[ZonaGirl]

Okay here is my problem:

I bought a WD 320GB internal harddrive, installed it, formatted it (NTFS) and divided it into two partitions (one for work/the other for games) and then installed Win XP Pro on both partitions. I kept my original harddrive as a back up for my work (this was still connected while I did the above).

The problem is is that when Windows boots up, it only shows the two OS on the new WD drive. I can see the original harddrive once I boot into either new OS and can access it for the files. It also shows up in the Bios (it did not at first but I managed to get it recognized after a few manipulations). It also shows up as a healthy drive in the Disk Management. But no matter what I do, I can not get it to show up as an option for booting to that OS.

Anyone have any idea how I can get the original drive to show up as an OS option after booting so that I have all three OS shown?

Specs:
Dell Dimension 4600i
Intel Pentium 4
CPU 3.2 GHz / 3.19 GHz
2GB RAM

The harddrives:
Maxtor 6Y080L0 (Original Harddrive) 75 GB (Harddrive D)
WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 (New Harddrive) 320 GB (Harddrives C and E)

Disk Management Info:

Volume Layout Type File System Status

C Partition Basic NTFS Healthy (System)
E Partition Basic NTFS Healthy (Boot)
D Partition Basic NTFS Healthy (Active)

Thanking all fellow Geeks in advance

ZonaGirl

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Welcome to geeks to go.

Based on your answer to this question, I will probably leave this for a more advanced tech.

Why do you need, or want to have 3 separate OS (operating systems) on the computer? I am sure you have a good answer.

You could have stayed with 1 and then partitioned the 320gb for what you need as storage.

[123Runner]

Welcome to geeks to go.

Based on your answer to this question, I will probably leave this for a more advanced tech.

Why do you need, or want to have 3 separate OS (operating systems) on the computer? I am sure you have a good answer.

You could have stayed with 1 and then partitioned the 320gb for what you need as storage.

[ZonaGirl]

Hello and thank you

Okay to answer your question I need three separate operating systems as I am a Medical Transcriptionist and need to keep my work enviroment (OS) separate from everything else, ie. file downloads, games, pictures (due to HIPPA).

I have had system failures in the past where I have lost all of my work data and I would like to avoid that. So, I want two separate OS for my work (one that I will be actively working on and the other as a backup). I work online and my employer requires a platform be installed onto my computer so I will have them install the platform on both work OS.

I want another OS just for games, pictures, videos, etc that will not affect the Working OS just in case of viruses, trojans, hackers, etc.

[123Runner]

Ok, that makes a lot of sense.
Unfortunately I do not do much with separate boot to the OS.
As a possible suggestion, Do you think dual boot will work for you? In other words 1 for home and 1 for work and then just use a backup program to back up all of your work data so it is safe?
This would be in place of 2 separate OS for your work. I can forsee that 2 work OS could get confusing.

Hang in there, because we have more qualified members that can help you with the boot and OS options.

[ZonaGirl]

I am not sure if that would work as I had backed up my work data (including the platform) but 3 months ago I lost my desktop (grrrrrrrrrr) and when I tried to restore the data the platform (BeyondTxT) would not run as it needs to be installed directly onto the drive and the directories that are created are a bit touchy.

Thank you for responding to my question...............

[The Skeptic]

The operating system on the old disk is probably not listed in the boot.ini file. Go to control panel > system > advanced > startup and recovery > settings > edit. A notepad file with your boot.ini file will open. Copy the file and paste to your next post.

[ZonaGirl]

Sorry took so long to reply, trying to get a drive set up for my work.

Here is what it showed:

[boot loader]
timeout=60
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!! Thank you

PS
This is from the new harddrive. Not sure how to get this info from the original drive.

Edited by ZonaGirl, 02 March 2009 - 07:46 AM.

[The Skeptic]

For some reason boot.ini shows that you have only one disk divided into three partitions, each having an XP installation. This is contrary to the fact that there are two hard disks, as described in your first post. The following is a quotation from another forum and it includes the name of the writer who should be credited.

Easiest way is to boot to the Windows XP Recovery Console and use

BOOTCFG /REBUILD

That will generate a new boot.ini enumerating all of the bootable
partitions that are found.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service