Hard drive problem

Drive Letter not right

By DisturbedComputer Posted February 18, 2008 03:44:30

I had to reinstall Windows XP Pro the other day and when it was all done and running my Local Disk (C:)

At which I name it Master

Was not Local Disk (C:) but Local Disk (F:) 160 GB

And my Storage Drive was (C:) I was able to change this one to Slave Master (S:) 400 GB

In order to put this back to the way it should be do I need to Reinstall XP?

I just can’t handle it with it being Local Disk (F:) or as I rename it Master (F:)

Thanks.

+12 Karma 12 Replies 10 Referrals

Did you move the Hdd's around on cables? in other words move the HDD's from one cable to another? (This would I believe, rearrange the Drive designations within windows) Also are they SATA drives or IDE ?

No did not move just had to reinstall XP Pro do to kubuntu was going to check it out

Sata

I barely have a clue what you said, but....

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Cloning whether SATA or IDE is fairly straight forward so long as jumper settings of the hdd's is correct ,one hdd set as master the 2nd hdd set as slave,that's assuming your cloning, as you mention having to reinstall xp which is not the same as you need the original xp disk to do that,it's important to get the terminology correct as it makes the topic confusing & that includes naming of disks,so i'm to assume you have the following

1)-Master HDD = contains the original xp prof installation & partitions that you use to transfer to another hdd when shit hits the fan

2)-Slave HDD = is used to clone to

Remove cables to Slave hdd & check Master drive can still boot

EDIT: I'll help all i can as i am reasonably familiar with cloning i've also had an issue where my drive letters were all stuffed up,that came about by incorrect jumper settings if memory serves,there's also this site if you need more expert help it's called radified,nightowl & co specialise in cloning issues,all advice is free.

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EDIT:2 To test run kubuntu or ubuntu you can use microsoft virtual pc 2007 & run it in a virtual pc,it works great but there's a couple of things you'll need to read to install it's relativley straight forward,basicly it's how to capture the mouse poniter

http://arcanecode.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/installing-kubuntu-710-in-virtual-pc-2007/

http://www.woodwardweb.com/programming/000387.html

no

I had XP Pro on my OS hard drive no partitions (HD = 160GB - what XP uses)just one big HD.
or 1 partitions = 160GB NO sub partitions

My slave HD is 400GB (Storage ONLY) no OS or Cloning to it or from it.
NO sub partitions

My brother came over with kubuntu OS and was telling me that it was good so we went(did)to install it well it did not work and wiped XP clean off so had to reinstall XP Pro and when I was done MY C: drive (OS XP PRO) was not C: it was (F:) would not let me change it

and My Slave drive was C: but would let me change it.

what we should have done first was to make a new partition but the way kubuntu word it was it would make one. (Just did not say it would wipe out XP Pro)and to top it off kubuntu did not install.

NO cloning at all..

But now all is good I reinstalled XP Pro and now My drive letter are right
without kubuntu

C: = OS XP Pro 160GB
D: = Slave = Storage 400GB

thanks for the help

Excellant another satisfied customer

,it all makes sense now..lol..,out of curiosity why won't kubuntu install to an extended partition (extended partition is created after C to house kubuntu when at the partition layout screen of the kubuntu live disk) are you aware there are numerous versions of kubuntu including 32bit,64bit,alternate etc by rights you should be using 32 or 64 bit,if you find that your getting a black screen the other opton is to download the alternate 32 or 64 bit iso & install in text mode,it just seems odd you can't install.

Edit: If you are getting a black screen try using an earlier version by downloading it,i've found 7.04 works well as i have to install that so i can use the 7.10 live cd to update as i get a black screen with 7.10 when attempting to use the live install

well I did not make a partition the way I read kubuntu it would make my HD into 2.

the version of kubuntu I don't know what it was MY Brother had a CD and we put it in the DVD drive it looked nice but I think we should have made a partition first with partition Magic

The black screen I got was do to it wiping out XP

Some DAY I might get the nerve to try it again,

thanks for your info/help

You shouldn't have had to install Kubuntu to see how it works as it is a live CD.

Disturbed in my relpy No4 use the two bottom links to install kubuntu into a virtual console,download microsoft virtual pc 2007,it's free,by using the afore mentioned links you can run kubuntu & xp at the sme time,the beauty of a virtual pc (vpc) is that if anything goes wrong it won't destroy any thing in xp or on any of your hdd's.

To install linux to a second partition or after XP PROF, kubuntu will give you three options:

1-use full disk = it will destroy all data & partitions,full reformat of hdd

2-Use largest free space guided = automatically resizes main hdd & creates partitions or at least that's the theory

3-manual = you decide where & what size the partitions are

To install kubuntu use the MANUAL option,you need 1 partition of type EXT3 = (where linux OS will reside) & 1 partition of type SWAP = (page file for linux)

Even if you use partition magic to create the partitions you will need to use the manual option to install i think,it would be a less complicated way of installing as all you do after creating partitions with P8 restart comp with live cd,select KUBUNTU SAFE INSTALL,select MANUAL & once your at the partition layout screen add / & that marks the partition of EXT3 as the (can't remember the term kubuntu uses,but it will install it there) all you do then is once you've got / (above this line you'll see hd0 1 or something similar which is where xp & any other windows partitions you have are),now to the right of the / there is a box, left click to put a tick in it & then hit the bottom right button install or continue & it's pretty much bobs your uncle

WARNING:
When installing linux it will create a grub menu this in turn overwrites xp's boot menu so that the grub loads first,if you decide to delete kubuntu use the xp prof disk's recovery mode & select the two options FIXMBR or the FIXBOOT ?? (not sure about the FIXBOOT i'm pretty sure it's there,anyway there's only two references to the boot record,selecting both will get you back into windows & reinstall the boot record)

EDIT: The best way for you to install kubuntu is to use the 2ndry hdd,remove the plugs from the already installed xp installation,use xp reinstall disk & install it to the 2ndry hdd (which is now your master drive,leave the other hdd unplugged)forget about activation or updating as your using it as a practice run,install kubuntu using safe mode & manually partition or install it after the new xp install,it won't matter if there's a balls up as you've still got your real xp hdd.

You shouldn't have had to install Kubuntu to see how it works as it is a live CD.

Thats what I met to say...

2-Use largest free space guided = automatically resizes main hdd & creates partitions or at least that's the theory

I think that was the one used

Master Drive was alway the master drive it just changed the drive letters after having to reinstall XP. due to me fing something up with installing Kubuntu..

thanks for all this help be I AM HOPELESSLY LOST

So was i back in 06 when i first attempted to install ubuntu but gave up as i could'nt figure out how to use the partitioner or how to mark the partition for install,then i ended up buying partition magic 8,after using it numerous times to create NTFS partitions over the next couple of years & doing a bit of drive cloning i started to understand how partitions worked,i also found better tutorials on dual booting xp with ubuntu & kubuntu on extended partitions,looking back i wonder what was so hard..lol.. it's really quite easy

i could'nt figure out how to use the partitioner or how to mark the partition for install,then i ended up buying partition magic 8

Oh I know how to to do a partition from Install and with Magic. I just f'ed it up with letting kubuntu do it. when I try again I will partition first..

Never did clone a HD though..

clone or copied all my music CD so that I don't have to buy them again...

learned that with korn but it twice.. but that was before I had a PC