help =\

well i did a clean reformat of my main drive (40gig)...all went well.

BEFORE i did anything though, i unplugged my 200 backup (just took out its IDE cable, while the other end was still plugged into the MoBo.
After XP was installed and restarted from the MAIN desktop(screen).
Shut down the computer, plugged the IDE back into the back-up hard drive and let it rip, now BEFORE, when i did this, 3 partitions would show up, plus the c: drive, so a total of 4 hard drives.
NOW I only have 2, the c: and e:, it's 200gig in size (my back-up) it's showing up as 128gigs free. I HOPE I didn't lose anything here, i didn't install SP2 yet...not sure where to go from here.
Any and all help would be appreciated, thanks guys.

 

jak3y, I think you would be better to post this in the MG hardware forum.

My guess is that it might be something to do with your BIOS and maybe a 128 gig limit. I am certainly no expert in using XP. With a dual boot setup you have to have W98SE as your prime boot (your 40gig H/D) and Xp on your 200 gigger.

When set up properly, as a dual boot, boot.ini will start and ask you which OS you want to use (W98SE or XP) and then continue booting accordingly.

I would stop any further work on both drives, if you don't have reliable backups, and ask MG for advice. Use another PC to connect to MG hardware forum, and ask their advice.

Sorry, but you will get expert advice from people like Halo and Adrynalyne and others, much better than I can suggest.

I will follow your thread with interest when you post it. All the best. Bazza

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bump on behalf of jak3y. Bazza

 

If that XP is pre SP1, thats exactly what happened...

The OS doesnt support 48 bit LBA, so it wont show the partitions correctly.

However, if you have made no modifications, I see no reason why NOT to install SP2.

Unhook the 200gb drive just to be safe.

 

Thanks Adrynalyne. Bazza

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bazaa thanks a million for the bump, appreciated.
adrynalyne, i reinstalled my comp with the slipstreamed xp/sp2, and it worked *phew*.
reason why i thought id try just win xp alone is, i tried installing my webcam and for some reason the computer wouldn't recognize it in the usb...so i thought maybe it had something to do with sp2?...anyways, long story short, tried winXP alone...then not 5minutes online, i got a toolbar installed on IE...obviously panicked about the HD...wiped the comp clean AGAIN...*quick format ntfs*...put in xp/sp2, read the extra HD and voila everything was fine.
LB? what's that stand for?

 

LBA stands for Logical Block Addressing.

 

You're welcome. I wanted to know the answer, too. Bazza