system on C: but boot on D: (fix needed)

[deejay.2001]

i found out that my winxp system is on C but computer is actually booting from second partition D where boot.ini is stored..even storage management says D is boot and C is system!

i have recently cloned system with those two partitions from smaller to bigger hdd (seagate wizard)so would like to know if i can get it fixed somehow without reinstalling winxp..

is there any utility to fix this issue on the fly after rebooting?

[disturbed1]

You would have to rewrite the MBR (master boot record), or use a boot manager.

You can boot from a Windows XP install disc, and load the recovery console. Fixmbr or bootcfg might help you out.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

[Bjs]

Its "computer management" and "system" = boot ... all others should report as "active"

Default boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

If this is correct then yes, your system is booting from C not D as boot.ini is directing boot from partition(1) ... not (2)

To see the changes, copy boot.ini to C and zipup boot.ini on D and remove it from D leaving the zipped on as backup, and reboot pc.

Also have a bootable linux distro handy incase system dosen't boot as it will make it easy to go back and undo changes

Be careful with those cloning tools as they do have issues when dealing with multiple partitions ... not normally an issue when drives are matched in specifications.

[deejay.2001]

so i have checked storage management and right now it is
C: boot
D: system

well for sure system is on C so there will be something wrong even if system runs and boot ok
i am little bit scared if i will remove boot.ini from D and put it on C than change boot.ini to partition 1 that it will not boot and i am not gonna be able to fix it back because will not be able to change boot.ini again

any advice?

[bevills1]

Open Disk Management to see what it shows. According to your first post it should shows D drive as the first partition and primary partition and show C drive as a second partition on that drive if both C and D drive partitions are on a single physical drive as seems to be indicated.

If I correctly understand your question, you want to have the boot and system drive to be the same and be on C drive. If so, your easiest solution will be to run Seagate DiscWizard and choose, "Add New Drive" instead of choosing the "Clone" option. This option will setup the new drive correctly eliminating the need to run a number of other programs to rewrite MBR, edit boot.ini, etc. However, this option will require removal of all partitions on the new larger drive in order of DiscWizard to recognize it as a new drive.

[TBoneit]

You can get this problem if you used Norton Ghost 2003 for example and reboot without unhooking the source drive. Other brands may have the same problem as I suspect it is a windows function doing it.

Good Luck

[andwan0]

I have exactly same problem after I setup up a RAID-0 and partitioned my HDs when I installed XP 64-bit. I guess I shouldn't have created the additional partitions during the setup/install. Now I have C: boot, D: system as labeled in Computer Disk Management, and the boot.ini ntldr ntdetect.com are in D:\ which is very unusual. That means I can't mess/clean about D:\...

I typed fixboot and it just says:

"The target partition is D:. Are you sure you want to write a new bootsector to the partition D: ?"

fixmbr doesn't seem to do anything.