Vista wont start when one hard disk is removed

Discussion in 'Windows Vista' started by OldZ80, Feb 11, 2010.

  1. OldZ80

    OldZ80 MDL Novice

    Jan 16, 2010
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    #1 OldZ80, Feb 11, 2010
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2010
    The question below has been posted on several forums recently, with no responses forthcoming. I have searched through literature from Microsoft and Western digital without finding a solution. I hope that someone on this forum may be able to help me.


    I have recently set up a new computer with a new Western Digital WD10EADS 1000 Gb. Sata hard disk and installed Windows Vista Home Premium, but was disappointed with the result. . The hard disk was subsequently reformatted 3 times in the course of removing Vista, Installing Windows XP SP1 from my old computer, (which destroyed the partitions on the hard disk), and subsequently removing XP and re-installing Vista, which I am now happy to continue using.

    After the third reformat, I found that the computer would not start up from the 1000Gb hard disk, so I temporarily installed the 40 Gb EIDE hard disk from my old computer on a dual boot as the C: drive, making the 1000 Gb. hard disk the D: drive. This also enabled me to transfer all the files from my old computer.It is now time for me to remove the 40 GB hard disk but despite my sustained efforts, I have been unable to get the computer to start from the 1000Gb hard disk alone.

    When disconnecting the 40 Gb hard disk, I have changed the bios settings to remove the 40 Gb hard disk and boot from only the 1000 Gb. hard disk, and then when the computer failed to start, I changed the bios settings back to start the computer with the 40 Gb. hard disk reconnected . When the computer should be starting from only the 1000 Gb. hard disk, it just displays several odd characters on the screen and then does nothing. I have tried a number if things to resolve the problem, including those below, but all without success

    1 Using Vista's hard disk setup utility to fix the boot sector of the hard disk

    2 Starting the computer in repair mode from the Vista installation disk, to use the the boot sector repair option. It gave the indication that it was making a repair, but the problem still remained.

    3 Repairing the boot sector with a hard disk manager program, and and since then, if I try to start up without the 40 Gb. hard disk, it gives an error message that "NTLDR is missing"

    I hope that there may be someone on this forum who can help me to resolve my problem Attached is a screenshot from Vista's BCDEDIT/enum in the hope that it might give some indication as to the nature of my problem


    Regards
    Harry Pfeifer


    Re-typed contents of screenshot which the system would not allow me to attach originally

    Windows Boot Manager
    -------------------------------------------
    identifier <bootmgr>
    device partition = C:
    description Windows Boot Manager
    locale en-US
    inherit <globalsettings>
    default <current>
    displayorder <ntldr>
    <current>
    toolsdisplayorder <memdiag>
    timeout 30

    Windows Legacy OS Loader
    -------------------------------------------
    identifier <ntldr>
    device partition=C:
    path \ntldr
    description Earlier Version of Windows

    Windows Boot Loader
    ----------------------------------------
    identifier <current>
    device <partition=D:>
    path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
    description Microsoft Windows Visa
    locale en-US
    inherit <bootloadersettings>
    osdevice partition=D:
    systemroot \Windows
    resumeobject <7521e26f-f75b-11de-ad0f-a1873c7ebe24>
    nx Optout
    detecdhal No
    usefirmwarepcisettings No
     
  2. urie

    urie Moderator
    Staff Member

    May 21, 2007
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    you just can't copy the files from your old 40Gb hard disk to the 1000GB drive you need to image the drive to make it bootable. personally i would disconnect 40Gb drive temporarily and install vista on large drive partition to suit your self, then connect small drive making sure you boot from large drive and copy the files over you need by files i mean documents e.c.t.