Ok, I'm in quite a prediciment here, I have a 20gb hdd and my dad had partitioned it to have one 11 gb and another 9 gb, so I wanted to get rid of that ridiculousness, so I tried to reformat it on the laptop and failed to do so... I took the hdd out of the laptop and hooked it up to my desktop pc and I made the partition, reformatted it in NTFS and then tried installing Win 2k, Win XP, and tried both of them to boot on the laptop, "operating system not found" now, I copied the entire hard drive onto it from my desktop pc and tried to boot that, still no OS found, so I wanted to know, how the heck is this fixable...... since I reformatted it on a different computer will it make a difference? idk, please help. thankyou.
How to get windows on hdd from diff. comp
- Thread starter nope2dope
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Grok451
Posts: 89 +4
What failure did you originally receive when you tried to format the hdd on your laptops and how did you try to do it?
After you formatted the drive from your desktop, did you perform the OS installs from the desktop PC, or did you put the drive back in the laptop to install the OS?
Seems to me you should have been able to leave the hdd in the laptop, boot from the OS install CD which then should have allowed you to delete the old partitions and create a single partition for the install.
After you formatted the drive from your desktop, did you perform the OS installs from the desktop PC, or did you put the drive back in the laptop to install the OS?
Seems to me you should have been able to leave the hdd in the laptop, boot from the OS install CD which then should have allowed you to delete the old partitions and create a single partition for the install.
Tedster
Posts: 5,746 +14
yes. Your boot sector will contain BIOS info on the computer it was created on.
You must format and partition it in the computer you intend to use it in.
Also, XP has anti-piracy code because it is only licensed to be used on one computer.
By formatting it in one machine and using it on another, XP thinks you are trying to use it on more than one computer.
You must format and partition it in the computer you intend to use it in.
Also, XP has anti-piracy code because it is only licensed to be used on one computer.
By formatting it in one machine and using it on another, XP thinks you are trying to use it on more than one computer.
well, Its a new day, I'm gonna try to get it today, that was what I thought that it had to be formatted on the computer you intend to use it on. The failure I got was that I selected new install in xp, restarted and like usual you can delete, and create partitions. Well I deleted my 11gb partition fine but since the boot thing was running off y other partiton, I couldnt delete it. So what you are saying is I should delete the partitions and try to reformat it on the laptop. If theres anything else anybody can add to help, please thankyou.
well also, uhhm... back in the day when I installed xp on the laptop, I installed it from another computer, took hdd out and installed. so I am sure it is on the new versions of xp but I have the older one with all SP1 and It fails to do so, plus this kid at y school ripped a copy of the xp cd and my friend bought it off him for 50$... and I just mooched it.
Grok451
Posts: 89 +4
Yes. Just boot from the CD. You may have to change your BIOS settings to select the CD drive as the default boot device. Once booted, it will take a while for the CD to load a bunch of stuff and then you would select a new install. It sounds like you're familiar with the process from that point.
Grok451
Posts: 89 +4
Well, if you're sure you've got the BIOS settings right, then either the CD is bad, the CD-ROM drive is bad, or they don't like each other (I've had a case where an othewise fine working (but old) CD drive would not recognize my otherwise good w2k install CD. I chalked that off to a unique compatibility issue).
Try to see if you can boot off any bootable CD to isolate where the problem lies.
Try to see if you can boot off any bootable CD to isolate where the problem lies.
Sir, assuming makes an *** at of you, and certainly NOT me. Most people don't have an extra 200 lying around to buy an xp cd. I am trying to figure this out without having to purchase anything, and I wouldn't waste money on a new XP, I'd just wait for Longhorn. IF... IF.... IF............ IF I even had the money.
All I need to be able to do is boot a DOS floppy disc that is able to partition nd format the drive on the laptop, I have found many places for such things... Super Fdisk was one, but its a demo, it sucked. I need one that doesn't give your pride in downloading it putting on a disc and then wiating till you try to partition it and it says "Were sorry, this is a demo version."
RealBlackStuff
Posts: 6,450 +3
nope2dope,
if you insist on using 'mooched' software, please go to another website.
You will not get any assistance for that here, regardless of how rich/poor you are!
if you insist on using 'mooched' software, please go to another website.
You will not get any assistance for that here, regardless of how rich/poor you are!
Well, I am duly not impressed, so due to the fact I dont have a bought xp, you wont help? I bought a 2k disc, I payed up, you happy mister?... This is suppost to be forums, to help and give advice, and if your always gonna say "pay up" or this isn't "my place." Oh please, live a little? closer to the wild side? Now, let me ask all of you, If you had the choice to get a free new working, able to be registered online copy of xp... for free from a friend, (such that you had a worse OS) you would rather go out and spend a fortune?...
RealBlackStuff
Posts: 6,450 +3
Before this turns into another argument, with your BIOS set up to boot from CD, and assuming a working CD-drive, you should be able to boot from your (legal) W2K CD.
An ordinary copy of a bootable CD will NOT be bootable, unless copied with the 'right' program.
'nuff said.
An ordinary copy of a bootable CD will NOT be bootable, unless copied with the 'right' program.
'nuff said.
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