the moment, your old drive has all the boot information on it, and marely points to the second drive. So run those and see how you go.. Im off to the gym now, so hopefully someone else may come to your aid :)
Formatted new drive only and installed fresh Windows XP. All good. Window starts everytime.
Now running the painful gauntlet of installing drivers, antivirus, office, and then all Windows XP Home updates required, before attempting to transfer existing programs settings and files from old drive.
Many thanks to Garvani.
Somehow the second install of XP corrupted the first. Couldn't ge to the bottom of it. Wasted too much time.
Good to see it's all done, at least you have a nice clean install.
What probably happened is that the Boot.ini file on the old HDD got stuffed up. Going into the recovery console and using the BOOTCFG /REBUILD command may have sorted it.
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