Windows 7 won't boot after removing a hard drive.

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  1. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
       #1

    Windows 7 won't boot after removing a hard drive.


    Background:

    I just finished putting together my new PC. Intel Core i5, nice video card, etc (I'll throw all the specs up later, I don't have them nearby). It was running great. Not a single problem. I had two hard drives installed, a 1TB and a 750GB. The 750GB was carried over from my previous build as it is my data drive (movies, music, documents, etc). My OS installed lives on the 1TB. I remember looking at the disk management console and seeing the 750 as disk 0 and the 1TB (OS) as disk 1. I thought that was a little strange, but it was working with no problems so I let it go.

    I have a small Dell server, PowerEdge T100, which I decided to put to use as a media server for the Xbox or PS3 (Running Tversity - Free version, works great). I decided to pull the 750GB drive from my PC and place it in the server since that's where I'll be storing a bulk of the media moving forward. Installed it, powered on, assigned a drive letter, all is well.

    I attempted to boot my PC, which now only has the OS drive, and nothing. The BIOS tells me to insert boot media. I checked the startup settings, the drive was set as the first boot device. Tried again. Nothing.

    What I've done so far:

    -Changed the SATA ports, it was originally in port 5, tried port 4, put back in port 5.
    -Booted to Win7 DVD
    -Attempted recovery mode
    -Could not detect my OS
    -Opened a command prompt window
    -Able to Cd to C:\, all files look normal.
    -Ran bcdedit commands

    It almost seems to me like the boot record was placed on the data drive rather than the OS drive. I would assume I need to recreate the MBR on the OS drive, but I've been unsuccessful so far.

    If need be I can place the data drive back in the PC and I would assume it would boot fine. I'd prefer to avoid doing that because then I'm just back where I was. I'd also like to avoid doing a clean install because I work in IT and I'd like to actually figure out a solution, but if it comes down to it, so be it.

    Thanks in advance. I'll post more specifics and try out any possible solutions when I get home from work tonight.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 16,129
    7 X64
       #2

    Put the data drive back in.

    Boot into 7.

    Rt click and RUN AS ADMIN on sisparv6.cmd

    Select the 7 drive letter as new system partition

    select N to including existing boot menu entries.

    Select Data partition drive letter to make Inactive.

    That's it.


    Then you can take the data drive out , and restart normally.
    Last edited by SIW2; 16 Jun 2010 at 09:46.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    SIW2 - Thanks for the quick reply. I'll give that a shot when I get home.


    If that's the fix, which I have a feeling it is, what would cause the OS drive to not be marked as the system partition when 7 was installed?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 16,129
    7 X64
       #4

    Data drive was first in bios boot order at the time of install.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Good enough, thanks!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    SIW2 - I didn't download that file yet, can you repost? Thanks.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #7

    pvliii said:
    SIW2 - I didn't download that file yet, can you repost? Thanks.
    SIW2 - Can you repost the file? Thanks.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    I put the other drive back in the PC. Upon reboot I receive:

    "Bootmgr is missing Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart."

    So far I've done everything here: How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows and bootrec /fixboot from the system restore command prompt.

    Any suggestions?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 10
    Windows 7 Unltimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #9

    I've performed the automatic startup recovery (which I tried twice before the previous steps with no luck). It worked this time!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 16,129
    7 X64
       #10

    Check in Disk Management.

    If the "system" partition is not on the win7 HD , run sispar.cmd as outlined in my earler post.
      My Computers


 
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