Upgraded HDD and didn't do it right, need help with the mbr


  1. Posts : 3
    Win7 and BSD
       #1

    Upgraded HDD and didn't do it right, need help with the mbr


    My machine has win7 installed on a 320 gig hdd. I added a 1TB drive and installed win7 on it, but I left the original 320 in. I want to remove the 320 and boot with just the 1tb drive, but there's no boot info on it. Is there anyway I can transfer the mbr from the old drive to this one? The whole end result that I'm going for is to have the 1TB bootable on its' own without losing the info on it. Unfortunately, I don't have any back-up method for it at the moment.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,056
    Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
       #2

    Disconnect the 320 gig hdd from the computer.

    Then, boot from the win7 install dvd and run a startup repair. You may need to run it 3-4 times.

    Startup Repair
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3
    Win7 and BSD
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Ok, thank you Bill2. I'm about to try that now.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #4

    1) You may need to copy boot files from 320 drive to your new Win7 drive
    2) than remove old drive.
    3) Make your new first boot HD.
    4)Than do a startup repair.
    Startup Repair
    Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.

    Upgraded HDD and didn't do it right, need help with the mbr-capture1.png Upgraded HDD and didn't do it right, need help with the mbr-capture2.png


    Upgraded HDD and didn't do it right, need help with the mbr-capture3.png
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3
    Win7 and BSD
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks a lot for the help and the info. I'd also like to apologize, I jumped the gun a bit back there. I'd already run the startup repair a few times, but my drive was undetected the last time. when I just rebooted and removed the 320 again it booted up fine with no problems! I'll need to be more patient next time.

    I've been running the repair almost every night after work for about a week. This was my first day off and I decided to just give up and ask for help. I have saved both of your posts to a pdf here for future reference since I'll be doing this again on another pc later this year. Thanks again!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #6

    srkelley said:
    Thanks a lot for the help and the info. I'd also like to apologize, I jumped the gun a bit back there. I'd already run the startup repair a few times, but my drive was undetected the last time. when I just rebooted and removed the 320 again it booted up fine with no problems! I'll need to be more patient next time.

    I've been running the repair almost every night after work for about a week. This was my first day off and I decided to just give up and ask for help. I have saved both of your posts to a pdf here for future reference since I'll be doing this again on another pc later this year. Thanks again!
    If you are going to do this again, remove the old HD first, then PC will boot first time.
      My Computer

  7.    #7

    Careful... what you're doing may be habit forming... lol
      My Computer

  8.    #8

    You do not need to copy boot files into the new System partition as Startup Repair will do this for you, however you do need to make sure it is marked Active first from DVD/CD Command Line, while the old System partition needs to be marked Inactive or disconnected.

    Partition - Mark as Active
      My Computer


 

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