problem with dual booting

[xzil]

I mirrored my hard drive with an xp os in it (upgraded from win98) to another hard drive. I used the: xcopy c:\*.* d:\/c/h/e/k/r command and I put the backup drive as a slave to do the mirroring (each drive has only 1 partition). The result was not very satisfactory. I can boot with my primary (c) hard drive and I can see my backup hard drive as(d). But I cannot boot from d alone.

Was there another way that I could have mirrored my c drive that will allow booting up from the backup drive?

Anyway things worked okay for a year until I installed Roxio cd dvd creator 6, and my primary (c) would not boot up. I did a lot of things including reformatting and reinstalling xp full version on the first (c) drive. I thought I can hook up my backup drive as a slave and retrieve my data. But every time I hook up the 2 hard drives together XP would not boot.

How can I boot up using my first hard drive with a workable xp on it and setup my backup hard drive as another drive so that I can at least transfer my files? I need step by step guidance.

 

[Nodsu]

If you want to backup whole partitions/drives you should use some partition imaging/copying program like Norton Ghost or Partition Magic.

I guess you not being able to boot with both your drives attached is a master/slave conflict.

Set your C drive as master and the backup drive as slave. Also make sure you put each drive to the correct plug on the IDE cable. Black is master, grey is slave.

 

[xzil]

I did proper configuration

Thanks for responding. But...

When I was copying I did set the proper master jumper settings for my first hard drive and slave for my backup hard drive. My master hard drive was attached to the Black cable connector at the end and my backup drive was connected to the gray connector at the middle both were connected to the IDE1 slot in the mother board.

When I rebooted using my backup drive I readjusted the jumper and cable configuration so that my backup will be recognized as the master and the first hard drive is disconnected. Still I was not able to boot from the backup drive.

To pursue another alternative I did also use Powerquest's newest drive imaging software with the same result.

I had done this imaging procedure successfully several times at the machine in our office but the machine's os is windows 98se. The machine at home where I was unsuccessful in my drive imaging quest was an xp upgrade from windows 98 se.