Editing the Windows Registry

MTAtech · October 12th, 2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve R Jones

No can do....Can't have two C drives....

If your 300 gig drive is Empty, you could clone the E drive to the larger drive...but it will still be E drive...As you've seen, you can run pretty well with Windows being on E.

You're in a fairly common situation and the only known/recommended option if you really want windows to be on "C" is to start over with a fresh install.

I don't really care what the letter is. This is another question, which boot.ini file is loading? The one on C or E, or is that determined by which is designated as 1st startup in the bios?

Steve R Jones · October 12th, 2009, 04:58 PM

Click on Start->Run and type: diskmgmt.msc (the C drive might be maked as the Boot device and the E drive is marked as the system device)
Its possible that it's using either ini file....Or unplugg the power cord to the C drive and try to boot up.

MTAtech · October 12th, 2009, 09:53 PM

Thanks for the help, Steve. Now, if I clone E on top of C will there be a C drive?

Nude_Lewd_Man · October 13th, 2009, 03:27 AM

If you clone the current "E" drive (on HDD2) and blow it back onto your current "C" drive (on HDD1), then you would over-write whatever is on the space is being taken up (and you would need to select a partition to put it on) and if that was then to be used as the 'live' OS HHD then that partition would be 'seen' as the "E" drive.

Your current "E" drive (HDD2) could then be wiped and used as a spare, or as an additional drive, or even be 'mounted' onto the OS to give a bit of additional space...

MTAtech · October 13th, 2009, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nude_Lewd_Man

If you clone the current "E" drive (on HDD2) and blow it back onto your current "C" drive (on HDD1), then you would over-write whatever is on the space is being taken up (and you would need to select a partition to put it on) and if that was then to be used as the 'live' OS HHD then that partition would be 'seen' as the "E" drive.

Your current "E" drive (HDD2) could then be wiped and used as a spare, or as an additional drive, or even be 'mounted' onto the OS to give a bit of additional space...

Ok, then there is no harm doing that since E (HDD2) is the active drive. Will there be a C drive or will the system be missing C? I always thought that C was required.

Steve R Jones · October 13th, 2009, 09:36 AM

Nope. The Letter C on a drive isn't required. Its just a carry over from the days when pc's had an A & B floppies.

BUT, there are a few apps that are hard coded to install on C drive and when it isn't found - the app won't install.

MTAtech · October 24th, 2009, 11:10 PM

This has been a catastrophe. I tried cloning the E (system) to C, using Acronis True Image and it stopped booting. During the cloning, it warned of "Attribute list corrupted" but gave no description of what that means or remedy. Somehow, the E also got corrupted and my image stored on a third drive wouldn't install.

I switched from Ghost to Acronis because Ghost never warned when the image created was corrupt. It seems Acronis is no better.

Now I'm going to have to reinstall OS and apps. Fortunately, the data is on the server.

zen · October 26th, 2009, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTAtech

This has been a catastrophe. I tried cloning the E (system) to C, using Acronis True Image and it stopped booting. During the cloning, it warned of "Attribute list corrupted" but gave no description of what that means or remedy. Somehow, the E also got corrupted and my image stored on a third drive wouldn't install.

I switched from Ghost to Acronis because Ghost never warned when the image created was corrupt. It seems Acronis is no better.

Now I'm going to have to reinstall OS and apps. Fortunately, the data is on the server.

Cloning is best done a seperate host machine.

MTAtech · October 26th, 2009, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zen

Cloning is best done [on] a separate host machine.

I've been cloning for over ten years and have never had a problem with disk to disk cloning. I have had in the past images that were corrupt and wouldn't restore.

MTAtech · November 1st, 2009, 10:44 AM

For anyone that's interested in the next chapter of this saga...

I reinstalled Windows XP and as a lark, used the "restore selected folders and files" feature of Acronis Trueimage. The folder that I selected was the [boot disk]\Documents and Settings\ folder. That way, it recovers the application data settings; user settings; My Computer files, etc.

Well, that worked and I didn't lose one byte of data -- except for the applications that I'm now re-installing.