Boot drive and System Drive (yes, 2 seperate drives) how to fix? guru needed

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darw_n

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 7, 2001
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I hope I can get a guru on this, because I think my situation is kinda unique, since google or search hasn't helped....

I built new machine using all my old drives laying around, 6 in total so far.

when I installed winXP pro, I had an issue deleting a particular partition on a particular drive, it wouldn't do it, saying it was a system partition. I didn't think much of it, and just continued on installing, which was a different drive. I figured I would take care of it within windows itself.

well, the result is odd; I have windows installed on D:/ and as it turns out, the drive in which I could not repartition or format is now labeled C:/ in disk management, and I have zero options within disk manager to reformat or repartion that drive.

In manager, C:/ says it is a Dynamic Drive, and that it is a System Drive, which isn't true because there is zero data on that disk, and it's secondary partition is drive I:/ (the later information probably isn't important, just thought I would tell you how windows named the drive and partition.)

In manager, Drive D:/ is labled as a Basic Drive and it is the Boot disk.\


seem odd so far? yes...

as I continue, I tried unplugging drives to figure out which physical drive is this mysterious Dynamic System Drive, and if I unplug it, even though there is no data on it, windows will not boot.

now, for the clincher, I realized that this mystery drive (Dynamic System Drive C:/) is an old C:/ drive from my old RAID setups, which I am not running now, and it's 'buddy' drive died. Obviously, it has kept some data from the previous install....

Is there any way to totally zero out this mystery drive (an older IBM) and make the current Boot drive also the System drive? without reinstalling windows? I know there are zero'ing appz out there, but this issue seems more complex then that, I can't even remove the mystery drive and remain able to boot.

and also, what is the best way to get this mystery drive back to a normal state?

finally, should I anticipate any issues with the current Boot drive (D:/), since it seems to want to rely on the System Drive (which I want to erase)?

I **hope** i was clear enough, it confused me for some time, that's why I am turning to you guys.

thanks
 
Get Darik's Boot and Nuke and wipe the disk so you can start fresh, i'd recommend Autoclave (included in UltimateBootCD) but seems the product has been discontined

good luck
 
I am pretty sure if you run fixboot /mbr from the recovery console on the "D" drive you will be able to boot from it IIRC. Make sure the D drive is marked as the active partition and that your boot.ini is looking for Windows in the proper place.

That's where I'd start I guess... after you boot into Windows from the "D" drive you should be able to remove the partition and then revert the drive to a basic disk. Just to throw in my $0.02... DYNAMIC DRIVES SUCK!!!! I have had sooooo many problems with them over the years.
 
A friend of mine had this problem and was booting from the D: for a while. He had nothing but problems over and over again. So unless when you boot into your actual OS, it gets renamed as C:, I would suggest a reinstall.

Also, if you want to completely wipe out a disc, you can give KillDisk a try. www.killdisk.com. They have a bootable floppy maker on thier site. Works good, just did it last night.

 
just a quick n00b question (can't beleive I don't know this either)

how do I de-activate a drive?

Both C:/ and D: are Active, I want to deactivate C:/

thanks for the tips though
 
Well, if you can get into the OS, and you are running at least 2K, you should be able to go into the Disk Management and disable it from there, although I don't think windows likes it if you try and disable the booting partition. You might have to pull the IDE cable to 'De-activate' it.

 
If you re-install, remove all the drives except for the one you want to use as the boot drive. After windows is installed add the other drives.
 
Mister Natural, yeah, I think that's what I have to do, I was just hoping for an OS method...

and as far as manager deactivation of the screwy drive, the option to do so isn't available.

thanks guys for your input
 
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