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Wife's Replacement HD Won't Boot?
5/5/2012 2:12:42 PM
Wife has an old Dell, I'm replacing the failing 200GB Maxtor IDE w/a Western Digital 250GB.
Used Partition Magic to copy the partition from the Maxtor to the WD (as I've done many times before).
Operation was successful but now the WD won't boot on her system.
It's been awhile since I've done anything like this so I may be missing something obvious.
Any ideas as to why the new HD won't boot???
Thx!...
Tomac
Used Partition Magic to copy the partition from the Maxtor to the WD (as I've done many times before).
Operation was successful but now the WD won't boot on her system.
It's been awhile since I've done anything like this so I may be missing something obvious.
Any ideas as to why the new HD won't boot???
Thx!...
Tomac
5/5/2012 3:26:00 PM
did the system recognize it?
is the replacement ide as well?
did you jumper it correctly?
is the replacement ide as well?
did you jumper it correctly?
5/5/2012 3:59:55 PM
Originally Posted By Andrewh:
did the system recognize it?
is the replacement ide as well?
did you jumper it correctly?
did the system recognize it?
is the replacement ide as well?
did you jumper it correctly?
Recognized, same IDE, jumpered correctly. The partition has been set to 'active' but upon bootup all I get past BIOS is a flashing cursor.
Tomac
5/5/2012 7:32:08 PM
Originally Posted By Tomac:
Recognized, same IDE, jumpered correctly. The partition has been set to 'active' but upon bootup all I get past BIOS is a flashing cursor.
Tomac
Sounds like the boot partition did not get transfered or written properly. You usually need some sort of mirroring software to do the job such as Acronis or Ghost.Originally Posted By Andrewh:
did the system recognize it?
is the replacement ide as well?
did you jumper it correctly?
did the system recognize it?
is the replacement ide as well?
did you jumper it correctly?
Recognized, same IDE, jumpered correctly. The partition has been set to 'active' but upon bootup all I get past BIOS is a flashing cursor.
Tomac
5/6/2012 7:05:25 AM
i didn't realize partition magic could clone a drive 
i've always used ghost. but in your case you may try clonezilla because it clearly didn't finish properly
i've always used ghost. but in your case you may try clonezilla because it clearly didn't finish properly
5/6/2012 9:37:26 AM
it would not hurt to try another program.
but I might run a chkdsk on the old drive first.
never had a problem with pqdi copying a drive for me, so is weird that it didn't work.
plus missing boot partition generaly would give you a no bootable thing found message, not just a blinky cursor.
hiren's boot disk would be one to try. Also WD usually includes or you can down load their software to transfer the drive data/copy it from them.
is the original hd in multiple partitions? or just one big one?
but I might run a chkdsk on the old drive first.
never had a problem with pqdi copying a drive for me, so is weird that it didn't work.
plus missing boot partition generaly would give you a no bootable thing found message, not just a blinky cursor.
hiren's boot disk would be one to try. Also WD usually includes or you can down load their software to transfer the drive data/copy it from them.
is the original hd in multiple partitions? or just one big one?
5/6/2012 9:48:06 AM
Just one large partition except for a small DellUtility FAT partition (32mb).
Tomac
Tomac
5/6/2012 10:56:55 AM
I might boot to a LiveCD of some sort (or even a Windows CD) and see what can be seen on it.
There might be a way to just set it as bootable in both of those two methods. And, it'll let you know if your clone went properly or not. The old drive may be failed enough that it didn't work.
In a lot of cases, you are better off reinstalling Windows instead of trying to clone stuff. That cleans up and fixes lots of other issues and problems and shakes loose programs that aren't needed.
5/6/2012 11:41:56 AM
You said the drive was failing, I wonder if that caused a problem when cloning it.
5/6/2012 12:36:08 PM
what os?
5/6/2012 1:09:51 PM
Originally Posted By NimmerMehr:
what os?
what os?
XP
5/6/2012 1:27:48 PM
MBR (master boot record) did not get copied.
-Foxxz
-Foxxz
5/6/2012 1:41:01 PM
how old is the computer?
That could be a factor since new HDDs use a different sector size iirc.
That could be a factor since new HDDs use a different sector size iirc.
5/6/2012 6:06:20 PM
Originally Posted By Foxxz:
MBR (master boot record) did not get copied.
-Foxxz
MBR (master boot record) did not get copied.
-Foxxz
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/repairmbr.htm
5/6/2012 11:57:09 PM
What he said.
You should be able to reestablish the MBR in the Recovery Console, via the XP install disc.
I've never used Partition Magic; I'm more of a Clonezilla guy.
Good luck!
You should be able to reestablish the MBR in the Recovery Console, via the XP install disc.
I've never used Partition Magic; I'm more of a Clonezilla guy.
Good luck!
