How do I boot to my other drive?

[tigpoppa]

I reinstalled windows to a different hard drive.

I have 4 hard drives all identical looking, how can I boot to the older installation of windows 7? which is no on drive E

How do I figure out in the bios which one of the hard drives is drive e?

I tried them all but keep getting weird errors.

 

[gregrocker]

Post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Mgmt drive map and listings, using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu.

Why don't you ask ahead of time before randomly installing without any plan at all and then asking for help? This is incompetent bordering on reckless.

 

[tigpoppa]

Thank you I will post this image.
I can see how it seems reckless, I thought if I installed it to a different hard drive that would be smart though.
Now I need to switch back to the other which is on E and boot from there.

Thanks I cant seem to figure out which drive is what since most of them are the same except one.

 

[gregrocker]

You are currently booted into Win7 on Disk1 in screenshot, as shown by the Boot flag on the partition which means it is the one currently booted. Is this the one you want to keep?

However the System Active boot files are on the E partition. Is this the old Win7 which you want to get rid of permanently? Are you ready to do that now?

To move the System boot files to C will require the Win7 DVD or System Repair Disk.
Do you have those on hand now? If so answer the questions and we can give you the steps.

 

[tigpoppa]

Hmmmm let me think about this then, its very complicated since I have all these extra hard drives.

Maybe I will get another from amazon and just copy both of them over to a new one and merge them together so I dont lose any data.

I better sleep on this before taking any action.

 

[gregrocker]

You have half of each OS disk free so you could shrink the one you want to delete by half using free Partition Wizard bootable CD, create a Storage partition to move data into then move the rest to the OS partition you want to keep.

Then you could delete the OS partition you don't want after moving the System boot files if necessary, resize the storage partition into its space using PW CD Resize function: Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

However you didn't answer the question if the OS you're booted into in the screenshot (C) is the one you want to keep, since it will require some surgery to move the System boot files to it using the PW boot disk and Win7 DVD or Repair Disk.

 

[tigpoppa]

Yes thank you for your help, I guess I will just keep it on that hard drive.

Its all I can do anyways I will just throw out the other drive and get a new one that is clean without any OS. Im tired of formating all the time neways it never seems to work, somehow the os installed on the wrong drive anyways.

 

[gregrocker]

Which HD?

You still have not said if the Win7 you want to keep is shown in your screenshot as C or E? You were booted into C when you made the screenshot.

However if Win7 was correctly installed from boot then when booted either HD it will show as C. So which do you want to keep? If you want to keep the one which is showing as C in the screenshot it will have to be repaired because the other HD holds its System Boot files.

 

[tigpoppa]

I am going to keep the C one since the E one is all out of wack but hmmmm, I have no idea to know which one is E now that I think about it.

 

[gregrocker]

Again, the one you were booted into when you made the screenshot is C. However it needs the System boot files from E in order to boot until it is repaired.

So please confirm that the one you were booted into when you made the screenshot is the one you want to keep.

Power down to unplug E HD, swap its data cable to C HD.

Boot into Win7 DVD or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 on C starts on its own and holds the System Active flags in Disk management.

You can then plug back in E. If needed you can boot it using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key, or access its data from C. When ready move the data off and wipe it using Diskpart Clean Command to repartition in Disk Mgmt.

 

[tigpoppa]

So you are saying it boots through E???? even though its installed to C?

How would I change this? How do I identify which hard drive is E so I can remove it?

 

[tigpoppa]

Are you saying it is booting from E?????
HOw did you know that? Do I just copy E to c then?

 

[seavixen32]

Please read through the steps that Greg has given you.

You are not being asked to copy anything from Drive E to Drive C, but you are being asked to run a Startup Repair, as this tutorial that he linked you to explains.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

 

[gregrocker]

After I type out detailed steps, why would you ask "How do I do that?"

If you look at your screenshot you'll see that the System flag is labeled on E. This means it contains the System boot files and is booting Win7 on C.

To move the boot files to C you'll need to mark it Active (already done) then run up to 3 Startup Repairs from DVD or Repair CD, until C starts on its own and holds the System flag.

To keep E from interfering it should be unplugged first. Swap its cable to C so that it is in Disk0 position and check that it remains set first to boot in BIOS setup.

 

[tigpoppa]

My cd rom keeps disssapearing due to the drive letters being all messed up.

Need to figure that out before I move on and deal with this further honestly so I been working on that. It seems to appear in explorer then vanishes.

See this computer an alienware 51 has no cables it has bays I just pop it in and good to go no need to plug anything in. So its confusing how to know which is which. I tried popping them while the computer was on but everytime I pop whatever one is c the computer freezes up making it very difficult to figure out what is what.

 

[gregrocker]

You should not plug or unplug drives while powered up unless using AHCI mode HotPlugging, and then only when you Safely Remove Hardware. Do you have this?

 

[tigpoppa]

Let me see about getting this cd rom working, its a blu ray burner ever since the letters are all over now it appears at boot then it dissapears from explorer. I cant eject it either.

 

[tigpoppa]

Seems I flashed the wrong bios to my disc drive now instead of it seeing a bd player it says cd rom, I cant eject it and in windows it says Drive unavailable. I cant boot to it either in dods, and if I try to flash the bios back it just hangs.


I did the F8 boot to windows diagnostics and ran startup repair 3 times but it still says system under disc 0 which is E.

any suggestions about downflashing a cd rom drive?

 

[gregrocker]

Use the OD firmware, not a BIOS flash.

Follow the steps carefully in the download notes and any ReadMe file downloaded with the firmware.

 

[karlsnooks]

The real question is can you be helped?

We are understanding. Do you have a mental disorder or a drug problem? I am dead serious. Your answers are difficult to associate and understand.

You have received very clean and complete answers.

We can work with you if you need special help.