Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

[Peter]

I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?

 

[Clark...]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

Peter wrote:
> I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
> Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
> it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?

did you just copy the partition? if you copied the partition you don't have
your FAT 32 partition which you need to boot to the NTFS partition
You need to clone the drive, well, that would be the easiest way.

Clark...

--
Don't you have Google in your part of the world?

 

[John John (MVP)]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

Clark... wrote:

> Peter wrote:
>
>>I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
>>Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
>>it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?
>
>
> did you just copy the partition? if you copied the partition you don't have
> your FAT 32 partition which you need to boot to the NTFS partition
> You need to clone the drive, well, that would be the easiest way.

You don't need a FAT32 partition to boot an NTFS partition, I don't know
who told you that but it is incorrect.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

Peter wrote:

> I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
> Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
> it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?

What happens when you try to boot the clone drive? Are you getting any
error messages?

John

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

U have 2
remove old drive
make sure new partition with OS is unhidden & active in PM

Hope that helps. Larry

On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:09:39 -0700, Peter <peter@nomorenewspamin.ca>
wrote:

>I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
>Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
>it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

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Just spent 1 week cleaning up the mess WUpdate made preventing
hypothetical security problems. http://microscum.com/comsense/

 

[Jim Nugent]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition



John John (MVP) wrote:
> Clark... wrote:
>
>> Peter wrote:
>>
>>> I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
>>> Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
>>> it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?
>>
>>
>> did you just copy the partition? if you copied the partition you
>> don't have your FAT 32 partition which you need to boot to the NTFS
>> partition You need to clone the drive, well, that would be the easiest
>> way.
>
> You don't need a FAT32 partition to boot an NTFS partition, I don't
> know who told you that but it is incorrect.

It depends on how your system was set up in the first place.

If you had separate System and Boot partitions, then you need to replicate
them. They are named counter-intuitively --- The System partition contains
NTLDR BOOT.INI, etc. The Boot partition contains the /WINDOWS directory
and OS files. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470, Definitions for
system volume and boot volume.

The system partition must be made bootable and the boot.ini file in the new
system partition must point to the new boot partition. Alternatively, I
suppose you could put boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com in the boot
partition,
make sure it's a primary partition and bootable, and on drive 0, and make
sure boot.ini
points to that partition. DISCLAIMER: I've never tried modifying a system by
doing the latter. YMMV, but it should work.

BTW the system partition (the one with ntldr, etc.) need NOT be FAT32. Mine
is NTFS.
--
Jim

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:38:02 -0400, "Clark..."
<Clark_throwaway@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Peter wrote:
> > I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
> > Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
> > it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?
>
> did you just copy the partition? if you copied the partition you don't have
> your FAT 32 partition which you need to boot to the NTFS partition


I know next to nothing about Partition Magic, and don't know the
answer to his question, but your statement above is not at all
correct. No FAT32 partition is needed. No FAT32 partition exists on
any of my four computers here.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

 

[John John (MVP)]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

Jim Nugent wrote:
> John John (MVP) wrote:
>
>>Clark... wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Peter wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
>>>>Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
>>>>it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?
>>>
>>>
>>>did you just copy the partition? if you copied the partition you
>>>don't have your FAT 32 partition which you need to boot to the NTFS
>>>partition You need to clone the drive, well, that would be the easiest
>>>way.
>>
>>You don't need a FAT32 partition to boot an NTFS partition, I don't
>>know who told you that but it is incorrect.
>
>
> It depends on how your system was set up in the first place.

It still doesn't mean that you need a FAT32 partition to boot an NTFS
drive, you can boot it off a floppy diskette if you want to. Without
knowing the OP's disk layout and more information on what happens when
he tries to boot all of this is nothing more than speculation and shots
in the dark.

John

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Re: Windows XP can't boot after copying partition

"Peter" wrote:
>I bought a new harddrive. So I used Partition Magic to copy the
> Windows partition from the old to the new drive. But after I copied
> it, Windows XP can't boot. What is the reason?


1) WinXP can't boot from the new drive or the old drive?
2) How many hard drives are connected when you try to boot?
3) With just the old drive connected, will it boot?
4) With just the new drive connected, will it boot?
5) If both hard drives are connected, which one has the highest
*hard drive* boot priority?
6) Does the partition that contains the boot files have its "active"
flag set? (Use Disk Management to see.) If not, set it.

*TimDaniels*