I installed a new WD Velociraptor last night. I did a hardware install and disk format using XP Pro. I used WD's utilities to clone the old boot drive onto the new. The utility recognized that some files were on the formatted disk (System Info files?) but said it would overwrite them. Here's the rub:

During the boot cycle the system stops. I am faced with a black & white screen asking whether I want to use "this" system or "that" system. Not only shouldn't the boot stop, I shouldn't have to answer this question. Answering either "this" or "that" yields the same result - the system boots up just fine.

It's almost as if there are two operating systems and it's asking me to choose which I want to boot to. Alternatively, it's almost as if it didn't boot up properly last time and stops to ask if I want to continue to boot or whether I want to boot into "safe mode".

What caused this? Was it a mistake to format first, and then run the WD utility?

How do I fix it?

I think there may be an issue with your boot configuration. Go to wikipedia and look up boot.ini for details. Sometimes this file will end up repeating itself and thus presents you with 2 options that do the same thing at start up.

Let's say I look at the root directory and find two boot.ini files. Or perhaps look in the single boot.ini file and find a duplicate system callouts. Can I erase the second instance and resave or should I delete the file altogether and let the system recreate it, or should I just erase the drive and start over again, or what?

Use Ghost `03 or Acronis for a perfect clone.

+1 for computronix.

I opened up and compared the boot.ini files on the problematic machine and a machine that was running perfectly. They were identical except that the last line was missing from the problem PC. I simply added that line and all is now well.

boot.ini files contents:

[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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

UPDATE -

Well, so it isn't quite perfect. Outlook won't run at all. Word launches only after the Windows Installer fails. I cannot even UN-install MS Office, which I thought to do as part of a fresh re-install. Neither can I "repair" Office. It's funny, because Internet Explorer is working perfectly.

Anyone have any ideas on what to do?

Should I just start over again (reformat and re-clone the drive)??

No one can help?

Ya, I would format and reclone the drive, use Ghost or Acronis. During the cloning process, both of these programs properly modify boot.ini to avoid this problem.

Clone it again, but disconnect the original drive and set the new drive as boot drive. Then shut down and replace the original drive and delete the drive so it can be used for storage. If windows boots after cloning with both drives it gets mixed up over which is the system drive.

MIKe

mike99,

I'm not really sure I follow you on this. If you don't mind, please re-post the instructions with emphasis on step by step for a newbie.

I do know enough to shut down immediately after cloning disconnect the older HDD. I then rebooted with ONLY the clone and am having this MS Office 2003 application problem.

If the clone software works correctly you should boot with only the raptor fitted and it should all work as it did on the old drive. You do not need to format or partition the new drive before cloning. I woul try refitting the original drive on its own and check everything works. If so, connect the raptor and clone it again, then shut down, remove okd drive and set raptor as boot drive. If still problen try different clone program.

Mike.

Here's the status of this activity:

1. The XP Pro software and Internet Explorer cloned/imaged very well, even on the first try. It remians fully functional.

2. To fix MS Office, I had had to download and use the MS tool witch kills the Office applications in the registry (Windows Installer Cleanup Utility: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=295823 ). After that, I was able to uninstall the Office software suite. Once the drive was clean, ...

3. I reinstalled MS Office and it is running perfectly well.

4. I also found a few other applications had reset to their default settings rather than the personalized settings set on the other drive.

I have no idea why the Data Lifeguard did not function properly to clone the Office Application. I have used it successfully in the not-to-distant past. Anyway, I am back up and running.

This Velociraptor HDD is super-fast. It is the single biggest performance upgrade I have made to my machine since I first built this thing. It is a bigger improvement than going from a single graphics card to a dual-card, Crossfire configuration. It is a much bigger improvement than going to 2GB RAM versus 1 GB. Some say it is too expensive. I say, it's worth it.

Now, if I had two of them, I could run a RAID array and double the speed!