pls help me edit boot.ini

[dorin]

hi guys,

as i stated in the previous post i have a problem with booting from 2nd hdd adapter

whenever i boot from HDD0 or HDD1 the windows on both hdd's sees the same order C & D (hdd0) and E & F (hdd1)

needless to say how "stable" windows is when i boot from hdd1 and the windows drive order is that one

regarding changing drive letter

that was the first thing i tried, but then it was even more chaotic, some of the programs they had the start line to c: (hdd0) some to e: (hdd1)

by googleling i found out that the problem resides in the boot.ini file from the second hdd (beeing a mirror of the first drive)

both hdd's have the same boot.ini file as follows:

[boot loader]
;timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

now can someone, please, i beg you, tell me what exactlely do i have to change in the ini file so the second hdd can boot together with the main one, without making the same problem, by assigning drive leter c to the 2nd hdd which is actually booting?

thanks alot for any hints!

dorin

[agarza]

I've never installed a 2nd OS in the Ultrabay, but I have been dual-booting in desktop machines using separate disks. MY thought:

disk(y):

SCSI ID. If multi is on the line, there always be a 0

rdisk(z):

Identifies the physical disk (starting with 0, which corresponds to the first "physical" disk in our machine)

So, my guess is you should modify the boot.ini as follows:

Code: Select all

[boot loader]
;timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional (This assuming is C main HDD" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Ultrabay HDD)" /fastdetect

Good luck

[RealBlackStuff]

See the options of boot.ini here:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000492.htm

Please note that the disk(0) option must ALWAYS be disk(0), only the rdisk(0) (=normal hard disk) changes to rdisk(1) (=extra hard disk in ultrabay) for booting from that latter disk.

The second multi... line in Benettomex's boot.ini will not work!!

[dorin]

guys, thanks alot! it was a start, but still not working, till i found the solution!

so, i will write it in case somebod else will need it!

edit the boot.ini file as said

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Ultrabay" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin

i use 5 seconds instead of the traditional 30

save the file. if you stop only here, windows tries to be smart and restores its boot.ini.backup

so, what you have to do:

open msconfig go in boot.ini, now you should see the modified boot.ini, click the check button to be sure you wont have surprisez ,chose which driver should have priority, click set as default, then go to general and click use modified boot.ini, and voila!

its excellent whenyou want to have 2 independent windows systems. for example for long time i want to make a fresh clean install of windows, but the thought of having to configure and install everything from scratch kept me away. like this, in one day i install the windows, other day updates, and so on without having to spend a whole day to configure it, cause i cannot use my laptop meanwhile!

thanks alot to everybody to replied, or thought what the solution might be!

cheers,

dorin

edit: in order to make the second drive to see the normal structure hdd1 partition c and d then hdd0 partition e and f, you have to edit the boot ini of the drive from ultrabay. but to do it clean, remove the main hdd, boot from ultrabay, and edit in its boot.ini at rdisk change to value 1 instead of 0